Wales Online : Police believe spy knew his killer

Police believe spy knew his killer

Western Mail | August 27, 2010

THE family of a Welsh spy, whose murder at his London flat remains shrouded in mystery, hit out last night at allegations about his private life.

Detectives investigating the murder of 30-year-old Gareth Williams were picking over details of his life last night for clues that could identify his killer.

The code expert’s decomposing body was found stuffed into a bag in the bath of his government flat.

He was days from completing a one-year secondment to the headquarters of MI6 from his job at national “listening post” GCHQ in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. Further tests were taking place to determine how the cycling and fitness fanatic met his death after a post-mortem examination was inconclusive.

A pathologist found Mr Williams had not been stabbed or shot and there were no obvious signs of strangulation.

Police are refusing to categorise the case as a murder inquiry, despite the bizarre circumstances, as they insist he may have died innocently.

One line of inquiry is reportedly that he is the victim of a sex game that went wrong and questions remain over why he was not discovered sooner.

Police believe Mr Williams’ body could have lain undiscovered for up to a fortnight and it is thought he was on holiday at the time of his death.

They believe the key to the case could lie in his private life.

But his uncle, William Hughes, said suggestions reported in London newspapers that the GCHQ and MI6 officer was gay and a transvestite had deeply upset his parents, Ian and Elen, from Valley on Anglesey.

The couple were still too upset to speak of their son’s death yesterday.

But 62-year-old Mr Hughes said: “They’re devastated. That is the worst part of it [the allegations about his private life].

“Terrible accusations have been made and there’s no truth whatsoever in them. They just need to be left alone and given space.”

Mr Hughes said Mr Williams’ parents remained in the dark as to whether his death was linked to his security services work or his personal life. Mr Williams has been described as an extremely private person.

Investigators suspect he might have known his killer as there was no sign of forced entry at his top-floor flat in smart Alderney Street, Pimlico.

Police have begun examining his mobile phone and financial records as well as CCTV cameras from streets and businesses surrounding his home.

His home has been the subject of a fingertip search amid fears that top-secret work material could have gone missing.

Mr Williams’ parents travelled to London with his sister Ceri, who lives near Wrexham, yesterday to speak to police and formally identify his body.

Mr Hughes said they were deeply shocked and flew back from a holiday in North America after learning of his death.

He said: “The last time I saw Gareth was just a few months ago at a family party and he was fine.

“He was always a quiet person, he was from a young age. But this is a close family and we all see each other quite regularly at family occasions.”

He said he never knew Mr Williams to bring home a girlfriend or a partner, describing him as a “very, very private person”.

“It’s a long way from Anglesey to Cheltenham and London. When he came home, he brought his bicycle. He enjoyed cycling around the island,” he said.

“I knew he worked at GCHQ and he had been working in London but I didn’t know what he did. It wasn’t said that we shouldn’t talk about it, I simply never asked and he never told me.

“He was a bright boy from a young age and his parents were very proud of him.”

Officers broke down the door of Mr Williams’ home on Monday afternoon when attempts by government officials to locate him via his former landlady failed.

Investigators from the Metropolitan Police’s homicide and serious crime command labelled the death as “suspicious and unexplained”.

Former landlady Jenny Elliott said the victim lived in a flat attached to her Cheltenham property for 10 years and was preparing to return on September 3.

“He phoned me a few weeks ago to say he was coming back,” she said.

She described him as “a lovely guy, very friendly, very well-mannered and polite and no trouble at all”.

She added: “He was often away. He went to America to work a lot and often combined it with holiday because he hated flying.”

Mr Williams’ London neighbours described him as “extremely friendly”, athletic and a keen cyclist.

He joined Cambridge University’s St Catharine’s College to undertake a postgraduate certificate in mathematics in 2000, but dropped out a year later.

Sources close to the inquiry said it was not clear how he died and played down speculation that the murder was linked to his secretive line of work.

One source said: “The suggestion there is terrorism or national security links to this case is pretty low down the list of probabilities.”

The Alderney Street flat is about half-a-mile from the riverside headquarters of MI6, the Secret Intelligence Service.

A childhood friend of Mr Williams described him as academically gifted but socially naive.

Dylan Parry, 34, said the GCHQ codes and cyphers expert was an isolated child fascinated by mathematics and computers.

Mr Parry, a volunteer at Westminster Cathedral, went to school with Mr Williams at Uwchradd Bodedern secondary.

He said Mr Williams travelled to Bangor University every week aged 16 to study for a mathematics degree part time. He graduated with a first class mathematics degree from Bangor aged 19.

He said: “It was clear he was going to go far, but we all assumed he would end up in academia.

“Finding out he became a spy was a shock.”

He graduated with a first class mathematics degree from Bangor University aged 19.

He continued his studies with an elite course at St Catharine’s College but dropped out.

The university is one of the traditional hunting grounds for recruiters looking for bright young things to join the intelligence community.

Ronald Jones, 86, who lives with his wife Eileen, a few doors away from the Williams family on Anglesey, said: “The whole family keep to themselves very much.

“We’ve never had a discussion with them.

“I don’t remember ever seeing Gareth’s mother but the father runs every day.

“They’ve lived here for about 18 years.”

Mrs Jones, 85, said: “They were polite and always greeted you but further than that I don’t think they bothered with anyone.”

One neighbour, who asked not to be named, described the family as “really lovely people”.

Keith Thompson, of Holyhead Cycling Club, said he had known Mr Williams since he joined the club at the age of 17.

He said: “I heard the news in a text message yesterday morning and it was a shock.

“We are a small club, only 20 members, and all of us knew Gareth.

“We are totally devastated. He was a really lovely young man.

“Of course, once he moved to Cheltenham, he joined the club there and we didn’t see much of him.

“I last saw him on our Boxing Day meeting last year.

“He was his usual self really.

“It’s true that he was very quiet. He wasn’t a great conversationalist.

“We were club mates but Gareth wasn’t the sort to go the pub after a race so he didn’t have any close friends in the group.

“I never spoke to him about his job or his private life. Nobody did with Gareth.

“It was his cycling that we knew about. He was known for being very good on hill races but a couple of times he won the club’s best all-rounder award.

“He was also a good runner but that was to be expected, his whole family is very sporty.

“His father was a member of this club and Ceri was an athlete. We’ll be getting in touch to offer our condolences when they are home.

“We have also cancelled a club event we had planned for tonight. Nobody feels up to it now.”