Daily Mail : Was MI6 spy victim of the perfect murder?

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Was MI6 spy victim of the perfect murder?

By Charlotte Gill and Emily Andrews | August 31, 2010

Pathologists are investigating whether MI6 spy Gareth Williams could have been the victim of the ‘perfect murder’.

There are no signs of a violent struggle on the body of the cipher and codes specialist and it is possible that the cause of his death will never be fully discovered.

Doctors examining the body of the 31-year-old for clues are focusing on any evidence which would suggest a professional hit and are scrutinising the area around his neck, sources said.

A seasoned assassin may be able to inflict a ‘discreet’ neck wound that could kill even though it would not look as obvious as a snapped neck.

Detectives are keenly awaiting the results of toxicology tests in the hope they will reveal some clues as to how Mr Williams died.

They could indicate whether the cycling fanatic was smothered or if he was drugged.

One theory is that he could have been injected with a deadly toxin which is not immediately identifiable by toxicologists.

In the 2006 poisoning of former Russian spy Alexander Litvenenko, it took weeks for investigators to discover that the killer substance was polonium 210.

Using high-tech ‘cell site analysis’, police are also trawling through hundreds of numbers for mobile phones which were used in the close vicinity of Mr Williams’s flat at the time he is thought to have died to see if any names registered to the phones throw up clues.

The technique will also help detectives piece together his last movements by tracking his mobile phone.

Such analysis can pinpoint where a phone was used to ‘cells’, an area which can be as precise as 200 square yards.

Police are also sifting through Mr Williams’s SIM card records to trace every call that he made.

Officers on the case have yet to discover a motive for his murder.

There is no evidence so far to suggest that he was gay and Scotland Yard has denied speculation that gay paraphernalia was discovered in the flat where his body was found or that there is any link to a male escort.

His family and friends reacted furiously to ‘untruths’ that he led a colourful homosexual lifestyle, claiming the rumours could be government smears aimed at discrediting him.

They have told police that Mr Williams was a private, reserved man who was close to his family and loved his job.

He was found dead last Monday at his £400,000 flat in Pimlico, central London, just half a mile from the headquarters of MI6. His body was discovered in the bath stuffed into a sports holdall.

One line of inquiry is that Mr Williams could have died in an accident and that his body was later moved for some reason.

Although it is highly likely that he was murdered, the Metropolitan Police continue to describe his death as ‘suspicious and unexplained’.

Mr Williams is said to have played an important role in the development of a highly sensitive and secret electronic intelligence gathering system called Echelon and was helping with a new system to monitor internet phone calls such as Skype.

There have been no arrests in the case so far.

On Friday Scotland Yard issued an appeal to anyone who knew Mr Williams or may have seen him in the eight days before his body was found to come forward.

Telegraph : Spy murder case could be too sensitive for court

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Spy murder case could be too sensitive for court

By John Bingham | August 31, 2010

The true explanation for the murder of Gareth Williams, the MI6 codebreaker found dead in a bath, may have to be kept secret even if his killer is found and put on trial, lawyers have warned.

The intense secrecy surrounding the investigation has prompted speculation that any future court case could be the first murder trial in British legal history to be held entirely behind closed doors.

Mr Williams, 31, an employee of GCHQ, the government’s “listening post” in Cheltenham, Glos, who was working on secondment to MI6 in London, was found dead at a flat in London last week.

No one has been arrested and police have been investigating Mr Williams’s background as well as his movements in the days before his death.

But it is thought that the unique level of sensitivity around the case – with the dead man, his workmates, his movements and even the flat where he was found all linked to the security services – could make any future court case virtually impossible to try in public.

Lawyers said that powers already available under the criminal procedure rules 2005 could be used by a judge to hold all or part of any future trial in secret for reasons of national security.

Under a separate procedure the prosecution could even apply for a “Public Interest Immunity certificate” banning sensitive evidence being disclosed even to the defence.

