The Australian : Sex-game spy Gareth Williams suffocated

Sex-game spy Gareth Williams suffocated

From The Sunday Times | September 20, 2010

BRITISH spy Gareth Williams suffocated because he was unable to escape after padlocking himself inside a bag, officials say.

The code-breaker, whose naked body was found in a locked bag in his London flat, had not been murdered but died during a bizarre "autoerotic" experiment, security sources have disclosed.

Government officials monitoring the police case say they believe Williams, 31, suffocated because he was unable to get out of the bag.

Williams worked on highly classified anti-terrorism material at GCHQ, the government's eavesdropping centre at Cheltenham, southern England, and had moved to London for a one-year assignment with MI6, the overseas intelligence service.

Officials said they uncovered evidence that Williams had a record of engaging in autoerotic practices, and that he died when a sex game went wrong.

"The emerging background is something almost certainly autoerotic," said a senior official who has been briefed on the Scotland Yard investigation.

Numerous conspiracy theories regarding the reason for Williams's death have circulated since his body was discovered on August 23.