Telegraph : Murdered British spy found stuffed into sports bag in bath of London flat

Murdered British spy found stuffed into sports bag in bath of London flat

By Heidi Blake and Duncan Gardham | August 25, 2010

A British spy who was found dead in the bath of a flat in London was killed before his body was stuffed into a sports bag where it lay decomposing for up to two weeks.

The man, named locally as Gareth Williams, is understood to have been employed as a communications worker at GCHQ, the Government’s “listening post” in Cheltenham, Glos.

Mr Williams, who was in his thirties, was on secondment at the headquarters of MI6, the Secret Intelligence Service, in Vauxhall, just across the Thames from where his body was found.

He had been due to return to Cheltenham to resume his position at GCHQ before he was murdered.

Scotland Yard said today that a post mortem was inconclusive in establishing a cause of death and further examination, including toxicology tests, would be required.

There was no evidence he was stabbed, sources said, dismissing earlier reports. Detectives are studying whether he was strangled, asphyxiated or drugged.

A source said: “Inquiries are focusing on his lifestyle and we are still trying to piece together his final movements.

“The length of time it took for him to be reported missing is a matter for MI6.”

The grim discovery was made after police were called to the top floor flat in Pimlico, Central London, following reports that the occupant had not been seen for some time.

Mr Williams' mobile telephone and sim cards had been carefully laid out elsewhere in the flat.

A keen cyclist and maths expert, Mr Williams would not even talk to his family about his true line of work. Before joining GCHQ he had studied for an MA in maths at Cambridge but had dropped out after failing an exam.

The street of multimillion-pound Georgian terraced homes remained cordoned off this morning and police officers stood outside No 36, which is divided into three flats.

Michael Howard, the former Conservative Party leader, is among a host of politicians and bankers who live on the street.

Mr Williams rented a flat in Cheltenham from retired office worker Jenny Elliott, 71, for ten years until just over a year ago when he moved to London.

He phoned Mrs Elliott in April to ask for his old room back after getting a transfer back to the town.

"Gareth was a very likeable person who didn't really have any friends as such," Mrs Elliott said.

"He was an extremely intelligent person but would not talk about his job as it was a secret, on account of working for GCHQ. All he told me was it was something to do with codes," she added.

Neighbours in Pimlico also spoke of their shock.

Jason Hollands, 41, a City worker, who also lives nearby, said: "It's truly gruesome - this is a very mixed area of bankers and politicians. I've spoken to the next-door neighbour, who knew nothing."

Rob Mills, 35, who lives two doors away, said: "It's shocking. I'm told the man lived at the top-floor flat but we haven't ever seen him. It's not like you'd tell your neighbours if you were a spy."

A Met police spokesman said: “Officers were called to reports of a suspicious death at around 4.40pm today.

“They attended a top floor flat in Alderney Street and gained entry and found the body of a man in his 30s. He has yet to be identified.”

Counter-terrorist and security service officers are helping detectives in the inquiry.

The last spy to have been killed on British soil was Alexander Litvinenko, the former Russian Federal Security Service officer, who died of polonium poisoning in November 2006.