News dot com [Australia] : Bondage link to spy found dead in bag

Bondage link to spy found dead in bag

By Kat Higgins, Sky News Online | December 23, 2010

AN MI6 spy found dead in a bag in his bathroom visited a series of bondage websites before his death, police say.

Officers say 31-year-old Gareth Williams viewed sites showing people bound and tied, which included guides on how to do it and escape.

Detectives also found a £15,000 ($23,000) collection of unworn women's designer clothing in his wardrobe, Sky News reports.

Mr Williams' decomposing body was found in a padlocked holdall in his flat on August 23, and police are convinced someone else was involved.

A survivability expert concluded it would have been impossible for the GCHQ codebreaker, who was on secondment to MI6, to have locked himself inside the bag.

The keys were also inside.

The mysterious circumstances of Mr Williams's death sparked an international frenzy of speculation.

The Metropolitan Police have issued e-fit pictures of a man and woman they want to speak to in connection with the death.

They are described as being of Mediterranean appearance, aged between 20 to 30-years-old.

They called at Mr Williams' Pimlico home one evening in June or July of this year and were buzzed through the communal entrance by another resident.

The pair suggested they had been given a key by "Pier Paulo" and were on their way to flat four.

Detective Chief Inspector Jackie Sebire, who is leading the inquiry, said police believe they will get to the bottom of the intensely private spy's death by studying his private life.

She said there was no evidence Mr Williams was suicidal and he had recently returned from a fly-drive holiday to America's west coast.

Mrs Sebire said analysis of Mr Williams's phones and laptops revealed he visited no more than five bondage websites.

she added there was no evidence he was "obsessed" with bondage and no other pornography was found.

Mr Williams, of Anglesey, North Wales, was last seen alive on August 15, eight days before he was found dead in the £400,000 property.

Met Police said on Wednesday: "Gareth's family are still struggling to come to terms with the loss of their son and brother, they urge anybody to come forward with any information that can assist the police investigation."

The death remains suspicious and unexplained and no conclusive cause of death has been found.

An inquest will be held at Westminster Coroner's Court on February 15.