Guardian : MI6 spy Gareth Williams complained of friction at work, inquest told

MI6 spy Gareth Williams complained of friction at work, inquest told

Sister says Williams disliked office culture and had been due to return to GCHQ one week after his body was found in holdall

Caroline Davies | April 23, 2012

Gareth Williams, the intelligence worker found dead in a padlocked holdall at his London flat, had requested a transfer from MI6 because he was unhappy and he had been due to move a week after his body was found, an inquest heard.

He had wanted to return to the intelligence agency GCHQ in Cheltenham after complaining of "friction" at work and his dislike of the "rat race", his sister, Ceri Subbe, told the Westminster coroner's court on the opening day of the inquest.

Williams, 31, a cipher and codes expert, was so secretive about his work that his parents and sister did not know the nature of his job. He was on a three-year secondment to MI6 when he was found in the locked bag in his bath on 25 August 2010.

Describing her brother as a cycling enthusiast and someone who was happiest "in the mountains" and engaged in outdoor pursuits, Subbe said: "He disliked office culture, post-work drinks, flash car competitions and the rat race. He even spoke of friction in the office."

PC John Gallagher was first on the scene at 5pm after Williams's family reported him missing. He said he searched the "extremely tidy" top-floor flat in Pimlico before noticing a red holdall in the bath in a bathroom that was devoid of toiletries.

"I noticed a bulge," he said, describing the bag as having the two zips padlocked together. He lifted the bag six or seven inches. "That's when I noticed some red fluid. It was seeping out of the bag," he said.

Williams's body was found in the bag, naked and decomposing.

Detective chief superintendent Hamish Campbell said he had been made aware later that evening of the nature of Williams's job with MI6, and that this had prompted senior level talks between homicide and counter-terrorism about the chain of the command in the investigation.

It was decided that homicide officers would conduct the investigation, with participation at senior level from the security intelligence services, and Campbell said Scotland Yard had full cooperation.

He added that he was not aware of MI5, MI6 or SO15 carrying out their own independent investigations into the death.

Inside Williams's rented flat, police found a woman's wig hanging on a chair, two sim cards, a mobile phone and a laptop. Designer women's clothing worth £20,000 was also discovered.

The flat was owned by a company called New Rodina, registered in the British Virgin Islands, but the tenancy had been taken over by the secretary of state in 2003, the inquest heard.

Williams had been in the process of packing up in preparation for his transfer.

The coroner, Fiona Wilcox, described Williams's death as highly controversial and said that four intelligence officers giving evidence would be given anonymity in the public interest. There would be "a real risk of harm to national security" and international relations, she said, if some of those giving evidence were identified.

Scotland Yard said it might have problems with allowing some exhibits to be released to the media.

A 21-month investigation into Williams's death has left detectives baffled, but Vincent Williams, a lawyer for the Metropolitan police, said the inquiry was ongoing and, though "not straightforward, it may at some stage result in criminal proceedings".

Asked whether she was surprised that £20,000 worth of women's clothing had been found at the flat, Williams's sister said she was not, as her brother had been generous and it was "possibly a gift".

In a statement, Subbe said: "In terms of a big brother figure, Gareth was perfect."

They were incredibly close as a family, she said, and he would visit his parents often. "It was impossible to do justice to Gareth's impressive character without meeting him."

The inquest heard that Williams had taken his O-levels aged 10 and had begun a degree course at Bangor University aged 16. He loved cycling and fell walking, said Subbe. "His passion was undoubtedly the mountains."

He was a scrupulous risk assessor, she said. He adored music, the theatre, the arts and fashion. He had undertaken two six-week design courses at Central St Martin's College in London.

His sister said he was secretive about his job. "Gareth didn't tell us what specifically he did as a job – of course we knew where he worked, but he didn't speak about it in any great detail," she said.

He was very strict about only allowing people who had been security vetted to visit his flat, she said, and would not have lent his keys to anyone.

Subbe said the family had not heard from Williams, who was originally from Anglesey, for 10 days before his body was found.

Subbe said her brother's job with MI6 had not been "not quite what he expected".

"He encountered more red tape than he was comfortable with," she said. In April 2010 he had applied to return to GCHQ earlier than had been planned, but MI6 "dragged their feet", eventually approving that he would return to the Cheltenham listening post on September 1 2010.

She said her brother had failed to turn up for a meeting he was supposed to chair on 16 August.

"He is very conscientious," she said, and MI6 had agreed he was like "a Swiss clock – very punctual, very efficient".

She added that the family wanted to know why the alarm was not raised when he initially failed to turn up at work. She also said her brother had never told her he was being followed, or felt threatened in any way.

"I cannot think as to why anybody would want to harm him," she said.

Williams's family urged the coroner not to release to the media video footage of a reconstruction – made for the purposes of the inquest – to establish if someone could lock themselves into a holdall.

Anthony O'Toole, a lawyer for Subbe and her parents, Ian and Ellen, who were at the inquest, said it would be "upsetting" for the family if the "speculative film were released".

At a pre-inquest hearing, the coroner heard that a battery of post-mortem tests had failed to determine how Williams died and that police had originally decided it would have been impossible for him to lock himself in the bag.

His family believe that by the time the officers arrived at his flat, his body was so decomposed that possible vital evidence was lost.

The hearing continues.