Similar powers were recently used by David Miliband, the former Foreign Secretary, in an attempt to prevent three senior judges disclosing details about the treatment of Binyam Mohamed, the former Guantánamo Bay detainee.

In 2008 the case of Wang Yam, a financial adviser accused of murdering Allan Chappelow, an 86-year-old writer, made legal history when it was heard partly in secret.

The public and press were excluded while the defence case was heard, despite objections from Yam’s legal team, on “national security” grounds after a PII certificate was granted, following an application from Jacqui Smith, then the Home Secretary.

With details of the investigation into Mr Williams’s death already clouded in secrecy, lawyers said that a similar approach could be taken in any future court case, with the entire trial potentially held in private.

“The runes are that they are desperate, almost at any cost, to keep this under wraps," said Mark Stephens, a partner at Finers Stephens Innocent, who led a legal challenge in the Binyam Mohamed case.

“It may be that there is a genuine national security interest but that will be very limited.

“What on has to be guarding against is that somebody is claiming national security in the interests of covering up a degree of embarrassment or incompetence or some other interest which isn’t national security.” Dan Hyde, a consultant at Cubism Law, said: “On the face of it there certainly seem to be parallels that can be drawn from the case of Allan Chappelow.

“That was a case where there were public interest immunity issues and as a result it was one of those very rare cases in which the defence was presented in camera, that is in private.

“It seems this is a case that is surrounded by intrigue, you have someone who was working for MI6, his body was found in a bag and the police did not categorise it as a murder inquiry.”

Telegraph : Spy Gareth Williams 'in good spirits' before death, family say

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Spy Gareth Williams 'in good spirits' before death, family say

By John Bingham | August 31, 2010

The family of a British spy found dead in a bag in his bath insisted last night he was “happy and in good spirits”, casting doubt on claims his personal or financial problems played a role in his death.


Relatives of Gareth Williams described him as “steady, quiet and well balanced” and said he had shown no sign of any change in recent months.

It came as one former friend of the MI6 codebreaker claimed that he had been plagued by his own “demons”.

Pathologists have been unable to explain how the 31-year-old, whose body was found in a sports bag in the bath of a flat in Pimlico, central London, last week, died.

Remembered by school mates as a “maths genius”, Mr Williams was on a one-year secondment to MI6 from GCHQ, the government’s “listening post” in Cheltenham, Glos, where he worked for almost a decade.

His position regularly took him to the US where he liaised with the National Security Agency and the CIA and he is also reported to have made a number of visits to Afghanistan.

There were no obvious injuries on his body, which is thought to have lain undiscovered for more than a week and further tests are being carried out after a post mortem examination proved inconclusive.

Although detectives are working on the assumption that he was murdered they have not ruled out the possibility that Mr Williams died in a bizarre accident, from an overdose or even suicide.

One theory is that someone who was present at the time panicked and put his body in the bag but failed to remove it.

William Hughes, 61, Mr Williams’s uncle, insisted there was “no way” he could have taken his own life.

“He just wasn't that kind of person,” said Mr Hughes, who lives near the home of Mr Williams's parents, Ian and Ellen, in Anglesey, north Wales.

“He was always very steady. He was a quiet person, but he was a happy one, there'd been no shift in his personality.”

He added: “I saw Gareth a couple of months ago when he came home for a cycling event and he was in good spirits.

“He was just the same as he always was – friendly, happy and well balanced.”

Police have been interviewing friends and family in an attempt to find possible clues in his background.

But detectives have played down lurid claims that Mr Williams, remembered as a solitary figure despite his heavy involvement in competitive cycling, could have died in some form of sexual game.

Reports that a series of payments into and out of his bank account remain unaccounted for have also been dismissed as “speculation”.

This Is London : Spy-in-a-bag tests could show how he died

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Spy-in-a-bag tests could show how he died

Justin Davenport, Crime Editor | August 31, 2010

Toxicology test results which could show how British spy Gareth Williams met his death are expected to be revealed within days.

