Telegraph : MI6 spy inquest will hear anonymous evidence from security agents

MI6 spy inquest will hear anonymous evidence from security agents

Security agents giving evidence at the inquest of MI6 spy Gareth Williams, who was found dead inside a padlocked bag, can do so anonymously and from behind screens, the Coroner ruled today.

By Martin Evans and Tom Whitehead, Crime Correspondent and Security Editor | April 23, 2012

At the opening of the hearing into what she described as Mr Williams’ “highly controversial death”, Dr Fiona Wilcox said there would be no secrecy at the inquest.

But she said there would be a “real risk of harm to national security” if witnesses from the security services were required to give evidence without the protection of anonymity.

Four witnesses, identified only as K, F, G and SIS F will all give evidence from behind a screen.

Mr Williams’ sister Ceri Subbe will also give evidence at the inquest about her brother’s upbringing, character and background.

His parents Ian and Ellen were present at the hearing, which is taking place at Westminster Coroner’s Court in central London.

The inquest will attempt to establish the cause and circumstances of Mr Williams’ mysterious death in August 2010.

His naked and decomposing remains were discovered in a holdall which had been locked from the outside and placed in the bath at his Pimlico flat.

Almost 40 witnesses will give evidence during the hearing, which is expected to last five days.

Mr Williams was a mathematics prodigy who graduated from Bangor University at the age of 17 before going on to complete a PhD and post-graduate studies at Manchester and Cambridge Universities.

A keen cyclist, he joined GCHQ – the government’s listening station - in 2001, where he was employed as a cipher and code breaker. In 2009 he was seconded to MI6, the secret intelligence service, where he qualified for “operational deployment” in the field.

Shortly before his death he returned from a fly drive holiday on the west coast of the United States and the last confirmed sighting of his was on August 15 2010 when a CCTV camera captured him shopping at the Harrods department store.

However despite failing to turn up for work, it was not until more than a week later on August 23 when he was reported missing by the human resources department at GCHQ.

Officers from Scotland Yard attended his top floor flat in Alderney Street, Pimlico, where they discovered his badly decomposed body in the holdall.

Mr Williams’ family believe he may have been murdered because of his work for the security services.

At a pre-inquest review, held last month, Mr O’Toole said: “The impression of the family is that the unknown third party was a member of some agency specialising in the dark arts of the secret services, or evidence has been removed post-mortem by experts in those dark arts.”