ITV : Insight into spy's life

Insight into spy's life

April 25, 2012

wig on chair inside Gareth Williams' flat A wig and £20,000 worth of designer women's clothes were found in Gareth Williams' flat Photo: Metropolitan police

Gareth Williams' family have always maintained they believe his mysterious death was somehow linked to his work for MI6 and today the inquest into the 30 year-olds death heard from his boss.

The MI6 worker, who gave evidence behind a 10ft blue screen to protect his identity, said he had wrongly assumed Mr Williams was stuck on a train when he missed a meeting seven days before his rotting remains were found. He spoke of his regret of failing to raise the alarm that Gareth was missing.

He went on to tell the coroner that Mr Williams wanted to leave MI6 because he was bogged down in bureaucracy and described Mr Williams as a "quiet intellectual" who rarely joined colleagues for drink.

The job Mr Williams never discussed remained under the spotlight, as a counter terrorism officer told the inquest that he had found no connection between the codebreaker's work and his death.

Questioned by the Williams' family lawyer Det Supt Michael Broster said he could not testify absolutey that Mr Williams' computers at his office hadn't been interefered with by M16 before they were seized by his team - but said he had no reason to suspect that they had.

The inquest also heard from Elizabeth Guthrie, a friend of Mr Williams, who gave an insight into his life and personality saying that despite living nearby she had never visited the flat where Mr Williams' body was found.

She insisted that she had only known him to let family into his immaculately kept home.

The inquest heard that following the discovery of the body, when police entered the property on the 23rd August 2010 they found a wig in the living room on the back of a chair. They also found clothing folded neatly on the bed but his duvet was discarded on the floor.

In another bedroom £20,000 worth of designer women's clothes were found but his close friend Ms Guthrie insisted that they certainly wouldn't have been for him.

She told the inquest he had never shown any interest in cross dressing, and that the two of them were planning to go to a fancy dress party together, wearing wigs and makeup.

After being asked by the family lawyer - she revealed Gareth had told her he sometime used another name. A line of questioning stopped by the Coroner.

There was more insight into Mr Williams' background with evidence from his former landlady who had owned the flat he lived in in Cheltenham for ten years while he worked at CCGQ.

In a statement Jennifer Elliot told the inquest that three years before his death, Gareth had called for help in the middle of the night and she and her husband had found him with his arms tied to his bed.

He told the couple he just wanted to see if he could "get himself free"

His landlady said the incident was never mentioned or repeated again - and that she was expecting him to go back to renting her flat just days after his body was discovered padlocked in a holdall in the bath in his flat.

The inquest continues.

National Post : Unknown DNA found on bag containing British spy’s corpse

Unknown DNA found on bag containing British spy’s corpse

Yeganeh Torbati, Reuters | April 25, 2012

Gareth Williams case: Unknown DNA found on bag containing MI6 agent's corpse

The bag in which a British MI6 agent’s corpse was found in his London home in 2010 had small bits of unknown DNA, a detective testified on Tuesday, fueling speculation about who may have been behind the mysterious death.

The nude body of Gareth Williams, 31, was found folded in the fetal position inside a padlocked bag in his bathtub at his Pimlico flat, not far from the headquarters of MI6, the British foreign spying service, where Williams worked.

Jackie Sebire, the detective handling Williams’s case, said on Tuesday police found blood believed to be that of Williams as well as “small components of another contributor’s DNA”.

One of the central questions of the case, she said, was whether Williams could have placed himself in the bag and locked the padlock or whether someone else was responsible.

“It is my opinion … that a third party was involved in that padlock being locked, and Gareth being placed in the bag,” Sebire said. “No stone has been unturned. I’ve tried to do everything I can to understand what’s happened.”

The bag in which Williams was found showed no signs of a struggle, such as torn netting or stitches, Sebire said, and keys that could have opened the padlock were found inside the bag with Williams, underneath his buttock.

Details revealed at the inquest have only added to the mystery surrounding the circumstances of the macabre death.

Inside Williams’s flat at the time of his death were about 20,000 pounds in women’s clothing. Some of the clothing included high-end shoes from Christian Louboutin, Chloe, Christian Dior, and Stella McCartney, including one pair of shoes worth about 1,000 pounds, Sebire said.

Police also found a woman’s wig and new makeup inside the home.

Williams’s close friend Sian Jones said she did not think the clothing was unusual, because Williams often gave her gifts of expensive clothing. Jones said she did not believe Williams was a transvestite or gay.

“He was truly such a generous person and through the gifts that he’s bought me in the past, it wouldn’t surprise me if they were gifts,” Jones said.

Jones said that although Williams did not have many other close friends, he was close to his colleagues at the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), the state eavesdropping service based in Cheltenham, northwest of London.

Williams was on a three-year secondment from GCHQ to MI6 at the time of his death, and on Monday his sister Ceri Subbe testified that he had complained of office tensions there.

