The Australian : Spy in bag reportedly had mysterious links to Kazakh oil oligarch

Spy in bag reportedly had mysterious links to Kazakh oil oligarch

see also: Courier Mail | Daily Telegraph (Au) | News dot Com | Herald Sun

by: Staff reporter | December 31, 2012

THE MI6 code breaker who was found dead inside a sport's bag in a London flat had reportedly been in contact with the son of a Kazakh oil oligarch.

Police in the UK are investigating Gareth Williams' contact with Furkat Ibragimov, the son of a Kazakh billionaire, in the months leading up to his death Britain's Daily Telegraph reports.

The 25 year old is one of four sons of oil baron Alijan Ibragimov, listed in the 400 richest people in the world, and lives in London where he has invested millions in oil and a health drink company. Just how they met and if Mr Ibragimov knew Mr Williams worked for MI6 is not known, though the pair are thought to have a mutual friend in Miss Elizabeth Guthrie.

Miss Guthrie met Mr Williams in the last year of his life and shared a flat with his old school friend, she is also said to be close with Mr Ibragimov and calls him 'Shark', The Telegraph reported.

News of a new police investigation into the 31-year-old's death comes just days after a Scotland Yard review of the case found he most likely locked himself in the bag where his body was found. A fresh investigation came after Westminster Coroner, Dr Fiona Wilcox, said earlier this year she could not rule out the involvement of the security services in the death.

Witnesses at the coronial inquest were questioned about any possible link between Mr Williams and Mr Ibragimov.

Miss Guthrie told the coroner that Mr Williams "never mentioned" Mr Ibragimov to her.

But a MI6 officer who gave evidence behind a screen and was identified only as F, refused to answer when asked if Mr Williams knew or was in contact with anyone from the central Asian republic of Kyrgyzstan where Mr Ibragimov's father was born. F said she was unable to provide answers to those questions on security grounds.

The Telegraph also reports that Williams was involved in field activities with MI6 and there are suggestions he may have been followed after meeting with undercover agents for the intelligence service.

MI6 is fully co-operating with this new investigation after it was criticised for failing to pass on vital information into previous probes and witnesses, friends and acquaintances have been re-interviewed.

Photographs, videos and outfits kept in the MI6-owned flat said to be related to Mr Williams' supposed interest in bondage are being re-examined to see if they were staged.

"This remains an active investigation and officers continue to explore a number of lines of inquiry. Officers retain an open mind in relation to the circumstances surrounding the death of Mr Williams," a Scotland Yard spokesperson said.

Perth Now : Spy in bag reportedly had mysterious links to Kazakh oil oligarch

Spy in bag reportedly had mysterious links to Kazakh oil oligarch

December 31, 2012

THE MI6 code breaker who was found dead inside a sport's bag in a London flat had reportedly been in contact with the son of a Kazakh oil oligarch.

Police in the UK are investigating Gareth Williams' contact with Furkat Ibragimov, the son of a Kazakh billionaire, in the months leading up to his death Britain's Daily Telegraph reports.

The 25 year old is one of four sons of oil baron Alijan Ibragimov, listed in the 400 richest people in the world, and lives in London where he has invested millions in oil and a health drink company. Just how they met and if Mr Ibragimov knew Mr Williams worked for MI6 is not known, though the pair are thought to have a mutual friend in Miss Elizabeth Guthrie.

Miss Guthrie met Mr Williams in the last year of his life and shared a flat with his old school friend, she is also said to be close with Mr Ibragimov and calls him 'Shark', The Telegraph reported.

News of a new police investigation into the 31-year-old's death comes just days after a Scotland Yard review of the case found he most likely locked himself in the bag where his body was found. A fresh investigation came after Westminster Coroner, Dr Fiona Wilcox, said earlier this year she could not rule out the involvement of the security services in the death.

Witnesses at the coronial inquest were questioned about any possible link between Mr Williams and Mr Ibragimov.

Miss Guthrie told the coroner that Mr Williams "never mentioned" Mr Ibragimov to her.

But a MI6 officer who gave evidence behind a screen and was identified only as F, refused to answer when asked if Mr Williams knew or was in contact with anyone from the central Asian republic of Kyrgyzstan where Mr Ibragimov's father was born. F said she was unable to provide answers to those questions on security grounds.

The Telegraph also reports that Williams was involved in field activities with MI6 and there are suggestions he may have been followed after meeting with undercover agents for the intelligence service.

MI6 is fully co-operating with this new investigation after it was criticised for failing to pass on vital information into previous probes and witnesses, friends and acquaintances have been re-interviewed.

Photographs, videos and outfits kept in the MI6-owned flat said to be related to Mr Williams' supposed interest in bondage are being re-examined to see if they were staged.

"This remains an active investigation and officers continue to explore a number of lines of inquiry. Officers retain an open mind in relation to the circumstances surrounding the death of Mr Williams," a Scotland Yard spokesperson said.

Sun : Bag spy had links to son of oligarch

Bag spy had links to son of oligarch

By RYAN PARRY | December 31, 2012

SPY-in-the-bag Gareth Williams was in contact with the son of a Kazakh oligarch before his death, it was claimed yesterday.

Cops believe the spook and Furkat Ibragimov — son of billionaire Alijan — spoke in the months before the computer analyst was found dead at an MI6-owned flat.

The link raises questions over whether he was actively working for the intelligence services.

An inquest failed to find the cause of death and left open the possibility of murder after his naked body was found in a locked North Face bag in Pimlico, central London, in August 2010.

A fresh probe by police was launched after the inquest but it is unclear if detectives have yet quizzed Mr Ibragimov.

How the pair met is still unknown, and there is no suggestion wealthy Mr Ibragimov — based in London — is a suspect.

Scotland Yard said last night: “This remains an active investigation.”

Mirror : Gareth Williams: Body-in-bag spy's links to Kazakh oligarch's son and two MI6 agents

Gareth Williams: Body-in-bag spy's links to Kazakh oligarch's son and two MI6 agents

Rachael Bletchly | December 31, 2012

Detectives believe the 31-year-old may have been murdered by foreign spies after covert meetings with the spooks

Dead spy Gareth Williams had links to the son of a Kazakh billionaire as well as two MI6 secret agents, a police probe has revealed.

Detectives believe the 31-year-old, found dead in a bag, may have been murdered by foreign spies after covert meetings with the spooks.

They also want to know whether he was ­“encouraged” to befriend Furkat Ibragimov, 25, son of an oligarch.

There is no suggestion he played any part in the death.

The leads emerged after an inquest in May ruled he may have been murdered because of his intelligence work.

MI6 has revealed he was “involved with two agents in the field” rather than only being a computer analyst.

His body was found in his flat in Pimlico, Central London, in August 2010.

Police have not ruled out a theory he died during a sex game but his family said he was not involved in bondage.

Scotland Yard said the inquiry remained open.

Nigeria News : Body-in-the-bag MI6 spy Gareth Williams and his mystery links to Kazakh oligarch

Body-in-the-bag MI6 spy Gareth Williams and his mystery links to Kazakh oligarch

* Gareth Williams 'in contact with Furkat Ibragimov, son of Kazakh billionaire'
* Ibragimov's father involved in oil and mining and in world's top 400 richest
* Police 'probing claims Williams could have been asked to befriend Ibragimov'
* Codebreaker mysteriously found dead in central London flat in August 2010

By Mark Duell | December 30, 2012

The 31-year-old MI6 spy found dead inside a locked bag in his flat was in contact with a Kazakh oligarch’s son before his mysterious death, it was claimed today.

Gareth Williams - whose naked and decomposing body was found in August 2010 in Pimlico, central London - was allegedly in touch with Furkat Ibragimov, 25, the son of a billionaire from Kazakhstan.

Police are said to be probing their relationship amid claims that Mr Williams could have been encouraged by British intelligence forces to befriend Mr Ibragimov in the months before he died.

Officers have re-questioned Mr Williams’s friends and family, reported The Sunday Telegraph. It was also revealed today that the spy was engaged in more MI6 field work than previously thought.

There is no suggestion Mr Ibragimov - whose father Alijan is one of the world’s 400 richest people - played a part in the death. But it’s not known whether detectives have yet spoken to father or son.

Alijan Ibragimov is known in Kazakhstan as part of the ‘Trio’, along with business partners Alexander Mashkevich and Patokh Chodiev, who are behind an empire of oil, gas, mining and banking.

His London-based son Furkat Ibragimov, who invests in oil, had a mutual friend with Mr Williams of Missa Elizabeth Guthrie, daughter of a US tycoon. She befriended the spy in the year before he died.

Miss Guthrie had shared a flat with Mr Williams’s school friend Sian Lloyd-Jones, a fashion stylist.

Secret court papers revealed that Furkat Ibragimov and Miss Guthrie were friends and business partners - and that she allegedly asked Mr Williams if he could make a fake degree certificate.

But she told the inquest into Mr William’s death that he had ‘never mentioned’ Mr Ibragimov, reported The Sunday Telegraph. Last week police claimed the spy probably locked himself inside the bag.

The inquest found he could have been the victim of foul play, as the coroner expressed doubts that he could have locked the bag himself.

However, investigators discovered that it is possible to lock the type of holdall he was found in from the inside, and now say it is likely that no one else was involved in Mr Williams' death.

