Daily Mail : You are not above the law Met chief tells MI6 agents as he demands unprecedented access to solve spy-in-the-bag murder

You are not above the law Met chief tells MI6 agents as he demands unprecedented access to solve spy-in-the-bag murder

* Tests on microscopic human traces on a hand towel in the spy’s flat could identify his killer
* Employees at MI6 and GCHQ could face mass voluntary DNA screening within weeks

By Daily Mail Reporter | May 9, 2012

Britain’s top policeman told MI6 last night that no one is above the law as he demanded unprecedented access in a bid to solve the murder of spy Gareth Williams.

Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe said there was ‘nothing in law’ to stop police making secret agents give statements and forensic samples.

The Scotland Yard chief said employees at MI6 and GCHQ could face mass voluntary DNA screening within weeks.

Detectives believe tests on microscopic human traces on a hand towel in the spy’s flat could identify his killer.

Mr Hogan-Howe said: ‘There is no difference in law, as you would expect if someone has committed a serious crime, no matter who they are.’

Asked if MI6 will grant full access, he said: ‘They do not have to sign up to it, it is called the law. There is no reason why they need to agree to it.’

No one has been arrested over the murder of Mr Williams, whose naked body was discovered in a padlocked bag in the bath of his central London flat in August 2010.

Mr Hogan-Howe said: ‘There is no difference in law, as you would expect if someone has committed a serious crime, no matter who they are.’

Asked if MI6 will grant full access, he said: ‘They do not have to sign up to it, it is called the law. There is no reason why they need to agree to it.’

No one has been arrested over the murder of Mr Williams, whose naked body was discovered in a padlocked bag in the bath of his central London flat in August 2010.

His family lashed out at MI6 last week after a coroner ruled he was probably unlawfully killed and the case may never be solved.

Fears remain that the solution to the riddle of his death could lie within MI6 or that a secret agent could even be responsible for the murder.

Detectives investigating the mysterious death of the body-in-the-bag spy believe a killer could have slipped back into his flat through a skylight to cover his tracks, it has been claimed.

Many close to the case believe he was assassinated by a spy working for foreign powers because of his work for MI6 and the US National Security Agency.

Speculation over the exact nature of his work has been growing since Foreign Secretary William Hague signed a a document to stop details being released about his job on security grounds.

It has been claimed that MI6 and the government eavesdropping centre GCHQ, to which Williams was attached, have been working on a computer virus designed to disrupt Iran's nuclear programme.

Questions are also being asked as to how MI6 came into possession of a second iPhone belonging to Mr Williams when Police found only one at his flat.