Her comments added to speculation that the MI6 was somehow involved in Williams’s death, a theory stoked by a lawyer for Williams’s family when he said last month that “a member of some agency specializing in the dark arts of the secret services” might be responsible.

Jones said Williams had left her a voicemail before his death in which he sounded all right and said he was moving back to Cheltenham.

Inside Williams’s apartment, police found a newspaper clipping entitled “The Top Five Regrets of the Dying,” including not having the “courage to live the life true to myself” and working too hard.

© Thomson Reuters 2012

Telegraph : Gareth Williams timeline: how the mystery of the 'spy in the bag' unfolded

Gareth Williams timeline: how the mystery of the 'spy in the bag' unfolded

How the Daily Telegraph covered the mysterious case of Gareth Williams, the MI6 worker found dead in a sports bag.

By Daily Telegraph reporters | April 25, 2012

[see original for links]

25 August 2010: A GCHQ worker in his 30s is found dead in a large sports bag in his bath. He was on secondment to MI6, police believe. His mobile telephone and sim cards had been carefully laid out on a table. He had been there sometime and his body had decomposed.

26 August 2010: The dead man is named as Gareth Williams. Police believe he may have been killed by a "jealous lover" but they do not rule out the possibility his death was linked to his intelligence work. There were no signs of forced entry and a post mortem is inconclusive. Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg is given updates on the probe as part of scheduled intelligence briefings. His parents, Ellen and Ian, return from holiday to identify their son.

27 August 2010: Friends say Williams was "one of life's innocents" who could have fallen in with "unsafe" company as details emerge about his brilliant mathematical abilities. Geraint Williams, a maths teachers at Bodedern Secondary School, said the "exceptional" pupil had "the best brain I have ever seen". Friends disclosed that Mr Williams travelled to the United States at least three times a year for up to a month at a time, throughout his time working for GCHQ. It is believed he was working with the National Security Agency, the national listening station near Baltimore, as well as possibly the CIA and FBI in Washington. He was working for MI6 at the time of his death. Philip Johnston profiles GCHQ, the British evesdropping agency.

28 August 2010 Williams' family attacks "completely false" smears about his private life. It is reoported that the spy was gay or even a transvestite, and that bondage equipment had been found in his flat.

29 August 2010 Williams was recruited by GCHQ scouts while studying at Cambridge University, it emerges. He worked at the Super Computer Centre, developing techniques to speed up data encryption, before taking postings at RAF Menwith Hill in North Yorkshire and the US NSA's Fort Meade base. He was due to start work at GCHQ's Cyber Security Operations Centre after his posting at MI6 came to an end.

30 August 2010 Murder detectives tell the Daily Telegraph Williams may have been killed by a foreign intelligence agency seeking to stop his code-breaking work. They say Williams returned from a foreign trip on August 11 and was last seen alive on August 15 - eight days before his body was discovered. Sources close to the inquiry said they are looking at the possibility that his body was manhandled into the bag in order to remove it from the premises. A pathologist remains unsure how Williams died. His family pay tribute to a "generous, loving, son, brother and friend".

2 September 2010 A coroner reveals Mr Williams was padlocked into the sportsbag when he was found dead.

6 September 2010 Police suspect Mr Williams was poisoned - and launch a hunt for a Mediterranean-looking couple who visited the Pimlico safehouse before he died. CCTV footage shows the spy shopping in the West End wearing a red t-shirt and beige trousers.

12 September 2010 Mr Williams was working on systems to defend the banks of the City of London from foreign attack at the time of his death, the Sunday Telegraph learns. One theory being examined is that Mr Williams may have had an approach from a rival agency, and either rebuffed it without informing his superiors or initially agreed to cooperate then got cold feet. If such an approach had been exposed there would have been severe political and diplomatic repercussions, making it expedient for Mr Williams to be killed.

20 September 2010 Police now believe Mr Williams' death was linked to an unusual sex game. Officers have ruled out almost every other possibility. They have come to the view that Gareth Williams probably died after climbing into the bag which was then locked by another person. Detectives believe he was probably indulging in a sadomasochistic game in which he got a thrill from being helpless. It is likely that once locked and left in the bag, he died from a combination of causes including suffocation and dehydration, which sources said can be hard to identify in a post-mortem inquiry.

24 September 2010 Mr Williams is buried at Holyhead, Anglesey. Sir John Sawers, the head of the Secret Intelligence Service, tells mourners: "Gareth was a hugely talented person and very modest as well. He did really valuable work with us in the cause of national security." Other MI6 and GCHQ staff enter the church through a back door to protect their identities.