The body of the 31-year-old was found in a sports bag in the bath of his Pimlico flat last week but pathologists have been unable to explain how he died.

The maths genius was on secondment to MI6 in London and was within days of returning to his job as a codebreaker with the Government's GCHQ listening station in Cheltenham.

His work as a cipher and codes specialist regularly took him to the US, where he liaised with the National Security Agency and the CIA, and it is reported that he also made a number of visits to Afghanistan.

His body was found in his flat on Monday, August 23, eight days after he was last seen on Sunday, August 15, though police have refused to say where he was when last sighted.

There were no obvious injuries on his body and police hope that tests could show if he was poisoned, drugged or smothered.

Detectives are working on the assumption he was murdered but have not ruled out the possibility that Mr Williams died in a bizarre accident from an overdose or a sex game that went wrong.

His family, angered at claims that he led a homosexual lifestyle, said some of the rumours could be smears aimed at discrediting him.

They issued a statement saying: “Gareth was a generous, loving son, brother, and friend, and he was a very private person. He was a great athlete, and loved cycling and music.”

Express : DEAD MI6 SPY ‘NOT SUICIDAL’

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

DEAD MI6 SPY ‘NOT SUICIDAL’

By Daily Express Reporter | August 31, 2010

GARETH Williams was not suicidal at the time of his death, his family insisted last night.

The MI6 worker’s uncle said there is “no way” Mr Williams would have taken his own life.

The 31-year-old’s body was found at his flat in Pimilico, central London, last week.

Last night William Hughes, 61, said: “There’s absolutely no way Gareth would have killed himself.”

Mr Hughes, who lives near Mr Williams’ parents in Anglesey, north wales, added: “I saw Gareth a couple of months ago and he was in good spirits. He was the same as always – friendly, happy and well balanced.

“We’d be amazed if he had any suicidal thoughts. He just wasn’t that kind of person. He was very steady.

“He was a quiet person, but he was happy. There’d been no shift in his personality.”

Tech Eye : Top codebreaker intercepted terror emails

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Top codebreaker intercepted terror emails

Now mysteriously dead

by Nick Farrell in Rome | August 31, 2010

A British codebreaker, who was found mysteriously dead in his flat, worked with the National Security Agency (NSA) and British intelligence to intercept e-mail messages that helped convict would-be bombers in the UK.

Gareth Williams, 31, helped British and US spooks intercept and examine communications that passed between an al Qaeda official in Pakistan.

According to Wired, he was behind the conviction of three men accused of plotting to bomb transcontinental flights.

Williams worked for the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) helping to break coded Taliban communications. He had just finished a year contract with MI6 when his body turned up stuffed into a duffel bag in his bath. He had been dead for two weeks.

His mobile phone and a number of SIM cards were laid out on a table near the body. The door had not been forced and there was no sign of a struggle. There was no indication that he was up to any bizarre sex games either.

Other than the fact his body had ended up in a duffel bag there were no obvious signs of foul play. Wired points out that it would be difficult for a person to stuff themselves into a duffel bag after they were dead.

If he had been bumped off because of his services to Queen and country you would have expected the phones to be taken. If he had topped himself, he would not have stuffed himself in a duffle bag, if he had been murdered he might have put up a bit of a fight. Sounds like a case for Sherlock. But he is not real.

Advocate : Family Says Dead Spy Not Gay

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Family Says Dead Spy Not Gay

By Advocate.com Editors | August 31, 2010

Scotland Yard investigators said Monday that there is no evidence that an MI6 spy who was found dead in his apartment last week was gay.

Gareth Williams, 31, was found dead in his apartment in central London on August 23. Williams's body was found in a bag placed in his bathtub and had been there for several days, according to the Daily Mail. Investigators now say they believe Williams died in a bizarre accident and was placed in the bag much later.

While initial reports said Williams lived a private life and that his family was unaware of his sexual orientation, his family and friends now say there is no evidence to support reports he was gay and that statements to that effect are being used to smear him.