Scottish Daily Record : Spy found dead in holdall was unhappy and had asked to leave MI6, inquest hears

Spy found dead in holdall was unhappy and had asked to leave MI6, inquest hears

April 24, 2012

AN MI6 spy who was found dead in a holdall in his flat was unhappy at work and was about to quit, an inquest heard yesterday.

Gareth Williams had complained of “friction” with other spooks.

And he hated “office culture, post-work drinks, flash car competitions and the rat race”.

The body of codebreaker Williams, 31, was found in a locked bag in the bath of his London flat in August 2010.

Police think he had been dead for about a week.

The inquest into his death heard he had been on a three-year secondment to MI6 from communications surveillance agency GCHQ in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.

But he was so unhappy, he had cut short the secondment and had been due to leave days after his body was found.

Williams’s family believe secret service agents may have been involved in his death.

His sister Ceri Subbe told the hearing the job at MI6 was “not quite what he had expected”.

She added: “There was a lot more red tape than he was comfortable with.”

Ms Subbe said her brother had packed his bags and had spent an increasing number of weekends at his parents’ house in Anglesey, Wales.

But MI6 had “dragged their feet” in approving his request to leave.

The inquest in London continues.