29 October 2010 Tests on Mr Williams' body found no trace of drugs, alcohol or poison - reinforcing the sex game theory.

22 December The keys to the padlock were found inside Mr Williams' North Face holdall, under his naked body, it emerges.

23 December 2010 Mr Williams had visited bondage websites, gay bars and drag clubs in the weeks before his death, police reveal. He also maintained a £15,000 collection of women's clothes by designers including Stella McCartney and Christian Louboutin. They were in sizes that would have fitted the 5ft 8ins spy. Unknown to his family and colleagues, Mr Williams had attended two short courses in fashion design at the Central St Martin's College of Art and Design in London during evenings and weekends, one in 2010 and one in 2009.

27 December 2010 Mr Williams had intended to give the clothes away as gifts, Sian Lloyd-Jones, a childhood friend says. "I truly believe that Ceri and I were going to receive the clothing. He was so generous you wouldn't believe," she said. She reveals Mr Williams was training to take on a new identity and had a second passport.

16 December 2010 The inquest into Mr Williams death is adjourned again to allow more tests. Dr Paul Knapman says the case has made little progress, the 'Mediterrean' couple have not been traced and a break-through looks unlikely.

31 March 2012 An interim hearing before a full inquest takes place. A lawyer representing Mr Williams' family says he could have been killed by someone who specialised in the "dark arts of the secret services". The MI6 worker had recently qualified for "operational deployment". Finger prints and DNA evidence was wiped from the scene of the crime in a cover-up, the family believe. It emerges that DNA found on Mr Williams' hand, which officers believed could lead them to his killer, belonged to one of the police forensics worker. The code for the sample had been incorrectly logged by LGC, the forensics company.

3 April 2012 Scotland Yard apologises for "administrative errors'' during its probe. The force said it was responsible for giving a coroner three names for the same witness. Elizabeth Guthrie is expected to be questioned about her contact with Mr Williams in the months before his death. The coroner, Dr Fiona Wilcox, told a pre–inquest review last week that ''there has been some confusion'' over her identity.

21 April 2012 Ahead of the inquest, Mr Williams' family says their emotions remain "very raw". His aunt, Judith Thomas, says: "We could fill newspapers with words to describe Gareth. You couldn't find enough paper in this world to say how we feel about him."

22 April 2012 Sir John Sawers, the head of MI6, met Sir Paul Stephenson, the commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, hours after Gareth Williams' body was discovered. MI6 feared detectives would extend their probe into sensitive areas, including the nature of Mr Williams' work.

23 April 2012 The inquest continues. Mr Williams' sister, Ceri Subbe, tells Dr Fiona Wilcox that her brother did not enjoy the "flash car competition and post-war drinking culture" of MI6, and had applied to return to Cheltenham but MI6 were slow in approving his request.

24 April 2012 Fragments of another person's DNA were discovered on the outside of the bag in which Gareth Williams was found, the inquest heard. The traces were discovered on the toggle attached to the zip and the padlock used to lock the bag, it was revealed. Detective Chief Inspector Jackie Sebire, who led the police investigation into Mr Williams’ death, told the inquest: “My thought or opinion since I went into the scene is that a third party had been involved in the death or in putting the bag in the bath.”

The inquest also heard that MI6 held an internal investigation into Mr Williams' death. Andrew O’Connor, the lawyer for the Secret Intelligence Service, told coroner Fiona Wilcox that MI6 had carried out its own internal review. He said: “The fruits of that internal investigation were shared with the police at the time.” Dr Wilcox replied that she had not seen the results of the inquiries and asked for any report that had been produced to be submitted to the inquest.

25 April 2012 Mr Williams was once discovered tied to his bed posts wearing only boxer shorts. The maths prodigy was living alone in Cheltenham at the time and had to call for help in the middle of the night to be set free. His landlady and landlord, who lived below him heard his yells and were met with the “shocking” scene, Westminster Coroners’ Court heard. Searches of his home computers seized after his death revealed that he had been visited "websites of claustrophillia, and he also had access to bondage and sado masochism websites, the inquest has heard earlier in the day.

But a friend told the inquest Mr Williams was straight and not a transvestite. Elizabeth Guthrie, who had only known Mr Williams since 2009, said he may have had women’s clothing in his flat as “support strategy” for female friends. She said he would not have let anyone in to his flat unless he had a “very strong relationship” with them.

26 April 2012 MI6 officer SIS F tells the inquest that Mr Williams' interest in women's clothing and sadomasochism would not have prevented him becoming a spy. The inquest also heard that Mr Williams had conducted unauthorised searches on the MI6 database that could have put him at risk to “hostile and malign” parties.

Denise Stanworth, a toxicologist, told the inquest that traces of the date rape drug GHB were found in the body of Gareth Williams. They possibly occurred naturally. A panel of forensics experts which reviewed the post mortem findings was unable to rule out the use of certain poisons, such as cyanide and chloroform.

27 April 2012 Williams may have been able to get in the bag himself, the inquest hears. Despite experts failing to complete the bizarre task more than 100 times, a specialist said it could not rule out that someone with training could achieve it.