Coroner Fiona Wilcox ruled earlier this year that it was unlikely Mr Williams could have locked himself into the holdall which contained his body and whose keys were also locked inside the bag.

Experts testified that they had tried to lock themselves inside the bag more than 400 times, and said even famed escapologist Harry Houdini would have had difficulty doing so.

But just a few days after Dr Wilcox delivered her verdict, a retired sergeant revealed that the feat was possible, casting doubt on the assertion that someone else must have been involved in the death.

Police refined the experiment to mirror the exact way the bag had been locked - and agreed that Mr Williams could have secured the holdall himself, reported the Daily Telegraph.

The mysterious circumstances surrounding Mr Williams's death sparked speculation that he could have been assassinated by the security services.

His MI6 colleagues did not report him missing for a week, and failed to hand over key evidence from their office, which raised concerns that there could have been a cover-up.

However, others pointed to an apparent interest in bondage and cross-dressing as a more likely explanation for his death.

Mr Williams was once found by his landlord tied to his own bed wearing only underwear, while he apparently kept £20,000 worth of women's clothes in his flat.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: ‘This remains an active investigation and officers continue to explore a number of lines of inquiry.

'Officers retain an open mind in relation to the circumstances surrounding the death of Mr Williams.'

Mr Ibragimov was abroad and could not be reached. Miss Guthrie was unavailable for comment.

Alaska Dispatch : Mystery of MI6 worker found naked and dead in locked sports bag may be solved

Mystery of MI6 worker found naked and dead in locked sports bag may be solved

Freya Petersen | December 30, 2012

Gareth Williams, the MI6 worker found naked and dead inside a padlocked bag in the bath at his London apartment in 2010, probably did it to himself, Scotland Yard has found.

The finding counters speculation that Williams was the victim of a hit by the security services, which Westminster Coroner Fiona Wilcox said earlier this year remained a "legitimate line of inquiry."

The Telegraph reported that a review of the case by Scotland Yard's murder squad — which re-interviewed Williams' colleagues from MI6 and taken DNA samples over the last seven months — concluded that he probably died alone.

"They have been unable to find any trace of anyone who should not have been in the flat and every reason to believe that Gareth may have climbed into the bag himself and been unable to get out," a source close to the inquiry said.

Williams, 31, a cryptology expert according to Fairfax New Zealand, had worked for Britain's eavesdropping service GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters) but was temporarily attached to MI6, the UK's spy agency, when he was found dead just a few days after returning from a trip to the US.

Described as an introverted math genius, he had an unorthodox sexual history, according to evidence given at the coroner's hearing.

His landlord testified that she once found him handcuffed to his bed, embarrassed and asking for help.

Meantime, forensic experts reportedly found about $32,000 worth of luxury women's clothing, shoes and wigs in his apartment.

Williams was also found to have been visiting bondage and sadomasochism websites, including several related to claustrophilia - a desire for confinement in enclosed spaces.

He was discovered in the fetal position inside the red holdall, with two keys to the padlock also inside the bag.

However, after hearing from two specialists who unsuccessfully attempted to lock themselves in an identical bag, Wilcox said he was probably killed and it "remained a legitimate line of inquiry" that the secret services may have been involved in the death.

Wilcox said was unlikely that the death would ever be "satisfactorily explained." The verdict was highly critical of the Metropolitan police's counter-terrorism branch and MI6, The Guardian reported.

Wilcox severely criticized Williams's employers at MI6 who failed to report him missing for seven days when he did not turn up for work.

Daily Mail : Body in the bag MI6 spy Gareth Williams and his mystery links to Kazakh oligarch

Body in the bag MI6 spy Gareth Williams and his mystery links to Kazakh oligarch

* Gareth Williams 'in contact with Furkat Ibragimov, son of Kazakh billionaire'
* Ibragimov's father involved in oil and mining and in world's top 400 richest
* Police 'probing claims Williams could have been asked to befriend Ibragimov'
* Codebreaker mysteriously found dead in central London flat in August 2010

By Mark Duell | December 30, 2012

The 31-year-old MI6 spy found dead inside a locked bag in his flat was in contact with a Kazakh oligarch’s son before his mysterious death, it was claimed today.

Gareth Williams - whose naked and decomposing body was found in August 2010 in Pimlico, central London - was allegedly in touch with Furkat Ibragimov, 25, the son of a billionaire from Kazakhstan.

Police are said to be probing their relationship amid claims that Mr Williams could have been encouraged by British intelligence forces to befriend Mr Ibragimov in the months before he died.

Officers have re-questioned Mr Williams’s friends and family, reported The Sunday Telegraph. It was also revealed today that the spy was engaged in more MI6 field work than previously thought.

There is no suggestion Mr Ibragimov - whose father Alijan is one of the world’s 400 richest people - played a part in the death. But it’s not known whether detectives have yet spoken to father or son.

Alijan Ibragimov is known in Kazakhstan as part of the ‘Trio’, along with business partners Alexander Mashkevich and Patokh Chodiev, who are behind an empire of oil, gas, mining and banking.

His London-based son Furkat Ibragimov, who invests in oil, had a mutual friend with Mr Williams of Missa Elizabeth Guthrie, daughter of a US tycoon. She befriended the spy in the year before he died.

Miss Guthrie had shared a flat with Mr Williams’s school friend Sian Lloyd-Jones, a fashion stylist.

Secret court papers revealed that Furkat Ibragimov and Miss Guthrie were friends and business partners - and that she allegedly asked Mr Williams if he could make a fake degree certificate.

But she told the inquest into Mr William’s death that he had ‘never mentioned’ Mr Ibragimov, reported The Sunday Telegraph. Last week police claimed the spy probably locked himself inside the bag.

The inquest found he could have been the victim of foul play, as the coroner expressed doubts that he could have locked the bag himself.

However, investigators discovered that it is possible to lock the type of holdall he was found in from the inside, and now say it is likely that no one else was involved in Mr Williams' death.

Coroner Fiona Wilcox ruled earlier this year that it was unlikely Mr Williams could have locked himself into the holdall which contained his body and whose keys were also locked inside the bag.

Experts testified that they had tried to lock themselves inside the bag more than 400 times, and said even famed escapologist Harry Houdini would have had difficulty doing so.

But just a few days after Dr Wilcox delivered her verdict, a retired sergeant revealed that the feat was possible, casting doubt on the assertion that someone else must have been involved in the death.

Police refined the experiment to mirror the exact way the bag had been locked - and agreed that Mr Williams could have secured the holdall himself, reported the Daily Telegraph.

The mysterious circumstances surrounding Mr Williams's death sparked speculation that he could have been assassinated by the security services.

His MI6 colleagues did not report him missing for a week, and failed to hand over key evidence from their office, which raised concerns that there could have been a cover-up.

However, others pointed to an apparent interest in bondage and cross-dressing as a more likely explanation for his death.

Mr Williams was once found by his landlord tied to his own bed wearing only underwear, while he apparently kept £20,000 worth of women's clothes in his flat.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: ‘This remains an active investigation and officers continue to explore a number of lines of inquiry.

'Officers retain an open mind in relation to the circumstances surrounding the death of Mr Williams.'

Mr Ibragimov was abroad and could not be reached. Miss Guthrie was unavailable for comment.

Telegraph : Body in the bag spy Gareth Williams and his mystery links to Kazakh oligarch

Body in the bag spy Gareth Williams and his mystery links to Kazakh oligarch

The spy whose body was found in a locked bag in his London flat was in contact with the son of a Kazakh oligarch before his death.

By Jason Lewis, Investigations Editor | December 29, 2012

Police are now examining Gareth Williams’s relationship with Furkat Ibragimov, whose father is a billionaire from Kazakhstan, in the months before the spy’s body was found in an MI6-owned flat.

The disclosure raises fresh questions over the death of Williams and what he was doing in his work for British intelligence and whether he had been encouraged by MI6 to develop a connection with the oligarch’s son.

It is one of a series of key new facts uncovered by The Sunday Telegraph which include how:

* Williams was involved in field activities for the intelligence services and was more than just the computer analyst he had been portrayed as;
* One theory is that Williams may have been followed from secret meetings with undercover MI6 agents;
* MI6 is now fully co-operating with the police inquiry after criticism of its failure to do so initially;
* Police have re-interviewed every one of his friends and acquaintances in the hunt for clues to his bizarre death;
* The mystery couple seen near his flat, who were the subject of the police investigation for months, far from being an assassination squad, were, in fact, trying to find a pizza party in a neighbouring property.

The disclosure of the relationship with Mr Ibragimov, whose father is listed as among the 400 richest people in the world, comes after an exhaustive search by police for answers into how Mr Williams – a GCHQ computer expert on secondment to MI6 – came to die.

His naked body was found locked inside a red North Face bag in the bath of his flat in Pimlico, central London, in August 2010.

An inquest failed to uncover how he had died and left open the possibility that he had been murdered and that his death might have been connected to his intelligence role.

The coroner ruled that the cause of his death was “unnatural and likely to have been criminally mediated” and that she was “satisfied that on the balance of probabilities that Gareth was killed unlawfully”.

A fresh police investigation was ordered in the wake of the inquest, leading to the new leads. Detectives have not ruled out the possibility that the spy was murdered.

Crucially, they have secured the full co-operation of MI6. Earlier this year Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe ordered a “voluntary” mass DNA screening of MI6 officers to try to identify genetic material found on the bag in which Mr William’s body was found.

