Telegraph : MI6 spy Gareth Williams: keys found under body inside the holdall

MI6 spy Gareth Williams: keys found under body inside the holdall

By Duncan Gardham, Security Correspondent | December 22, 2010

Detectives investigating the death of the MI6 spy Gareth Williams have disclosed that keys to the padlock on the sports bag were found inside the North Face holdall, underneath Mr Williams’s naked body.

An expert on rescuing people from confined spaces has told investigators that it would be impossible to lock the bag from the inside, although the keys are not necessary to close the padlock.

Other keys were found in the flat which could have opened the padlock but were not obviously laid out.

The expert got into the bag, which is made of a synthetic rubber called Neoprene, on behalf of the police and discovered that within three minutes the temperature had reached 30 degrees Celsius and after half an hour the oxygen had run out.

A post mortem suggests Mr Williams died in the early hours of Monday August 16 but his body was not found until a week later.

The cause of death remains inconclusive and, although he had some bruising to his elbows, there is no sign that he put up a struggle.

Police believe he either climbed into the bag voluntarily as part of a sex game or was unconscious when placed there.

There was no sign of disturbance in the flat and nothing appears to be missing, however police found four mobile phones, none of which have helped them locate his killer.

Despite that, forensic examination at the flat has found traces of unidentified individuals.

A Mediterranean couple visited the block of four flats in Pimlico late one Friday or Saturday evening and were let into the hallway by a neighbour, to whom they suggested that they were visiting a man called Pierre Paulo in Mr Williams flat and had keys to let themselves into his flat.

DCI Jacqueline Sebire, leading the inquiry, said: “Gareth is an intensely private person and would not give his key out to anyone, even his own family.”