But a second expert, Peter Faulding, said he tried and failed to get into the bag 300 times. “My conclusion is he was placed in the bag unconscious or was dead when he was put in the bag. I cannot say it is impossible but I think even Houdini would struggle with this one.”

30 April 2012 A pathologist says Mr Williams probably died from poisoning, suffocation or strangulation. But Dr Richard Shepherd, a second pathologist, said he believed Mr Williams died inside the bag - probably from the build up of carbon dioxide.

Telegraph : MI6 spy Gareth Williams was 'discovered in bed with hands tied to headboard'

MI6 spy Gareth Williams was 'discovered in bed with hands tied to headboard'

MI6 spy Gareth Williams was discovered in bed with his hands tied to a headboard when living in Cheltenham, the inquest in to his death heard.

By Tom Whitehead, Security Editor | April 25, 2012

Mr Williams was living in an annexe of his landlady Jennifer Elliot’s home in Cheltenham at the time.

He had to call for help in the middle of the night and when Mrs Elliot and her husband went to his yells they found him on the bed in just boxer shorts, his hands tied to the headboard.

He told them he was just “messing about” and trying to see “if I could get myself free”.

But in her written statement, Mrs Elliot said it was likely “to be sexual rather than escapology”.

He offered to pay more money (for rent) but she declined.

The court also heard that Mr Williams was “straight” and would never consider cross-dressing for sexual purpose.

Friend Elizabeth Guthrie, who had only known Mr Williams since 2009, said he may have had women’s clothing in his flat as “support strategy” for female friends.

Miss Guthrie, known as Missa, also revealed he had never talked of being followed in the weeks before his death.

She said he would not have let anyone in to his flat unless he had a “very strong relationship” with them.

She also said she worked out he was working for the security services and that he would sometimes go by another name and would call her from different phone numbers.

But she never asked about his work and he never discussed it, she said.

Miss Guthrie revealed the pair had planned to go to a fancy dress party in bright clothes and wigs as Manga characters - Japanese cartoon characters.

The inquest has already heard there was £20,000 worth of expensive women’s clothing and shoes in Mr Williams flat.

Miss Guthrie told the hearing at Westminster Coroner’s Court: “I have a personal view that he was straight”.

Asked if he had shown any interest in cross-dressing, she added: “Not of a sexual reference.

“He was going (to the fancy dress ball) as a ninja not a queen.”

Mr Williams’ naked and decomposing body was discovered in a padlocked North Face holdall in the bath of his two-bedroom rented flat in Pimlico, London on August 23 2010.

The inquest has already heard how fragments of DNA belonging to another person were discovered on the bag containing Mr William’s body.

Detective Chief Inspector Jackie Sebire said it had always been her opinion that a third party was involved in locking the padlock on the bag and placing it in the bath.

However, she said the mystery DNA samples were so small police have been unable to build a usable profile in order to identify a suspect.

Westminster Coroner’s Court was also given in an insight into Mr William’s secretive life, including the revelation that he had 26 pairs of womens’ shoes and boots as part of a £20,000 collection of female clothing.

Sian Lloyd Jones, the 31-year-old’s best friend, rejected suggestions that Mr Williams had an interest in transvestism, insisting the large collection of designer clothing and footwear would have been intended as gifts.

A graphic showing how his naked body folded up in a “foetal position” inside with his arms across his chest has already been shown to the inquest.

As has a harrowing police video showing the interior of Mr Williams’ flat, shot shortly after officers arrived and including scenes of the bulging red bag which contained his body.

The inquest also heard that police had discovered a newspaper cutting that listed the main regrets as expressed by dying people.

The article had been removed from a copy of The Observer newspaper and was found stored in the living room area.

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

Mr Williams was a maths 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.

After starting work for GCHQ in Cheltenham in 2001 he had been seconded to MI6, the secret intelligence service, where he qualified for “operational deployment” in the field.

But earlier the hearing was told that he was unhappy in London and disliked working for the Secret Intelligence Service.

He had applied to return to Cheltenham and had been due to transfer just weeks after he died.

The hearing continues.

Guardian : MI6 officer Gareth Williams found tied to bedposts by landlords, inquest told

MI6 officer Gareth Williams found tied to bedposts by landlords, inquest told

Officer shouted for help at 1.30am and told Cheltenham couple: 'I just wanted to see if I could get myself free'

Caroline Davies | April 25, 2012

The MI6 officer found dead in a padlocked bag in the bath at his flat once had to be rescued by his landlords after they found him tied to his bedposts, an inquest heard.

Jennifer Elliot, who rented a flat in Cheltenham to Gareth Williams while he worked at GCHQ, said she and her husband heard him shouting for help one night at 1.30am about three years ago.

When the couple went into the flat, they were shocked to find him in boxer shorts on his back on the bed "with both hands tied with material attached to the headboard".

