Telegraph : Spy death may be linked to MI6 work

Spy death may be linked to MI6 work

By Richard Edwards and Duncan Gardham | August 30, 2010

Police have not ruled out the possibility that the death of a British spy could be linked to his work after investigations into his private life failed to provide a motive for his murder.

Detectives say they are still looking at whether Gareth Williams may have been killed by a foreign intelligence agency seeking to stop his work on intercepting messages and code-breaking.

Interviews with friends and family of Mr Williams, 30, have offered no clear leads as to how or why he died. Checks on his phone records and bank accounts have also yet to provide anything conclusive.

As to Mr Williams’s social life, reports that he may have died in a sex game gone wrong have been played down by police, who say that although he may have visited a gay bar, they have found nothing to suggest that sex played a role in his death.

As a result, sources say they are continuing to co-operate closely with MI6, where Mr Williams was finishing a year-long secondment from GCHQ, and interviewing colleagues.

They are also investigating links with the US where he made a number of trips to liaise with the National Security Agency and the CIA.

He is thought to have returned to Britain from a foreign trip on Aug 11 and was last seen alive on Aug 15, eight days before his body was found in a holdall and left in his bath at the MI6 flat where he lived in Pimlico, London.

Investigators are keeping details of his exact movements secret to avoid encouraging spurious sightings. One source said: “Those people who know him will come forward and those who do not and have something to hide, we will track down.”

Sources close to the inquiry said they are looking at the possibility that his body was manhandled into the bag in order to remove it from the premises. They are searching the flat for fingerprints and DNA to determine if anyone was present when he died.

A pathologist has been unable to identify why Mr Williams died but toxicology test results are expected in the next few days that should identify whether he was smothered, poisoned or had taken drugs.

The keen cyclist seems to have had few close friends and been willing to confide little about his work or private life. Officers are eager not to jump to any conclusions about why Mr Williams was killed, or even whether he could have died in a bizarre accident and his body then moved.

One senior detective said: “It is possible he was the victim of a political assassination but the reality may be more mundane.”

Mr Williams’s family in Wales have said the continued speculation about his private life is “very distressing”.