Sir Bernard said he was angered by an “unacceptable” breakdown in communication which saw evidence withheld from his senior investigating officers. When asked what powers he had to ensure MI6 co-operated, he said: “It’s the law.”

According to a source with detailed knowledge of the inquiry, one of the first things that the detectives learned from this new “openness” on the part of the intelligence agencies is that far from being a back room technician, Mr Williams was “directly involved with two MI6 assets in the field”.

Witnesses were asked what they knew of his connection to Mr Ibragimov., though there is no suggestion he played any part in Mr Williams’ death.

It is unclear whether detectives have yet spoken to Furkat Ibragimov or his father Alijan, the Kyrgyzstan-born businessman who is a member of a circle of oligarchs in Kazakhstan known as the “Trio”.

The other two are his business partners, Alexander Mashkevich and Patokh Chodiev, who own a mining, oil and gas, and banking empire in Kazakhstan.

Mr Ibrigamov, 25, is one of his four sons, and is based in London, where he has invested millions in a oil company and most recently a health drink firm called Rebootizer.

How Mr Ibragimov met Gareth Williams and whether he knew he was a spy is unclear.

They had at least one mutual friend, Missa Elizabeth Guthrie, the daughter of an American millionaire.

Miss Guthrie befriended Mr Williams in the year before his death after she shared a flat with Sian Lloyd-Jones, his school friend and a fashion stylist. She is also close to Mr Ibragimov, calling him “Shark”.

The Telegraph has learned that court papers, never made public, described Mr Ibragimov as Miss Guthrie’s friend and business partner and suggest that she asked Mr Williams if he could make a fake a degree certificate for him.

But when Miss Guthrie was asked about the connection between Mr Williams and Mr Ibragimov by the coroner at the inquest she said Mr Williams had “never mentioned” him.

An MI6 officer known only as witness “F”, who gave evidence from behind a screen during the hearing, was asked whether, if Mr Williams had been in contact with anyone from the central Asian country of Kyrgyzstan, he should have reported this to service’s vetting team. “F” said she could not answer for security reasons.

Mr Ibragimov’s father and his partners are the major shareholders in the London-based Eurasian National Resources Corporation (ENRC), which controls mines in Kazakhstan, Africa, Eastern Europe and Africa. In 2009, ENRC reported profits of more than £900 million.

Mr Ibragimov senior was ranked at 382 on Forbes’ list of the world’s billionaires, with an estimated worth of £1.73 billion, and has homes which include a secluded estate on Lake Zurich in Switzerland.

His son controls an investment portfolio called Glendesk Overseas based in the British Virgin Islands, and with his brothers Davron and Dostan, is also overseeing the construction of the first motor racing circuit in Kazakhstan, where they, and the country’s controversial ruler Nursultan Nazarbayev, hope to stage Formula One racing.

Last week Mr Ibragimov, a graduate of the private European Business School in London, was on holiday in Far East and could not be contacted. Miss Guthrie was also unavailable for comment.

The connection to central Asia is only one of the new leads being followed by detectives.

They are also examining closely his MI6 role and his involvement with two field agents. Until now it had been believed that Mr Williams’ work involved only computer analysis.

According to the source, detectives have been exploring the idea that the MI6 agents could have been followed to their meetings with Mr Williams leading to him being identified by foreign agents or terrorists and murdered.

This area was originally ruled off limits by intelligence chiefs when murder squad detectives were called in to examine Mr Williams’ death.

At the time no MI6 officers were interviewed by detectives and only “security cleared” officers attached to police counter terrorism operations were allowed into the Secret Intelligence Service headquarters at Vauxhall Cross, south London, to examine Mr Williams’ office and its contents.

It is unclear whether Mr Williams’ engagement with field agents involved him going “undercover” himself or if, as seems more likely, he was giving the agents technical help and advice after meeting them at a secure location like an MI6 safe house.

Eavesdropping and computer experts from GCHQ are regularly sent on operations abroad, including with the Army in war zones, while others have played a role in bugging foreign embassies or agents in the UK.

It is known that Mr Williams had been previously sent to the US to work alongside agents from America’s National Security Agency.

Detectives have also been able to finally solve one of the outstanding questions which have bedevilled the inquiry.

In December 2010 detectives issued an “e-fit” of “a man and a woman, both of Mediterranean appearance and aged between 20 and 30 years old, who, they said, were seen entering the communal area late one evening in June or July.

At the time a police spokesman said: “Having gained access to the communal area of the building, they intimated that they had a key to Gareth’s flat, number 4, and were last seen walking towards it. It is believed they said they had been given a key by a 'Pier Paulo’, or something similar.”

The request for assistance led to wild speculation about who the couple were and what there connection was to the dead spy, including that they were part of a Mossad hit squad.

It was almost two years before the police were able to rule the couple out of their enquiries. In fact, it can be revealed, that the pair were guests who got lost on their way to a pizza party thrown by an Italian language student at a flat down the road from where Mr Williams was living.

Pierpaolo Pittari, who gave the party, lived in Alderney Street between February and November 2010 while he was learning English. He worked in a local bar and as an archivist at the Italian consulate before returning home at the end of 2010.

Last week, speaking from his home in Salerno, near the Amalfi Coast, he said: “Some of my guests got lost on the way to my flat and knocked on the wrong door.

"Someone later gave their details to the police. I saw the e-fit at the time but I did not recognise them as my friends. I still can’t see any likeness.

"The picture was so generic, so vague, it was just a man with black hair and a woman with long black hair. It could have been anyone and I thought nothing of it at the time.”

Detectives are also said to be re-examining details of Mr Williams’ lifestyle seeking new witnesses who knew him and who might shed some light on his strange death.

His family and friends dismissed claims that he was involved in cross dressing or had an interest in bondage. But his landlady in Cheltenham told the inquest into his death how she and her husband had found Mr Williams tied to a bed in the flat he rented from them and police found internet searches for bondage sites on his computer.

Forensic officers are painstaking viewing the photographs, videos and a computer generated mock up of his apartment again trying to rule out the idea that the scene was staged by someone with a detailed knowledge of forensic investigation techniques to suggest that Mr Williams was a sexual deviant to detract from other evidence that he was murdered.

However the theory also remains that, however unlikely it seems, Mr Williams may have simply locked himself in the sports bag in his bath in a bizarre sex game and suffocated after becoming trapped inside.

A series of experts attempted to show how this could be done for the benefit of the inquest but, once inside the bag, they were unable to secure the lock to the zip. However, they did not rule out that it could be done.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: “This remains an active investigation and officers continue to explore a number of lines of inquiry. Officers retain an open mind in relation to the circumstances surrounding the death of Mr Williams.”

News dot Com (Au) : MI6 worker 'locked himself in bag'

MI6 worker 'locked himself in bag'

December 28, 2012

MI6 CODEBREAKER Gareth Williams probably locked himself into the sports bag where his naked, dead body was discovered in 2010, Scotland Yard has found.

After conducting a review of the case, Scotland Yard has found Williams probably locked himself into the sports bag and was not the victim of a hit by the security services, Britain's Daily Telegraph reports.

Westminster Coroner, Dr Fiona Wilcox, said earlier this year she could not rule out the involvement of the security services in the death. That ruling sparked a review of the case by Scotland Yard’s murder squad which involved re-interviewing Williams' colleagues from MI6 and taken DNA samples.

Williams’s naked body was found in a red North Face gym bag in an empty bath in his apartment in Pimlico, central London in August 2010. The keys to the red bag were found in the bottom of the bag.

Detectives had believed that someone else must have locked the codebreaker in the bag and launched a search for a mysterious Mediterranean couple, who were later ruled out of inquiries.

Williams’s colleagues at MI6 had failed to report him missing for a week and failed to turn over nine memory sticks and a black bag under his desk at their Vauxhall Cross headquarters, sparking rumours of a cover-up.

Detectives now believe he probably died alone, The Telegraph reports.

A source close to the inquiry told the newspaper: "They have been unable to find any trace of anyone who should not have been in the flat and have every reason to believe that Gareth may have climbed into the bag himself and been unable to get out."

Two experts tried a total of 400 times to lock themselves into the bag and one claimed that even world-famous escapologist Harry Houdini "would have struggled" to squeeze himself inside.

But days after the inquest verdict a retired Army sergeant demonstrated that it was possible to climb into a similar North Face bag and lock it from the inside.

Scotland Yard detectives have now been able to repeat the experiment with some slight differences to the way the bag was locked, but which fits with how Gareth Williams was found in August 2010.

Dr Wilcox, a former negligence barrister, had ruled that the lack of hand and footprints in the bathroom was "significant". The Telegraph understands police were able to identify around 300 fingerprints in the flat.

The coroner also dismissed speculation that Williams died as a result of some sort of "auto-erotic activity". But detectives now believe that is probably a likely option, the newspaper reports.

The inquest had heard that Williams, a codebreaker for GCHQ who was on secondment to MI6, had been found in his boxer shorts and tied to his bed by his landlord and landlady in Cheltenham a few years earlier.

Video footage found on a mobile phone in the deceased's flat showed Williams dressed in nothing but black leather boots as he "wiggled and gyrated" for the camera.

He browsed self-bondage websites and sites about claustrophilia - the love of enclosure - on his computers and phone and was looking at fetish websites days before his death.