"He said: 'I just wanted to see if I could get myself free,'" she said in a statement read to the court. "He was very embarrassed and panicky and apologising."

She said his hands were tied with some kind of material which was "tight enough to cut his wrists".

"My husband said: 'What the bloody hell are you doing?' He said he was just messing about to see if he could get free."

Her husband cut him free and said: "Gareth, we cannot have you doing this here," the statement went on. Williams apologised and said it would not happen again, said Elliot, and offered the couple more rent, which they declined.

The statement continued: "We never spoke to anyone about it." Elliot said Williams did not look aroused but the couple decided it "was more likely to be sexual rather than escapology". Her husband believed he had secured himself using a slip knot.

She added: "The main concern was what would have happened if we had been away."

Questions were raised over the police investigation into the death of the 31-year-old, as the inquest heard detectives found no connection with his work.

Police did not retrieve electronic equipment used by the codes and ciphers expert from GCHQ in Cheltenham until five days after his death. Equipment used by Williams at MI6 HQ in London took four days, Westminster coroners court heard.

Detectives relied on "assurances" from senior security intelligence services (SIS) staff that equipment had not been tampered with, Anthony O'Toole, a lawyer for Williams's family, told the inquest.

No formal witness statements were taken by police from intelligence staff. Instead detectives made a note or typed record afterwards, which was not later shown to the witnesses.

The body of Williams was found in a padlocked sports holdall in the bath in his top-floor flat in Pimlico, central London, on 23 August 2010.

The criticism of the investigation came as Superintendent Michael Broster, of the SO15 counter-terrorism command, whose job was to liaise between homicide command and the intelligence agencies, said all electronic equipment used by Williams had been examined.

The coroner, Fiona Wilcox, asked him: "You spent a lot of time trying to find a connection between Gareth's work and his death. Did you ever find a connection?"

"No, I did not," he replied.

O'Toole asked him why no signed witness statements had been produced from those interviewed at either MI6, where Williams was on secondment, or GCHQ, where he was due to return.

All three witnesses had complained that they had not had the opportunity to verify the contents of the "quasi-formal" statements produced and on at least two occasions the contents were inaccurate, said O'Toole.

He asked Broster how he could be sure the electronic equipment "had not been interfered or tampered with" before police retrieved it.

Broster said he had been assured by both GCHQ and SIS it had not.

"So almost under the old boys' act. They told you that and you accepted it?" said O'Toole.

Broster said the assurances were from senior staff. The equipment at MI6 had been sealed with tape. Elizabeth Guthrie, a friend of Williams in London, said of the designer female clothing found in his flat that "they certainly wouldn't have been for him".

Asked about her personal opinion of his sexuality, she said he was straight.

Guardian : MI6 code expert Gareth Williams 'previously found tied to bed'

MI6 code expert Gareth Williams 'previously found tied to bed'

Landlord tells inquest how she had to free cipher officer as boss admits taking seven days to report him missing

Caroline Davies | April 25, 2012

The MI6 cipher officer found dead in his flat in a padlocked bag had previously been rescued after tying himself to his bedstead, an inquest was told, as police said there was nothing to link his death to his intelligence services work.

Gareth Williams's decomposed body was found in the bag in the bath at his home in Pimlico on 23 August 2010, and 21 months later police remain baffled over the circumstances of his death.

But his former landlady, Jennifer Elliot, told the inquest that three years before his death, she and her husband had heard Williams call for help at 1.30am from the annex flat he was renting from them in Cheltenham, where he worked at GCHQ.

They let themselves in with the spare key and found the codes expert lying on his back on the bed, in boxer shorts, with his hands tied to the bed posts with material so tight it had cut his wrists.

In a statement read to the inquest, Elliot said she and her husband had both been in shock. Her husband asked Williams: "What the bloody hell are you doing?" Williams told them: "I just wanted to see if could get myself free."

The statement added that he did not appear sexually aroused, and was "very embarrassed, panicky and apologetic."

The couple, who never spoke to anyone about the incident, said they concluded it was "sexual rather than escapology".

The Westminster coroner, Fiona Wilcox, heard that Williams was only reported missing seven days after he failed to turn up for work, despite missing two meetings, and working in a small office of four people, two of whom were away.

He had been on secondment from GCHQ to MI6. His line manager, known only as Witness G, said that at first he believed Williams's absence was "a misunderstanding" and it was possible "he was engaged in other activities that I was unaware of". G said he had made attempts to contact Williams by telephone on day two of the unexplained absence. G was away from the office the following two days, but on Friday 20 August (day 5) he made more attempts to make contact through phones and email, then visited William's flat. He got no response on the intercom.

Only after the weekend did Witness G finally report him missing and contact William's sister, Ceri Subbe.

The coroner said she was struggling to understand why no action was taken sooner, and G was asked to explain the delay by the family's lawyer, Anthony O'Toole. "What concerns the family is that Gareth was in a profession in which there are risks. And they are concerned that such a long time took place, and four days were effectively left without any investigation."

