Mirror : Head of MI6 joins mourners at the funeral of murdered spy Gareth Williams

Head of MI6 joins mourners at the funeral of murdered spy Gareth Williams

By Paul Byrne | September 25, 2010

The head of MI6 joined mourners at the funeral of murdered spy Gareth Williams yesterday.

Sir John Sawers took his place in the 115-year-old church with friends and family. But other security service colleagues were ushered in through a back door to protect their identities.

Mr Williams ' parents, Ellen and Ian, arrived with his sister Ceri, 28. Gareth, 31, was on secondment from GCHQ in Cheltenham, when he was found dead last month inside a padlocked holdall in his London flat. Two postmortems were inconclusive and police are still investigating.

Outside the small chapel in Holyhead, Anglesey, North Wales, Sir John said: "It has been a desperately sad period for the family since Gareth died.

"I wanted to be here as the only public face of the Secret Intelligence Service. He did really valuable work with us in the cause of national security."