He also kept pictures of drag queens on his computer and had 20,000 pounds ($31,000) worth of designer women's clothing in his apartment as well as women’s shoes and wigs.

Friends and family were upset at speculation Williams may have been gay and believed "some agency specialising in the dark arts" was behind his killing.

In her ruling, Dr Wilcox said there was no evidence to suggest the spy was a transvestite "or interested in any such thing". The make-up found in his apartment was more likely to reflect his interest in fashion and the wigs were "far more consistent with dress-up such as attendance at a manga conference", she said.

The suggestion that his interest in female footwear could have been of a sexual nature, was not unusual, Dr Wilcox observed.

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said the investigation remained "active" and that officers were still exploring "a number of lines of enquiry."

The coroner said it remained a "legitimate line of inquiry" that the secret services were involved in Williams's death although there was no firm evidence.

Gloucestershire Echo : Claims Gareth Williams could have locked himself in bag

Claims Gareth Williams could have locked himself in bag

December 28, 2012

SPY Gareth Williams did lock himself inside a holdall – according to reports from investigators.

Scotland Yard detectives reportedly think the GCHQ codebreaker, who was on secondment with MI6, must have climbed inside the sports bag, where his naked body was found, rather than been assassinated.

Mr Williams' body was found curled up inside the padlocked red North Face holdall in the empty bathtub of his apartment in Pimlico, central London, in August 2010.

The keys to the padlock were also found inside the bag.

An inquest in May concluded the 31-year-old had most likely been poisoned or had suffocated.

Coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox said she was sure someone else had locked Mr Williams in the holdall after two experts tried 400 times to lock themselves inside the bag.

One claimed even Harry Houdini "would have struggled" to squeeze himself into the holdall.

But days after the inquest verdict, a retired army sergeant showed how it was possible to climb into a similar bag and lock it from inside.

Following the inquest ruling, Scotland Yard's murder squad vowed to investigate new evidence.

A report by The Daily Telegraph said detectives had now concluded that he probably died alone and were preparing to present their new findings to the coroner.

It also said they believed the "only explanation left" was that Mr Williams died as a result of "autoerotic activity".

A spokeswoman for Scotland Yard said: "This remains an active investigation and officers continue to explore lines of enquiry.

"Officers remain open-minded in relation to the circumstances of the death of Mr Williams."

Express : MI6 SPY IN A BAG LOCKED HIMSELF IN, SAY POLICE

MI6 SPY IN A BAG LOCKED HIMSELF IN, SAY POLICE

By Will Gant | December 28, 2012

DETECTIVES investigating the mysterious death of an MI6 officer found padlocked in a bag now believe that he “probably” sealed himself in.

The decaying remains of Gareth Williams, 31, were discovered inside a holdall dumped in a bath at his flat in central London in August 2010.

At the inquest into his death earlier this year, the coroner ruled that a “third party” must have helped shut him in the bag before fleeing, prompting police to vow to hunt down his killer.

Two professional escapologists had declared that Mr ­Williams could not have been alone, after trying and failing in 400 attempts to shut themselves in an identical bag without any help.

But just days later a retired Army sergeant proved the feat was possible after filming his teenage daughter close the padlock from the inside.

More than six months on, detectives are now said to be increasingly sure the young codebreaker’s own actions, rather than foul play, led to his death.

A source said: “They have been unable to find any trace of anyone who should not have been in the flat and there is every reason to believe that Gareth may have climbed into the bag himself and been unable to get out.” Police are now said to be preparing to present their findings to Dr Fiona ­Wilcox, the coroner of Westminster, who presided over the inquest.

Fitness enthusiast and keen cyclist Mr Williams had been on secondment to MI6 from Government listening post GCHQ at the time of his death.

But he was said to have been unhappy with the placement and wanted to cut it short.

Both agencies ruled out conspiracy theories that the tragedy was connected to his top secret work following their own internal investigations.

However, this was questioned by the barrister for the dead spy’s family, who said that relatives feared his death had been orchestrated by “some agency specialising in the dark arts or secret services”. Questions were also raised about why Mr Williams’ line manager at MI6 failed to report him missing for more than a week when he stopped turning up for work.

Police were also left mystified by the presence of some £20,000 worth of women’s clothes in the flat in Pimlico, along with ladies’ wigs and make-up. Mr Williams was a single man.

A Met spokesman said officers “retain an open mind in relation to the circumstances surrounding the death of Mr Williams.

“This remains an active investigation, and officers continue to explore a number of lines of inquiry,” he said.

Daily Star : SPY ‘GOT INTO BAG HIMSELF’

SPY ‘GOT INTO BAG HIMSELF’

By Keyan Milanian | December 28, 2012

AN MI6 spy probably locked himself in the holdall he was found dead in, police sources claim.

After a coroner said she could not rule out the involvement of the secret service, the police carried out another review into Gareth Williams’s death.

The code-breaker, 31, was found dead in his flat in Pimlico, central London, in 2010. Two experts claimed Harry Houdini “would have struggled” to get into the holdall alone.

And coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox dismissed “autoerotic activity”.

But police now believe that is the only explanation left. A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: “This remains an active investigation.”

IBT : MI6 Codebreaker Gareth Williams' Auto-Erotic Death Riddle: Police Probe Casts Doubt on Inquest

MI6 Codebreaker Gareth Williams' Auto-Erotic Death Riddle: Police Probe Casts Doubt on Inquest

By Dominic Gover | December 27, 2012

The mystery death of MI6 spy Gareth Williams was not the result of assassination by security services, police investigating the incident believe.

In one of the most bizarre deaths of recent times, Williams was found naked and locked inside a sports bag inside his home in central London in 2010. The decomposing corpse was found when his flat was searched because he had failed to turn up for work.

According to the Telegraph, police believe it is most likely that Williams died alone. The cause reportedly favoured by Scotland Yard is that Williams died during "auto-erotic activity" relating to confinement.

That flies in the face of coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox's ruling at the inquest earlier this year into his death. She dismissed a sexual motive in her findings. His death was found to be "unnatural and likely to have been criminally mediated", she ruled.

Although detectives do not think there was foul play, they have struggled to work out how the body of the MI6 codebreaker ended locked up inside the small bag along with the keys.

Two experts made 400 attempts to mimic Williams' alleged actions - clambered into the sports bag unaided and locked himself into it from the inside. They found that it was improbable.

But police investigators have continued to be stumped by the absence of evidence of a second party at the scene, such as footprints.

Days after the inquest verdict a retired army sergeant showed how it was possible to climb into a similar North Face bag and lock it from the inside.

Scotland Yard detectives have now been able to repeat the experiment with some slight differences to the way Williams' bag was locked.

Lines of enquiry pursued by police continually turned up nothing, including a hunt for a shadowy Mediterranean couple subsequently ruled out.

A trawl by police of Williams' web usage revealed he had visited sex websites specialising in bondage and claustrophilia - the thrill of being enclosed in confined spaces.

He kept pictures of drag queens on his computer and had £20,000-worth of designer women's clothes in his flat along with women's shoes and wigs.

Friends and family of Williams have always refuted claims he died after a sex game went wrong, speculating that it was linked to agency "specialising in the dark arts."

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "This remains an active investigation and officers continue to explore a number of lines of enquiry. Officers retain an open mind in relation to the circumstances surrounding the death of Mr Williams."

Brisbane Times : Scotland Yard debunks conspiracy theory over agent who died locked in a bag

Scotland Yard debunks conspiracy theory over agent who died locked in a bag

Duncan Gardham | December 27, 2012

MI6 codebreaker Gareth Williams probably locked himself into the sports bag where his naked body was found and was not the victim of a hit by the security services, Scotland Yard has found after conducting a review of the case.

Dr Fiona Wilcox, the Westminster Coroner, said earlier this year that she could not rule out the involvement of the security services in the death.

The ruling sparked a review of the case by Scotland Yard's murder squad which has re-interviewed his colleagues from MI6 and taken DNA samples over the last seven months.

Detectives had believed that someone else must have locked the codebreaker in the bag and launched a search for a mysterious Mediterranean couple, who were later ruled out of inquiries. But detectives now believe that he probably died alone.

“They have been unable to find any trace of anyone who should not have been in the flat and every reason to believe that Gareth may have climbed into the bag himself and been unable to get out,” a source close to the inquiry said.

The keys to the red North Face holdall were found in the bottom of the bag when Mr Williams's naked body was found in the empty bath of his apartment in Pimlico, central London in August 2010.

Two experts tried a total of 400 times to lock themselves into the bag and one claimed that even world-famous escapologist Harry Houdini "would have struggled" to squeeze himself inside.

But days after the inquest verdict a retired Army sergeant showed how it was possible to climb into a similar North Face bag and lock it from the inside.

Scotland Yard detectives have now been able to repeat the experiment with some slight differences to the way the bag is locked that fits with how Gareth Williams was found in August 2010.

Dr Wilcox, a former negligence barrister, had ruled that the lack of hand and footprints in the bathroom was "significant" but it understood that police have also been able to identify around 300 fingerprints in the flat.

The coroner also dismissed speculation that Mr Williams died as a result of some kind of "auto-erotic activity", but detectives now believe that is probably the only option left.

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said the investigation remained "active" and that officers were still exploring "a number of lines of enquiry."