G told the inquest "with hindsight I wish I had taken different steps over that week". He added there was nothing to indicate Williams was at risk at that time.

Evidence from Carol Kirton, an assistant at the upmarket west London fashion store Dover Street Market, stated testified that Williams regularly bought women's clothes.

In a statement, Kirton said he was shy and "on a mission to buy" and told her the clothing was for his girlfriend, who was "tall and slim". Police found £20,000 worth of designer women's clothing at his flat and 26 pairs of shoes and boots, many in pristine condition, still in tissue paper.

His friend Elizabeth Guthrie said Williams, who often used another name and had several phones, might have bought the clothing "as a support strategy" for somebody. "Certainly they would not have been for him," she said. Asked about his sexuality, she said: "I have a personal view that he was straight."

Questions were raised about the police investigation as A senior SO15 counter-terrorism officer, Supt Michael Broster, the conduit between homicide and the intelligence agencies, said there was "no link as far as we can tell, between his work and his death".

Williams's personal laptop was examined, and there was nothing work-related on it. The inquest heard that he had visited Claustrophillia, bondage and sado masochism websites, O'Toole asked if Broster could guarantee evidence was not tampered with during the several days before police retrieved William's electronic equipment from SIS (Security Intelligence Services) and GCHQ.

He said he had been assured it had not. "So, its almost an Old Boys act. They told you that and you accepted?" said O'Toole. "Certainly not, said Broster. They're a responsible organisation." The hearing was also told no formal signed statement were submitted by intelligence witnesses questioned. Instead police compiled "notes" after interviewing, which witnesses did not see and which, according to O'Toole, contained "inaccuracies".

The hearing continues

National Post : Unknown DNA found on bag containing British spy’s corpse

Unknown DNA found on bag containing British spy’s corpse

Yeganeh Torbati | Reuters | April 25, 2012

The bag in which a British MI6 agent’s corpse was found in his London home in 2010 had small bits of unknown DNA, a detective testified on Tuesday, fueling speculation about who may have been behind the mysterious death.

The nude body of Gareth Williams, 31, was found folded in the fetal position inside a padlocked bag in his bathtub at his Pimlico flat, not far from the headquarters of MI6, the British foreign spying service, where Williams worked.

Jackie Sebire, the detective handling Williams’s case, said on Tuesday police found blood believed to be that of Williams as well as “small components of another contributor’s DNA”.

One of the central questions of the case, she said, was whether Williams could have placed himself in the bag and locked the padlock or whether someone else was responsible.

‘No stone has been unturned. I’ve tried to do everything I can to understand what’s happened’

“It is my opinion … that a third party was involved in that padlock being locked, and Gareth being placed in the bag,” Sebire said. “No stone has been unturned. I’ve tried to do everything I can to understand what’s happened.”

The bag in which Williams was found showed no signs of a struggle, such as torn netting or stitches, Sebire said, and keys that could have opened the padlock were found inside the bag with Williams, underneath his buttock.

Details revealed at the inquest have only added to the mystery surrounding the circumstances of the macabre death.

Inside Williams’s flat at the time of his death were about 20,000 pounds in women’s clothing. Some of the clothing included high-end shoes from Christian Louboutin, Chloe, Christian Dior, and Stella McCartney, including one pair of shoes worth about 1,000 pounds, Sebire said.

Police also found a woman’s wig and new makeup inside the home.

Williams’s close friend Sian Jones said she did not think the clothing was unusual, because Williams often gave her gifts of expensive clothing. Jones said she did not believe Williams was a transvestite or gay.

“He was truly such a generous person and through the gifts that he’s bought me in the past, it wouldn’t surprise me if they were gifts,” Jones said.
‘He was truly such a generous person’

Jones said that although Williams did not have many other close friends, he was close to his colleagues at the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), the state eavesdropping service based in Cheltenham, northwest of London.

Williams was on a three-year secondment from GCHQ to MI6 at the time of his death, and on Monday his sister Ceri Subbe testified that he had complained of office tensions there.

Her comments added to speculation that the MI6 was somehow involved in Williams’s death, a theory stoked by a lawyer for Williams’s family when he said last month that “a member of some agency specializing in the dark arts of the secret services” might be responsible.

Jones said Williams had left her a voicemail before his death in which he sounded all right and said he was moving back to Cheltenham.

Inside Williams’s apartment, police found a newspaper clipping entitled “The Top Five Regrets of the Dying,” including not having the “courage to live the life true to myself” and working too hard.

© Thomson Reuters 2012

Money Control (India) : UK "spy in the bag" was once found tied to a bed

UK "spy in the bag" was once found tied to a bed

Reuters | April 25, 2012

LONDON (Reuters) - A British spy whose naked corpse was discovered padlocked inside a sports bag had years earlier been found tied to his bed and unable to free himself, an inquest was told on Wednesday.

