Daily Mail : Detectives believes dead MI6 spy may have zipped HIMSELF in bag in bizarre sex game that went wrong

Detectives believes dead MI6 spy may have zipped HIMSELF in bag in bizarre sex game that went wrong

By Simon Walters and Glen Owen | September 12, 2010

* WPC climbed into bag to show how he may have died

Police believe the MI6 spy found dead in a sports bag in a bath inside his flat may have died after a bizarre sex game went wrong, according to well-placed sources.

The Mail on Sunday has learned that a woman police officer climbed into the holdall in which codebreaker Gareth Williams’ naked body was found, re-enacting the events which it is thought could have led to his death.

She managed to zip up the bag and padlock it from the inside, leading investigators to conclude that Mr Williams may have done the same for sexual kicks and suffocated when he could not reopen it.

The theory was bolstered by the fact that a key to the padlock was found alongside his body inside the £150 bag.

Despite being crouched in the holdall, the police officer was able to squeeze her hand through a small gap between the padlock and the zip fastener and lock it from the inside.

Police believe Mr Williams may have gone through the same extraordinary routine, and then passed out, possibly as a result of panic when he was unable to reopen the padlock.

The identity of the officer who undertook the unusual police assignment is not known.

She was chosen partly because her petite size is similar to the slim and short frame of 31-year-old keep-fit fanatic Mr Williams.

His body was found in an extra-large North Face bag, a type which is favoured by explorers because of its 140 litres of storage capacity, durable material, double stitching, twin haul handles and locking zips.

Erotic asphyxiation is defined as the intentional restriction of oxygen to the brain for sexual arousal.

The practice claimed the life of Tory MP Stephen Milligan, whose body was found in 1994 with a bag over his head and an orange in his mouth.

Figures have not been recorded for the number of auto-erotic fatal­ities (AEFs) in America, although it is estimated between 500 and 1,000 occur in the US every year.

Although most AEFs arise from the use of a noose to restrict the supply of oxygen, deaths have occurred after victims put themselves into bags.

In one example, a Yale University student died after zipping himself into an airtight vinyl bag and binding his hands.

Police have been mystified since cycling enthusiast Mr Williams was found dead inside his £400,000 two-bedroom flat in Pimlico, half-a-mile from the MI6 HQ in Westminster, three weeks ago.

The initial reaction of the police constable who discovered his body was: ‘This is a murder scene.’

There were also rumours that Mr Williams was the victim of a professional ‘hit’. Other theories included the suggestion that he had been murdered by Russian agents.

Tests on his body were ordered to establish whether he was poisoned, as happened when Polonium 210 radiation was used to murder exiled Russian secret agent Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006.

Initial toxicology tests showed no traces of alcohol or rec­reational drugs in Mr Williams’ system.

Police sources say that the results of more sophisticated tests, carried out to establish the cause of death, might not be known for up to a fortnight.

The MI6 agent’s family have angrily accused the Government of running a ‘dirty tricks’ campaign to blacken his name after reports that he was gay and a cross-dresser.

Police denied claims that gay magazines, bondage gear and the phone numbers of gay escort men were found in the apartment near his body.

Police also dismissed allegations of irregularities in his finances and that a top-secret laptop computer had gone missing from his flat.

Crucially, there was no evidence of violence and no cuts or bruises on Mr Williams’ body, suggesting there had been no struggle.

Nor was there any sign of forced entry to his flat, suggesting he either knew his killer and let them in – or there was no killer.

Mr Williams, from Anglesey, North Wales, worked as a cipher and codes expert for the Government’s eavesdropping centre GCHQ in Cheltenham.

He was on a year-long secondment to MI6 which was due to end days after he was found dead.

A child prodigy who had a degree in maths at 17 and went on to obtain a PhD, Mr Williams had the highest security clearance available to an intelligence officer and was part of a secretive ‘cell’ that created devices that can steal data from mobiles and laptops.

He carried out similar work on frequent visits to the National Security Agency in the US.

Mr Williams, who lived on his own and did not have a partner, returned from a ‘planned holiday’ in the US on Wednesday, August 11.

Using his mobile phone to track his last whereabouts, police trawling through CCTV discovered that Mr Williams had made several shopping trips to London’s West End and Knightsbridge on August 14 and 15.

After visiting Harrods, he walked towards a nearby Dolce & Gabbana store, though he did not go in. It is the last time he was seen alive.

Last night a Scotland Yard spokesman said: ‘It would be inappropriate to comment at this stage of the investigation. We are keeping an open mind about the case.’