The inquest had heard that Mr Williams, a codebreaker for GCHQ who was on secondment to MI6, had been found in his boxer shorts and tied to his bed by his landlord and landlady in Cheltenham a few years earlier.

Video footage found on a mobile phone in Mr Williams's flat showed him dressed in nothing but black leather boots as he “wiggled and gyrated" for the camera.

He kept pictures of drag queens on his computer and had £20,000-worth of designer women's clothes in his flat along with women's shoes and wigs.

He browsed self-bondage websites and sites about claustrophilia - the love of enclosure - on his computers and phone and was looking at fetish websites days before his death.

Friends and family were upset at speculation that Mr Williams may have been gay and speculated that "some agency specialising in the dark arts" was behind his killing.

In her ruling, Dr Wilcox said there was no evidence to suggest the spy was a transvestite "or interested in any such thing".

The make-up found in his flat was more likely to reflect his interest in fashion and the wigs were "far more consistent with dress-up such as attendance at a manga conference", she said.

The suggestion that his interest in female footwear could have been of a sexual nature, was not unusual, Dr Wilcox observed.

Mr Williams's colleagues at MI6 had failed to report him missing for a week and did not turn over nine memory sticks and a black bag that was under his desk at their Vauxhall Cross headquarters, sparking rumours of a cover-up.

The coroner said it remained a "legitimate line of inquiry" that the secret services were involved in Mr Williams's death although there was no firm evidence.

The Telegraph, London

Daily Mail : MI6 spy found dead in bag 'DID lock himself in holdall' say police as they claim codebreaker was responsible for his own death

MI6 spy found dead in bag 'DID lock himself in holdall' say police as they claim codebreaker was responsible for his own death

* Investigation finds Gareth Williams could have locked himself in bag
* Coroner claimed that someone else must have been involved with death
* Codebreaker found dead in bathtub in central London flat in August 2010

By Hugo Gye | December 27, 2012

The MI6 codebreaker who was found dead inside a holdall probably locked himself inside the bag, according to police.

An inquest into the death of Gareth Williams found that he could have been the victim of foul play, as the coroner expressed doubts that he could have locked the bag himself.

However, Scotland Yard detectives investigating the case discovered that it is possible to lock the type of holdall he was found in from the inside, and now say it is likely that no one else was involved in Mr Williams' death.

The body of the codebreaker, who was on secondment to MI6 from GCHQ, was discovered in a bathtub in his flat in Pimlico, central London, in August 2010.

Coroner Fiona Wilcox ruled earlier this year that it was unlikely Mr Williams could have locked himself into the red North Face holdall which contained his body and whose keys were also locked inside the bag.

Experts testified that they had tried to lock themselves inside the bag more than 400 times, and said even famed escapologist Harry Houdini would have had difficulty doing so.

But just a few days after Dr Wilcox delivered her verdict, a retired sergeant revealed that the feat was in fact possible, casting doubt on the assertion that someone else must have been involved in Mr Williams' death.

Police refined the experiment to mirror the exact way the bag had been locked - and agreed that Mr Williams could have secured the holdall himself, according to the Daily Telegraph.

In addition, detectives do not believe there is any evidence of forced entry which could suggest that the codebreaker was murdered.

'They have been unable to find any trace of anyone who should not have been in the flat and every reason to believe that Gareth may have climbed into the bag himself and been unable to get out,' an inquiry source told the Telegraph.

Police are now apparently planning to inform the coroner of their belief that Mr Williams died alone.

Dr Wilcox initially dismissed the idea that the spy could have been the victim of 'auto-erotic activity' - but detectives say there is no other plausible explanation for his death.

The mysterious circumstances surrounding Mr Williams' death sparked speculation that he could have been assassinated by the security services.

His MI6 colleagues did not report him missing for a week, and failed to hand over key evidence from their office, which raised the possibility that they could have been involved in a cover-up.

However, others pointed to an apparent interest in bondage and cross-dressing as a more likely explanation for his death.

Mr Williams was once found by his landlord tied to his own bed wearing only underwear, while he apparently kept £20,000 worth of women's clothes in his flat.

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police declined to confirm the detectives' latest findings, saying: 'This remains an active investigation and officers continue to explore a number of lines of inquiry.

'Officers retain an open mind in relation to the circumstances surrounding the death of Mr Williams.'

Guardian : Police still have open mind over MI6 codebreaker found in locked bag

Police still have open mind over MI6 codebreaker found in locked bag

Detectives following several leads in Gareth Williams case, after narrative verdict in inquest and review of case by Met

Caroline Davies | December 27, 2012

Scotland Yard retains an open mind about the mystery death of MI6 codebreaker Gareth Williams, whose naked body was found in a locked sports bag in the bath at his central London flat.

Seven months after launching a review into the baffling case, murder squad detectives continue to investigate a number of lines of inquiry.

Williams was found in the padlocked bag, with the keys discovered under his body inside the bag, in the otherwise empty bath in August 2010.

Westminster coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox, passing a narrative verdict at his inquest in May, said she believed the death of Williams, 31, was "unnatural and likely to have been criminally mediated".

She was satisfied that "a third party placed the bag in the bath and on the balance of probabilities locked the bag". She was, therefore, "satisfied that on the balance of probabilities, Gareth was killed unlawfully".

Police have always treated the death as suspicious and unexplained. One theory was that Williams died accidentally, possibly as part of sexual activity that went wrong. They said after the inquest there was no evidence of a criminal hand.

Police launched a review of the case following the inquest verdict, during which Williams's friends and colleagues at MI6, and at GCHQ in Chelthenham from where he was on secondment at the time of his death, have been reinterviewed.

Responding to a report in the Daily Telegraph on Thursday that detectives believe he probably did lock himself into the North Face holdall, a Metropolitan police spokesman said the review was ongoing.

"This remains an active investigation and officers continue to explore a number of lines of inquiry. Officers retain an open mind in relation to the circumstances surrounding the death of Mr Williams."

The inquest heard from experts who had tried and failed numerous times to lock themselves into a similar bag. Forensic evidence has uncovered no trace of any other individuals being in the flat at the time. A search for a mysterious Mediterranean couple ended when they were later traced and ruled out of police inquiries.

The inquest had heard that Williams, a keen mountaineer and cyclist from Anglesey who was intensely private and rarely socialised with colleagues, had £20,000 worth of female clothing and shoes at his rented flat in Pimlico, central London. He had shown an interest in bondage websites.

The circumstances of his death also provoked speculation that it might have been connected with his work as an intelligence officer.

The coroner said there was no evidence Williams died as a result of "auto-erotic activity" and said any interest in bondage and female clothing was irrelevant

She levelled devastating criticism at William's employers at MI6, who did not report him missing from work for seven days. She also criticised the role of the Met's counter-terrorism branch, SO15, in the police investigation.

The Telegraph reported on Thursday that it understood detectives have concluded that he probably died alone and are preparing to present their findings to the coroner.

Williams, a maths prodigy, had previously been found tied to his bed by his landlord in Cheltenham years prior to his death. His iPhone, found in his work locker, contained deleted images of him naked in boots posing with his back to the camera.

The inquest heard that he was probably alive if put into the bag, but probably suffocated very soon afterwards from carbon dioxide poisoning (hypercapnia) though the coroner could not rule out the effect of any short-acting poison, which would not have shown up in postmortem forensic tests due to decomposition.

After the inquest, Williams's family called on the Met commissioner, Bernard Hogan-Howe, to conduct a review of the investigation.

The Australian : MI6 codebreaker Gareth Williams 'probably locked himself in sports bag'

MI6 codebreaker Gareth Williams 'probably locked himself in sports bag'

December 27, 2012

MI6 CODEBREAKER Gareth Williams probably locked himself into the sports bag where his naked, dead body was discovered in 2010, Scotland Yard has found.

After conducting a review of the case, Scotland Yard has found Williams probably locked himself into the sports bag and was not the victim of a hit by the security services, Britain's Daily Telegraph reports.

The naked and dead body of British codebreaker Gareth Williams, pictured, was found inside a padlocked sports bag in his apartment in August 2010.

Westminster Coroner, Dr Fiona Wilcox, said earlier this year she could not rule out the involvement of the security services in the death. That ruling sparked a review of the case by Scotland Yard’s murder squad which involved re-interviewing Williams' colleagues from MI6 and taken DNA samples.

Williams’s naked body was found in a red North Face gym bag in an empty bath in his apartment in Pimlico, central London in August 2010. The keys to the red bag were found in the bottom of the bag.

Detectives had believed that someone else must have locked the codebreaker in the bag and launched a search for a mysterious Mediterranean couple, who were later ruled out of inquiries.

Williams’s colleagues at MI6 had failed to report him missing for a week and failed to turn over nine memory sticks and a black bag under his desk at their Vauxhall Cross headquarters, sparking rumours of a cover-up.

Detectives now believe he probably died alone, The Telegraph reports.

A source close to the inquiry told the newspaper: "They have been unable to find any trace of anyone who should not have been in the flat and have every reason to believe that Gareth may have climbed into the bag himself and been unable to get out."

Two experts tried a total of 400 times to lock themselves into the bag and one claimed that even world-famous escapologist Harry Houdini "would have struggled" to squeeze himself inside.

But days after the inquest verdict a retired Army sergeant demonstrated that it was possible to climb into a similar North Face bag and lock it from the inside.