Gareth Williams had shouted out for help in the middle of the night when he was living in an annexe of the home of his then landlady Jennifer Elliot in Cheltenham, western England.

The maths prodigy was at the time a codebreaker at the nearby Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), the state eavesdropping service.

Williams was found by Elliot and her husband dressed only in boxer shorts with his hands tied to the headboard of the bed. He told her that he had been just "messing about", trying to see "if I could get myself free", the Telegraph newspaper reported.

In a written statement, Elliot said it was likely "to be sexual rather than escapology", the paper added.

Williams later took up a three-year secondment at the headquarters of Britain's foreign intelligence service MI6, whose offices are on the banks of the River Thames in central London.

In August 2010, his naked, decomposing corpse was found in his flat nearby, crouched in a foetal position in a padlocked bag in his bath.

A detective told the inquest on Tuesday that a "third party was involved in that padlock being locked, and Gareth being placed in the bag".

The inquest has also been told that Williams, who was single and intensely private, would not have let a stranger into his flat, and that he would not have given his keys to anyone apart from close family.

There were no signs of a break-in or indications of foul play.

Small amounts of unidentified DNA were detected on the bag.

CLOTHES AND SHOES

Women's clothes and shoes worth about 20,000 pounds were found in the flat. They had never been worn.

A woman's wig and new makeup were also inside the flat.

A friend, Elizabeth Guthrie, who had known Williams for about a year, said on Wednesday she did not think he would have considered cross-dressing for sexual purposes, the Telegraph said.

She also said he would sometimes go by another name and would call her from different mobile phone numbers. He had never talked of being followed in the weeks before his death.

His sister has said he had become disaffected with London and was due to have returned to the quieter life of Cheltenham just days after his body was found.

The keen cyclist and hill-runner had disliked the "office culture, post-work drinks, flash car competitions and the rat race", Ceri Subbe said on Monday, the opening day of the inquest.

Williams' mysterious death has absorbed the British media.

A lawyer for the dead man's family said last month a "member of some agency specialising in the dark arts of the secret services" might be responsible for his death, fuelling speculation that he had been killed by foreign spies and that MI6 might have covered it up.

The inquest is due to hear from 37 witnesses including four unnamed members of the intelligence services.

(Reporting by Avril Ormsby; editing by Andrew Roche)

This Is Gloucestershire : Mother walks out of inquest in frustration

Mother walks out of inquest in frustration

April 25, 2012

THE mother of GCHQ spy Gareth Williams walked out on inquest proceedings yesterday amid family distress at delays in evidence.

Ellen Williams left the courtroom frustrated about legal submissions holding up the hearing into her son's death, her lawyer said.

The walk-out left Mr Williams's sister, Ceri Subbe, to sit in the hearing while the video footage of the death scene was shown.

Mr Williams, who was on secondment at MI6, was found in a padlocked sports holdall in the bath at his London flat on August 23, 2010.

Mrs Williams and husband Ian were on holiday in Toronto, Canada, celebrating her 50th birthday, when they heard about their son's death.

The inquest earlier heard how Mr Williams was unhappy living in London and complained about "friction" at the intelligence agency.

Ms Subbe said he hated the post-work drinking culture and "flash car competitions" at the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS).

He was due to move back to Cheltenham a week after his body was discovered.

The discovery of the spy's body sparked a painstaking investigation, worldwide media frenzy and conspiracy theories.

AFP : Dead MI6 spy 'once tied self to bed'

Dead MI6 spy 'once tied self to bed'

April 25, 2012

LONDON — A British spy who was later found dead in a padlocked bag once tied himself to his bed "to see if he could get free" and had to be rescued by his landlord and landlady, an inquest heard on Wednesday.

In the third day of hearings over the unexplained death of codebreaker Gareth Williams, 31, the court was read a statement from his former landlady in Cheltenham, where he worked for Britain's communications monitoring centre GCHQ.

"We were in bed and we heard Gareth shouting for help. It was about 1.30am and during winter," Jennifer Elliot said of the incident about three years before Williams died in 2010.

"We both got up, got the spare key and opened the door to the annexe.

"I called 'Are you ok?'. Gareth replied 'Can you help me?'

"We went upstairs and found him lying in his bed with both hands tied with material attached at the headboard."

The spy was dressed in just boxer shorts and was "not aroused" but "very embarrassed", she said.

"He said 'I just wanted to see if I could get myself free'."

Williams directed Elliot's husband to a knife in the room and he cut the bonds to free Williams, who promised it would not happen again.

"We obviously discussed it and thought it more likely to be sexual than escapology," she added.

Williams was later seconded to external intelligence agency MI6 in London, where in August 2010 his naked, decomposing body was found in a padlocked bag in a bathtub in his apartment.

Police have been unable to establish the cause of death, though they have unearthed no proof that anyone was with him when he died.

