Daily Mail : Clues point to sex game: MI6 spy Gareth Williams had 'no traces of foreign substances' in his body which was found zipped in a sportsbag

Clues point to sex game: MI6 spy Gareth Williams had 'no traces of foreign substances' in his body which was found zipped in a sportsbag

By Daily Mail Reporter | October 29, 2010

The MI6 spy found dead in a sports bag was not poisoned or under the influence of alcohol at the time of his death, tests have revealed.

After investigating all other avenues, detectives now believe it was a sadomasochistic sex game which led to Gareth Williams' death.

Toxicology tests ruled out the possibility of him being drugged or injected with any lethal toxin.

The codebreaker’s naked body was found locked in a sports bag in his empty bath.

Tests on his body, which have taken two months to complete, have failed to find any foreign substances – or alcohol – or give any indication as to how he died.

Police are now focused on finding a couple known to have been with the 31-year-old in the weeks before his death.

The Mediterranean couple, who are understood to have had a set of keys to the flat, are thought to be key to the investigation.

The man and woman, in their thirties, were known to Mr Williams and were seen entering the flat owned by the intelligence services in late June or early July. But, despite repeated appeals, they have failed to come forward.

Detectives are convinced that the cipher expert could not have died alone.

One possible explanation being investigated by detectives is that Mr Williams was locked in the bag by someone else and left in the bath as part of the bizarre sex game. It is thought that when the person returned to release him they found him dead and fled.

Police are certain he was alive when he was padlocked into the large holdall by, which led to him suffocating. There were no injuries on his body to suggest a struggle.

Inquiries continue into his private life, which officers remain convinced will be the key to solving the case.

There has been months of speculation about the death of the spy, who had been working for the Secret Intelligence Service on secondment from GCHQ in Cheltenham.

The inconclusive toxicology results will only serve to deepen the intrigue surrounding the case.

Mr Williams’ decomposing body was found inside a zipped and padlocked North Face bag in his flat on August 23.

Initially it was thought the cycling enthusiast had been murdered, but the case remains officially classified as ‘suspicious and unexplained’.

Police have discounted suggestions that Mr Williams committed suicide alone. The Mail has learnt that the outer door to his flat in Pimlico, Central London, had apparently been locked from the outside when police arrived on the scene.

Detectives have found no evidence to support claims that Mr Williams was a cross-dresser, that bondage equipment was found at his home, that a laptop was missing from the flat, or that he had reported to spy bosses that he was being followed.

Nor, as was claimed in one report, was any suspicious liquid found next to his body in the sports bag.

Police have also dismissed allegations of irregularities in his finances and there is no evidence that Mr Williams had committed any criminal acts.

The spy was last seen eight days before his body was found. CCTV showed him shopping at Harrods and at Holland Park tube station.

Colleagues later raised the alarm after he had not been seen for days.

Officers found no sign of any forced entry to the property or a disturbance inside. Westminster Coroner Dr Paul Knapman is due to review the case in private next Wednesday, after opening an inquest last month.

Yesterday a Metropolitan Police spokesman said: ‘Results from comprehensive further toxicology tests carried out in relation to the death of Gareth Williams have come back negative, showing no trace of any drugs, alcohol, poisons or any other substances that would indicate cause of death.

‘There are no plans to carry out any further tests of this type, but enquiries continue to try and establish a formal cause of death.

‘Mr Williams’ death remains suspicious and unexplained and enquiries into the circumstances continue.’