Scotland Yard detectives have now been able to repeat the experiment with some slight differences to the way the bag was locked, but which fits with how Gareth Williams was found in August 2010.

Dr Wilcox, a former negligence barrister, had ruled that the lack of hand and footprints in the bathroom was "significant". The Telegraph understands police were able to identify around 300 fingerprints in the flat.

The coroner also dismissed speculation that Williams died as a result of some sort of "auto-erotic activity". But detectives now believe that is probably a likely option, the newspaper reports.

The inquest had heard that Williams, a codebreaker for GCHQ who was on secondment to MI6, had been found in his boxer shorts and tied to his bed by his landlord and landlady in Cheltenham a few years earlier.

Video footage found on a mobile phone in the deceased's flat showed Williams dressed in nothing but black leather boots as he "wiggled and gyrated" for the camera.

He browsed self-bondage websites and sites about claustrophilia - the love of enclosure - on his computers and phone and was looking at fetish websites days before his death.

He also kept pictures of drag queens on his computer and had 20,000 pounds ($31,000) worth of designer women's clothing in his apartment as well as women’s shoes and wigs.

Friends and family were upset at speculation Williams may have been gay and believed "some agency specialising in the dark arts" was behind his killing.

In her ruling, Dr Wilcox said there was no evidence to suggest the spy was a transvestite "or interested in any such thing". The make-up found in his apartment was more likely to reflect his interest in fashion and the wigs were "far more consistent with dress-up such as attendance at a manga conference", she said.

The suggestion that his interest in female footwear could have been of a sexual nature, was not unusual, Dr Wilcox observed.

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said the investigation remained "active" and that officers were still exploring "a number of lines of enquiry."

The coroner said it remained a "legitimate line of inquiry" that the secret services were involved in Williams's death although there was no firm evidence.

This Is Gloucestershire : MI6 spy 'probably did lock himself inside bag'

MI6 spy 'probably did lock himself inside bag'

Laura Enfield | December 27, 2012

'SPY in a bag' Gareth Williams did lock himself inside a holdall, police are now said to believe.

Scotland Yard detectives reportedly think the GCHQ codebreaker must have climbed inside the sports bag where his naked body was found and have ruled out an assassination.

Mr Williams was on secondment to MI6 when his body was found curled up inside a padlocked red North Face holdall in the empty bathtub of his apartment in Pimlico, central London, in August 2010.

The keys to the padlock were also found inside the bag.

An inquest in May concluded the 31-year-old was most likely poisoned or suffocated.

Coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox said she was sure that someone else had locked Mr Williams in the holdall after two experts tried 400 times to lock themselves inside the bag.

One claimed even Harry Houdini "would have struggled" to squeeze himself into the holdall.

Days after the inquest verdict a retired army sergeant showed how it was possible to climb into a similar bag and lock it from inside.

Following the inquest ruling, Scotland Yard's murder squad vowed to investigate new evidence.

A report by The Daily Telegraph says detectives have now concluded he probably died alone and are preparing to present their new findings to the coroner.

It also says they believe the 'only explanation left' is that Mr Williams died as a result of 'autoerotic activity'.

A spokeswoman for Scotland Yard said: "This remains an active investigation and officers continue to explore lines of enquiry.

"Officers remain open-minded in relation to the circumstances of the death of Mr Williams."

Adelaide Now : MI6 codebreaker Gareth Williams 'probably locked himself in sports bag'

MI6 codebreaker Gareth Williams 'probably locked himself in sports bag'

December 27, 2012

MI6 CODEBREAKER Gareth Williams probably locked himself into the sports bag where his naked, dead body was discovered in 2010, Scotland Yard has found.

After conducting a review of the case, Scotland Yard has found Williams probably locked himself into the sports bag and was not the victim of a hit by the security services, Britain's Daily Telegraph reports.

The naked and dead body of British codebreaker Gareth Williams, pictured, was found inside a padlocked sports bag in his apartment in August 2010.

Westminster Coroner, Dr Fiona Wilcox, said earlier this year she could not rule out the involvement of the security services in the death. That ruling sparked a review of the case by Scotland Yard’s murder squad which involved re-interviewing Williams' colleagues from MI6 and taken DNA samples.

Williams’s naked body was found in a red North Face gym bag in an empty bath in his apartment in Pimlico, central London in August 2010. The keys to the red bag were found in the bottom of the bag.

Detectives had believed that someone else must have locked the codebreaker in the bag and launched a search for a mysterious Mediterranean couple, who were later ruled out of inquiries.

Williams’s colleagues at MI6 had failed to report him missing for a week and failed to turn over nine memory sticks and a black bag under his desk at their Vauxhall Cross headquarters, sparking rumours of a cover-up.

Detectives now believe he probably died alone, The Telegraph reports.

A source close to the inquiry told the newspaper: "They have been unable to find any trace of anyone who should not have been in the flat and have every reason to believe that Gareth may have climbed into the bag himself and been unable to get out."

Two experts tried a total of 400 times to lock themselves into the bag and one claimed that even world-famous escapologist Harry Houdini "would have struggled" to squeeze himself inside.

But days after the inquest verdict a retired Army sergeant demonstrated that it was possible to climb into a similar North Face bag and lock it from the inside.

Scotland Yard detectives have now been able to repeat the experiment with some slight differences to the way the bag was locked, but which fits with how Gareth Williams was found in August 2010.

Dr Wilcox, a former negligence barrister, had ruled that the lack of hand and footprints in the bathroom was "significant". The Telegraph understands police were able to identify around 300 fingerprints in the flat.

The coroner also dismissed speculation that Williams died as a result of some sort of "auto-erotic activity". But detectives now believe that is probably a likely option, the newspaper reports.

The inquest had heard that Williams, a codebreaker for GCHQ who was on secondment to MI6, had been found in his boxer shorts and tied to his bed by his landlord and landlady in Cheltenham a few years earlier.

Video footage found on a mobile phone in the deceased's flat showed Williams dressed in nothing but black leather boots as he "wiggled and gyrated" for the camera.

He browsed self-bondage websites and sites about claustrophilia - the love of enclosure - on his computers and phone and was looking at fetish websites days before his death.

He also kept pictures of drag queens on his computer and had 20,000 pounds ($31,000) worth of designer women's clothing in his apartment as well as women’s shoes and wigs.

Friends and family were upset at speculation Williams may have been gay and believed "some agency specialising in the dark arts" was behind his killing.

In her ruling, Dr Wilcox said there was no evidence to suggest the spy was a transvestite "or interested in any such thing". The make-up found in his apartment was more likely to reflect his interest in fashion and the wigs were "far more consistent with dress-up such as attendance at a manga conference", she said.

The suggestion that his interest in female footwear could have been of a sexual nature, was not unusual, Dr Wilcox observed.

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said the investigation remained "active" and that officers were still exploring "a number of lines of enquiry."

The coroner said it remained a "legitimate line of inquiry" that the secret services were involved in Williams's death although there was no firm evidence.

Sun : Spy in bag was ‘not the victim of mystery security services hit’

Spy in bag was ‘not the victim of mystery security services hit’

December 27, 2012

THE MI6 agent found dead in a sports bag was probably not the victim of a mystery assassination, cops now believe.

Scotland Yard now think Gareth Williams may have locked himself into the large red holdall where his naked body was found.

Westminster Coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox said earlier this year that she could not rule out the involvement of the security services in the death.

The ruling triggered a review of the case by Scotland Yard’s murder squad.

Now it is believed Mr Williams probably died alone, according to The Daily Telegraph.

A source close to the inquiry said: “They have been unable to find any trace of anyone who should not have been in the flat and every reason to believe that Gareth may have climbed into the bag himself and been unable to get out”.

The keys to the red North Face holdall were found in the bottom of the bag when Mr Williams’ naked body was found in the empty bath of his apartment in Pimlico, central London, in August 2010.

Two experts tried a total of 400 times to lock themselves into the bag.

And it was claimed that even world-famous escapologist Harry Houdini "would have struggled" to squeeze himself inside.

But days after the inquest verdict a retired Army sergeant showed how it was possible to climb into a similar North Face bag and lock it from the inside.

Scotland Yard detectives have now been able to repeat the experiment so it fits with how Mr Williams was found in August 2010, reports The Daily Telegraph.

Lithgow Mercury : An inside job: Scotland Yard debunks conspiracy theory over MI6 codebreaker who died locked naked in a sports bag in the bathtub

An inside job: Scotland Yard debunks conspiracy theory over MI6 codebreaker who died locked naked in a sports bag in the bathtub

By Duncan Gardham | December 27, 2012

MI6 codebreaker Gareth Williams probably locked himself into the sports bag where his naked body was found and was not the victim of a hit by the security services, Scotland Yard has found after conducting a review of the case.

Dr Fiona Wilcox, the Westminster Coroner, said earlier this year that she could not rule out the involvement of the security services in the death.

The ruling sparked a review of the case by Scotland Yard's murder squad which has re-interviewed his colleagues from MI6 and taken DNA samples over the last seven months.

Detectives had believed that someone else must have locked the codebreaker in the bag and launched a search for a mysterious Mediterranean couple, who were later ruled out of inquiries. But detectives now believe that he probably died alone.

“They have been unable to find any trace of anyone who should not have been in the flat and every reason to believe that Gareth may have climbed into the bag himself and been unable to get out,” a source close to the inquiry said.

