Guardian : Gareth Williams inquest: MI6 spy could have shut himself in bag, says expert

Gareth Williams inquest: MI6 spy could have shut himself in bag, says expert

Despite trying and failing 100 times to mimic the act of locking himself in an identical bag, expert tells court it is not impossible

Press Association | April 27, 2010

Experts have refused to rule out the possibility that dead MI6 spy Gareth Williams locked himself in his sports holdall unaided.

Video reconstructions showed a yoga specialist repeatedly fail in the "frustrating, fiddly" task of pulling the zip from within the 81cm x 48cm space.

But William MacKay – who said he made more than 100 attempts without success – said it was not impossible that the fitness-loving maths prodigy died without a third party present.

"I would not like to say that it could not be done," he told Westminster coroner's court. "There are people around who can do amazing things and Mr Williams may well have been one of those persons."

Several reconstruction scenarios were played of a man of similar build to Williams getting inside an identical red North Face holdall.

While he had little problem curling his body inside the space, pulling the zip into position proved problematic.

MacKay, an expert who has worked with the Army, suggested Williams would have needed extensive training to have pulled off the act in pitch darkness.

"I think you could continue to work on this for a long period of time," MacKay said. He said "many problems arise" in trying to complete the task.

MacKay said his assistant was very flexible and "if the task could be done, he is the person that could do it".

Williams' mountain climbing experience would have given him an advantage as it would have strengthened his fingers.

But MacKay added: "It was very painful to do it. You tend to move the zip with your finger nails, straggling about. It was very frustrating, fiddly, you just can't get the thing together."

Williams was found curled up naked in the bag in the bath of his flat on 23 August 2010. The family believe he had been dead for nine days.

MacKay said he even tried to pull off the task in water and using chewing gum.