UPI : Spy found dead in London apartment

Spy found dead in London apartment [scroll down]

August 25, 2010

LONDON, Aug. 25 (UPI) -- A British spy found dead in a London apartment was stabbed to death before being put in a duffel bag where his body rotted for up to two weeks, officials said.

The man, known as Gareth Williams, reportedly was working as a communications worker at the British government's listening post in Cheltenham, The Daily Telegraph reported Wednesday.

Williams was thought to be on temporary assignment at the headquarters for MI6, the British secret intelligence service, across the Thames River from where his body was discovered, sources told the newspaper.

Police were called to the central London apartment to follow up on reports that the occupant hadn't been seen for some time, officials said. Williams' cell phone and other items also were found in the apartment.

A London metropolitan police spokesman said officers were responding to "reports of a suspicious death."

"They attended a top floor flat ... and gained entry and found the body of a man in his 30s," the spokesman said.

Counter-terrorist and security service officers are helping detectives in the investigation, the newspaper said.