The keys to the red North Face holdall were found in the bottom of the bag when Mr Williams's naked body was found in the empty bath of his apartment in Pimlico, central London in August 2010.

Two experts tried a total of 400 times to lock themselves into the bag and one claimed that even world-famous escapologist Harry Houdini "would have struggled" to squeeze himself inside.

But days after the inquest verdict a retired Army sergeant showed how it was possible to climb into a similar North Face bag and lock it from the inside.

Scotland Yard detectives have now been able to repeat the experiment with some slight differences to the way the bag is locked that fits with how Gareth Williams was found in August 2010.

Dr Wilcox, a former negligence barrister, had ruled that the lack of hand and footprints in the bathroom was "significant" but it understood that police have also been able to identify around 300 fingerprints in the flat.

The coroner also dismissed speculation that Mr Williams died as a result of some kind of "auto-erotic activity", but detectives now believe that is probably the only option left.

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said the investigation remained "active" and that officers were still exploring "a number of lines of enquiry."

The inquest had heard that Mr Williams, a codebreaker for GCHQ who was on secondment to MI6, had been found in his boxer shorts and tied to his bed by his landlord and landlady in Cheltenham a few years earlier.

Video footage found on a mobile phone in Mr Williams's flat showed him dressed in nothing but black leather boots as he “wiggled and gyrated" for the camera.

He kept pictures of drag queens on his computer and had £20,000-worth of designer women's clothes in his flat along with women's shoes and wigs.

He browsed self-bondage websites and sites about claustrophilia - the love of enclosure - on his computers and phone and was looking at fetish websites days before his death.

Friends and family were upset at speculation that Mr Williams may have been gay and speculated that "some agency specialising in the dark arts" was behind his killing.

In her ruling, Dr Wilcox said there was no evidence to suggest the spy was a transvestite "or interested in any such thing".

The make-up found in his flat was more likely to reflect his interest in fashion and the wigs were "far more consistent with dress-up such as attendance at a manga conference", she said.

The suggestion that his interest in female footwear could have been of a sexual nature, was not unusual, Dr Wilcox observed.

Mr Williams's colleagues at MI6 had failed to report him missing for a week and did not turn over nine memory sticks and a black bag that was under his desk at their Vauxhall Cross headquarters, sparking rumours of a cover-up.

The coroner said it remained a "legitimate line of inquiry" that the secret services were involved in Mr Williams's death although there was no firm evidence.

The Telegraph, London

Dominion Post : MI6 spy did it himself, Scotland Yard says

MI6 spy did it himself, Scotland Yard says

also: The City Weekly

December 27, 2012

British police say a MI6 agent found dead locked inside a sports bag probably locked himself into the sports bag where his naked body was found and was not the victim of a hit by the security services.

Cryptology expert Gareth Williams, 31, worked for Britain's secret eavesdropping service GCHQ but was attached to the MI6 overseas spy agency when his remains were found in August 2010 inside the bag in a bathtub at his London apartment.

A British coroner ruled in May that another person was likely to have been involved in Williams' death, adding that she could not rule out the involvement of the spy agency.

But a Scotland Yard review of the case sparked by that ruling has concluded that he probably died alone, the Daily Telegraph reported.

The murder squad has spent seven months re-interviewing Williams' colleagues from MI6 and has taken DNA samples.

"They have been unable to find any trace of anyone who should not have been in the flat and every reason to believe that Gareth may have climbed into the bag himself and been unable to get out," a source close to the inquiry said.

Coroner Fiona Wilcox said it was unlikely that the death would ever be "satisfactorily explained," but she said the spy was likely killed either by suffocation or poisoning in a "criminally meditated act."

She said he could not have climbed into the bag and locked it himself. Two different specialists attempted to recreate the feat without success.

Williams was discovered in the foetal position inside the bag with two keys to the bag's padlock underneath his buttocks.

SECRET LIFE?

Williams, described as an introverted math genius, worked for Britain's secret eavesdropping service GCHQ.

But he was attached to the MI6 foreign spy agency when his remains were found, just a few days after returning from a trip to the United States.

Forensic experts found some £20,000 (NZ$39,965) worth of luxury women's clothing, shoes and wigs in his apartment.

Police also discovered that he had visited bondage and sadomasochism websites, including some related to claustrophilia - a desire for confinement in enclosed spaces.

William's landlord testified during the coroner's hearing that she once found him handcuffed to his bed. She said he had appeared embarrassed after asking for help.

When the case emerged, some had speculated that he could have been the target of Russian criminal gangs or an al Qaeda extremist.

Other media reports had said there had been a break-in at the property where he lived - a building sometimes used by MI6 to house its agents.

MI6 waited a week to investigate why Williams hadn't shown up for work - a delay that made it difficult for Williams' family to identify his badly decomposed body.

During the coroner's hearing, MI6 accepted that Williams disliked the agency's boozy culture of post-work drinking and tedious bureaucracy, and had requested to return to his job at GCHQ.

One MI6 officer claimed that Williams hadn't been reported as missing because colleagues assumed he was preparing for his return to the southern England headquarters of the eavesdropping service.

- © Fairfax NZ News

SMH : An inside job: Scotland Yard debunks conspiracy theory over MI6 codebreaker who died locked naked in a sports bag in the bathtub

An inside job: Scotland Yard debunks conspiracy theory over MI6 codebreaker who died locked naked in a sports bag in the bathtub

Duncan Gardham | December 27, 2012

MI6 codebreaker Gareth Williams probably locked himself into the sports bag where his naked body was found and was not the victim of a hit by the security services, Scotland Yard has found after conducting a review of the case.

Dr Fiona Wilcox, the Westminster Coroner, said earlier this year that she could not rule out the involvement of the security services in the death.

The ruling sparked a review of the case by Scotland Yard's murder squad which has re-interviewed his colleagues from MI6 and taken DNA samples over the last seven months.

Detectives had believed that someone else must have locked the codebreaker in the bag and launched a search for a mysterious Mediterranean couple, who were later ruled out of inquiries. But detectives now believe that he probably died alone.

“They have been unable to find any trace of anyone who should not have been in the flat and every reason to believe that Gareth may have climbed into the bag himself and been unable to get out,” a source close to the inquiry said.

The keys to the red North Face holdall were found in the bottom of the bag when Mr Williams's naked body was found in the empty bath of his apartment in Pimlico, central London in August 2010.

Two experts tried a total of 400 times to lock themselves into the bag and one claimed that even world-famous escapologist Harry Houdini "would have struggled" to squeeze himself inside.

But days after the inquest verdict a retired Army sergeant showed how it was possible to climb into a similar North Face bag and lock it from the inside.

Scotland Yard detectives have now been able to repeat the experiment with some slight differences to the way the bag is locked that fits with how Gareth Williams was found in August 2010.

Dr Wilcox, a former negligence barrister, had ruled that the lack of hand and footprints in the bathroom was "significant" but it understood that police have also been able to identify around 300 fingerprints in the flat.

The coroner also dismissed speculation that Mr Williams died as a result of some kind of "auto-erotic activity", but detectives now believe that is probably the only option left.

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said the investigation remained "active" and that officers were still exploring "a number of lines of enquiry."

The inquest had heard that Mr Williams, a codebreaker for GCHQ who was on secondment to MI6, had been found in his boxer shorts and tied to his bed by his landlord and landlady in Cheltenham a few years earlier.

Video footage found on a mobile phone in Mr Williams's flat showed him dressed in nothing but black leather boots as he “wiggled and gyrated" for the camera.

He kept pictures of drag queens on his computer and had £20,000-worth of designer women's clothes in his flat along with women's shoes and wigs.

He browsed self-bondage websites and sites about claustrophilia - the love of enclosure - on his computers and phone and was looking at fetish websites days before his death.

Friends and family were upset at speculation that Mr Williams may have been gay and speculated that "some agency specialising in the dark arts" was behind his killing.

In her ruling, Dr Wilcox said there was no evidence to suggest the spy was a transvestite "or interested in any such thing".

The make-up found in his flat was more likely to reflect his interest in fashion and the wigs were "far more consistent with dress-up such as attendance at a manga conference", she said.

The suggestion that his interest in female footwear could have been of a sexual nature, was not unusual, Dr Wilcox observed.

Mr Williams's colleagues at MI6 had failed to report him missing for a week and did not turn over nine memory sticks and a black bag that was under his desk at their Vauxhall Cross headquarters, sparking rumours of a cover-up.

The coroner said it remained a "legitimate line of inquiry" that the secret services were involved in Mr Williams's death although there was no firm evidence.

The Telegraph, London

Telegraph : MI6 codebreaker Gareth Williams 'probably locked himself into sports bag'

MI6 codebreaker Gareth Williams 'probably locked himself into sports bag'

MI6 codebreaker Gareth Williams probably locked himself into the sports bag where his naked body was found and was not the victim of a hit by the security services, Scotland Yard has found after conducting a review of the case.

By Duncan Gardham | Dec 26, 2012

Dr Fiona Wilcox, the Westminster Coroner, said earlier this year that she could not rule out the involvement of the security services in the death.

The ruling sparked a review of the case by Scotland Yard’s murder squad which has re-interviewed his colleagues from MI6 and taken DNA samples over the last seven months.

Detectives had believed that someone else must have locked the codebreaker in the bag and launched a search for a mysterious Mediterranean couple, who were later ruled out of inquiries. The Daily Telegraph understands detectives now believe that he probably died alone.

