Sun : Spy vetting probe over bondage find

Spy vetting probe over bondage find

By ANTHONY FRANCE, JOHN KAY and NEIL SYSON | August 27, 2010

SPY chiefs launched a probe yesterday into their security vetting of murdered spook Gareth Williams as it emerged bondage gear was found in his flat.

Detectives are believed to have discovered porn films and sado-masochistic equipment.

The master codebreaker working for MI6 was also linked to a male escort.

Bosses at MI6's HQ near the flat he was using in Pimlico, central London, are investigating all aspects about his private life that might have slipped past their "positive vetting" system.

Potential employees have to declare anything that could make them blackmail targets.

A security source said: "The logic is that you cannot be blackmailed about something your employers are already aware of."

The decomposed body of keen cyclist Mr Williams, 31, was found in a suitcase in the bathroom at his flat on Monday.

It was also revealed he made several trips to the US - and was thought to have been helping US intelligence in the fight against al-Qaeda.

He returned from his last trip to America a few weeks ago.

Mr Williams is said to have regularly travelled to Baltimore to meet officials at the US National Security Agency at their Fort Meade headquarters, nicknamed Puzzle Palace.

It is thought that he may also have been involved in monitoring conversations between Taliban commanders.

The maths genius was in the US up to four times a year.

His uncle William Hughes said: "The trips were very hush-hush. They were so secret that I only recently found out about them - and we're a very close family."

The CIA was last night also said to be investigating the circumstances surrounding his death.

Mr Williams, originally from Holyhead, North Wales, had been on secondment to MI6 from GCHQ, Britain's eavesdropping base in Cheltenham, Gloucs.