“They have been unable to find any trace of anyone who should not have been in the flat and every reason to believe that Gareth may have climbed into the bag himself and been unable to get out,” a source close to the inquiry said.

The keys to the red North Face holdall were found in the bottom of the bag when Mr Williams’s naked body was found in the empty bath of his apartment in Pimlico, central London in August 2010.

Two experts tried a total of 400 times to lock themselves into the bag and one claimed that even world-famous escapologist Harry Houdini "would have struggled" to squeeze himself inside.

But days after the inquest verdict a retired Army sergeant showed how it was possible to climb into a similar North Face bag and lock it from the inside.

Scotland Yard detectives have now been able to repeat the experiment with some slight differences to the way the bag is locked that fits with how Gareth Williams was found in August 2010.

Dr Wilcox, a former negligence barrister, had ruled that the lack of hand and footprints in the bathroom was "significant" but it understood that police have also been able to identify around 300 fingerprints in the flat.

The coroner also dismissed speculation that Mr Williams died as a result of some kind of "auto-erotic activity", but detectives now believe that is probably the only option left.

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said the investigation remained "active" and that officers were still exploring "a number of lines of enquiry."

The inquest had heard that Mr Williams, a codebreaker for GCHQ who was on secondment to MI6, had been found in his boxer shorts and tied to his bed by his landlord and landlady in Cheltenham a few years earlier.

Video footage found on a mobile phone in Mr Williams's flat showed him dressed in nothing but black leather boots as he “wiggled and gyrated" for the camera.

He kept pictures of drag queens on his computer and had £20,000-worth of designer women's clothes in his flat along with women’s shoes and wigs.

He browsed self-bondage websites and sites about claustrophilia - the love of enclosure - on his computers and phone and was looking at fetish websites days before his death.

Friends and family were upset at speculation that Mr Williams may have been gay and speculated that "some agency specialising in the dark arts" was behind his killing.

In her ruling, Dr Wilcox said there was no evidence to suggest the spy was a transvestite "or interested in any such thing".

The make-up found in his flat was more likely to reflect his interest in fashion and the wigs were "far more consistent with dress-up such as attendance at a manga conference", she said.

The suggestion that his interest in female footwear could have been of a sexual nature, was not unusual, Dr Wilcox observed.

Mr Williams’s colleagues at MI6 had failed to report him missing for a week and did not turn over nine memory sticks and a black bag that was under his desk at their Vauxhall Cross headquarters, sparking rumours of a cover-up.

The coroner said it remained a "legitimate line of inquiry" that the secret services were involved in Mr Williams's death although there was no firm evidence.

DAILY STAR SUNDAY : ‘SPY IN BAG’ OFFICER IS TAKEN OFF THE CASE

‘SPY IN BAG’ OFFICER IS TAKEN OFF THE CASE

Jonathan Corke | November 11, 2012

THE detective who tried to solve the “spy in the bag” riddle has been replaced – while colleagues who failed to tell her about evidence in the case have escaped a ­disciplinary rap.

Detective Chief Inspector Jackie Sebire believed a third party was involved in MI6 worker Gareth Williams’ mysterious death two years ago in a central London flat.

But it emerged at the code-breaker’s inquest that evidence had been ­withheld from her for 21 months.

Mr Williams’ body was ­discovered in a padlocked holdall in the bath of his flat in August 2010. Officers from the Metropolitan Police’s counter- terrorism SO15 unit, who liaised with MI6, failed to tell Det Chief Insp Sebire that nine computer memory sticks and a black bag belonging to the 31-year-old had been recovered.

She was only informed of the find at the inquest in May this year.

We can now reveal she was moved off the case after the inquest – and replaced by Det Chief Insp Matt Bonner.

But after our investigation, which the police tried to thwart, we have learned that no Met officer has faced disciplinary proceedings over failings in the probe which emerged at the inquest.

Detective Superintendent Mick Broster of SO15 was slammed by coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox over the way he handled the memory sticks and bag evidence.

The officer said he had been assured by MI6 that the items, which were found in Mr Williams’ work locker, were not relevant to the inquiry.

Sources close to Mr Williams, who was originally from Anglesey, North Wales, fear the case will never be solved and has been badly hampered by police and MI6 failures.

Holyhead and Anglesey Mail : Progress made in MI6 spy death case

Progress made in MI6 spy death case

September 19, 2012

POLICE investigating the death of a spy whose body was found in a holdall are in direct contact with the head of MI6, a senior officer has said.

There is a “very good line of communication” with the intelligence service over Gareth Williams’ mysterious death but the investigation remains “tricky”, Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said.

The codebreaker from Valley, was found in the bag which was in the bath at his flat in central London in August 2010, and no significant progress has been made in finding out how he died.

Earlier this year Met Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe ordered that detectives investigating his death must have direct contact with MI6.

Previously investigators were forced to involve counter-terror colleagues in an attempt to obtain statements and evidence but Mr Hogan-Howe was angered by delays in passing information to a senior investigator.

Mr Rowley said: “We’ve got access to everyone we need to speak to. We’ve got a much clearer arrangement and got a direct line of sight and communications. I can speak personally direct to the head of Six, so we’ve got a very good line of communications. But it remains a tricky case.

“On the one hand, of course you need to respect national security and on the other hand, of course you need to do a penetrating and thorough investigation.

“Squaring that circle is a challenge and what we’ve learned is that the way we tried to square that circle in the first stage of the investigation was not quite right.”

In May coroner Fiona Wilcox said that 31-year-old Williams was “probably” killed and she was sure someone else locked him in the bag. But she said it is “unlikely” that the mystery would ever be solved because of mistakes by investigators.

She also questioned why details of Mr Williams’s private life were leaked to the press.

Mr Rowley said: “Williams is a challenging guy to understand, his personal life and his circumstances, his history. We’ve got to try and understand what was going on and what led to such an unusual and suspicious death. But we’ve got full co-operation.

“People can come to their own conclusions without knowing all the evidence about exactly how the bag was secured. We’re still working on the basis that we expect there was somebody else was present.”

This Is Somerset : MI6 opens up to police for inquiry into spy's mystery death

MI6 opens up to police for inquiry into spy's mystery death

Western Daily Press | September 14, 2012

Police investigating the death of a spy whose body was found in a holdall are in direct contact with the head of MI6, a senior officer has said.

There is a "very good line of communication" with the intelligence service over Cheltenham-based Gareth Williams' mysterious death but the investigation remains "tricky", Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said.

The codebreaker was found naked in the bag in the bath at his flat in central London in August 2010, and no significant progress has been made in finding out how he died, but Mr Rowley said police are still "working on the basis that we expect there was somebody else present".

Earlier this year, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe ordered that detectives must have direct contact with MI6.

Investigators were previously forced to involve counter-terror colleagues in an attempt to obtain statements and evidence but Mr Hogan-Howe was angered by delays.

Mr Rowley said: "On the one hand, of course you need to respect national security and on the other hand, you need to do a thorough investigation.

"Squaring that circle is a challenge and what we've learned is that the way we tried to square that circle in the first stage of the investigation was not quite right."

In May, coroner Fiona Wilcox said that 31-year-old Williams was "probably" killed and that she was sure someone else locked him in the bag.

But she said it is "unlikely" that the mystery would ever be solved because of mistakes by investigators.

Dr Wilcox said several factors hampered inquiries, such as breakdowns in communication by her own coroner's office, a DNA mix-up by forensics and the late submission of evidence by MI6 to police.

She also questioned why details of Mr Williams's private life were leaked to the press. It was suggested he had an interest in bondage and drag queens.

Mr Rowley said the fitness enthusiast, originally from Anglesey, North Wales, was difficult to understand.

"Williams is a challenging guy to understand, his personal life and his circumstances, his history," he said.

"People can come to their own conclusions."

UKPA : Spy death police 'working with MI6'

Spy death police 'working with MI6'

September 13, 2012

Police investigating the death of a spy whose body was found in a holdall in central London are in direct contact with the head of MI6, a senior officer has said.

There is a "very good line of communication" with the intelligence service over Gareth Williams's mysterious death but the investigation remains "tricky", Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said.

The codebreaker was found naked in the bag which was in the bath at his flat in August 2010, and no significant progress has been made in finding out how he died.

Earlier this year Met Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe ordered that detectives investigating his death must have direct contact with MI6.

Previously investigators were forced to involve counter-terror colleagues in an attempt to obtain statements and evidence but Mr Hogan-Howe was angered by delays in passing information to a senior investigator.

Mr Rowley said: "We've got access to everyone we need to speak to. We've got a much clearer arrangement and got a direct line of sight and communications. I can speak personally direct to the head of Six, so we've got a very good line of communications. But it remains a tricky case.

"On the one hand, of course you need to respect national security and on the other hand, of course you need to do a penetrating and thorough investigation.

"Squaring that circle is a challenge and what we've learned is that the way we tried to square that circle in the first stage of the investigation was not quite right."

In May coroner Fiona Wilcox said that 31-year-old Williams was "probably" killed and that she was sure someone else locked him in the bag. But she said it is "unlikely" that the mystery would ever be solved because of mistakes by investigators.

Dr Wilcox said several factors hampered inquiries, such as breakdowns in communication by her own coroner's office, a DNA mix-up by forensics and the late submission of evidence by MI6 to police.

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