His family have said they believe secret agents versed in the "dark arts" tried to cover up his death.

But the inquest is looking into whether he could have entered the bag alone, after speculation he might have done so as part of a sex game.

There were small traces of someone else's DNA on the bag when it was found in his immaculate flat, which also contained £20,000 (24,500 euros, $32,200) worth of women's clothes and shoes, many from designer labels.

His sister, Ceri Subbe, told the inquest he was a "scrupulous risk assessor" who would never let anyone who was not security vetted into his flat.

She added he had been unhappy at MI6 and spoke of "friction in the office".

Copyright © 2012 AFP. All rights reserved.

International Business Times : MI6 Spy in the Bag Gareth Williams Not A Transvestite, Friend Tells Inquest

MI6 Spy in the Bag Gareth Williams Not A Transvestite, Friend Tells Inquest

By Ewan Palmer | April 25, 2012 12:30 PM GMT

A friend of MI6 officer Gareth Williams, whose body was found locked in a sports bag at his London flat, has told the inquest the deceased had "no interest" in cross-dressing.

The body of Williams, 31, from Anglesey, was found in his Pimlico flat in August 2010. Police found some £20,000-worth of expensive women's clothing and shoes.

Elizabeth Guthrie, a friend of Williams since 2009, told the inquest at Westminster coroner's court that Williams kept women's clothes in his flat as a "support strategy" for his friends.

Guthrie also told the court she believed Williams to be straight and never spoke about a fear of being followed in the weeks up to his death.

Guthrie said she and Mr Williams had been planning to attend a fancy dress ball together, dressed as brightly coloured Manga characters.

She told the inquest that the collection of female clothing might have been "Gareth's attempt at a support strategy for someone. They certainly would not have been for him.

"I have a personal view that he was straight."

The court also heard how Williams sometimes went by another name and used a number of different phone numbers to contact Guthrie.

"He wouldn't always call me from one number and he had brought various phones," she said. "It was different numbers coming in and calling me that turned out to be Gareth's voice."

Guthrie also revealed that despite being friends who spent a lot of time together, she had never been inside Williams's flat.

Guthrie had shared a flat with Sian Jones, another friend, who gave evidence on Tuesday.

The inquest heard how fragments of another person's DNA were discovered on the bag containing Williams's body.

Detailed forensic examination found "two minor components of another contributor's DNA" on one cord toggle, as well as a small bloodstain in the fabric that was traced to the deceased.

Jones, a fashion consultant who described herself as a very close friend of Williams, described him as a very giving person who had regularly bought her clothes and handbags.

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

LBC : MI6 Spy Found Tied To Bed Years Before Death

MI6 Spy Found Tied To Bed Years Before Death

April 25, 2012

MI6 spy Gareth Williams tied himself to his bed "to see if he could get free" years before his body was found in a padlocked bag, his inquest heard.

Mr Williams was working for GCHQ in Cheltenham when his landlord and landlady in the town discovered him with his wrists attached to the head board.

They concluded the act was "more likely to be sexual than escapology," the hearing was told.

In a written statement read to Westminster Coroner's Court, his landlady Jennifer Elliot described the startling scene that confronted her and her husband in the middle of the night three years before their tenant's death.

Ms Elliot, who rented out an annex to her home to Mr Williams, said: "We were in bed and we heard Gareth shouting for help. It was about 1.30am and during winter.

"We both got up, got the spare key and opened the door to the annex. I called 'are you ok?' Gareth replied 'can you help me?'

"We went upstairs and found him lying in his bed with both hands tied with material attached at the headboard."

The spy was dressed in boxer shorts, with the bedclothes pulled over his legs, she said.

"He was very embarrassed," she said.

"He said 'I just wanted to see if I could get myself free'."

Ms Elliot could not describe what material he had used to tie up his wrists, adding that her husband thought he had formed two loops and put his hands through them.

The couple thought the material looked taut enough to cut into the spy's skin, the court heard.

Ms Elliot's statement continued: "My husband said 'what the bloody hell are you doing?' and he said 'I just wanted to see if I could get free'.

"He told my husband there was a knife on the side and my husband cut him free.

"We said 'Gareth, we can't have you doing this'. He agreed and said it wouldn't happen again."

Mr Williams then offered to pay more rent but Ms Elliot declined, the inquest heard.

There was no repeat of the strange incident, Ms Elliot said, and she and her husband never spoke of it to anyone but each other.

"We obviously discussed it and thought it more likely to be sexual than escapology," she added.

But apart from this, Mr Williams's flat was always immaculate and his landlady "never saw anything of a sexual or fetish nature" there, the inquest was told.

Mr Williams's body was found locked in a hold-all in his flat in Pimlico, London, in August 2010 but 20 months on his death still remains a mystery.

MI6 spies are expected to give evidence at the inquest of GCHQ codebreaker Mr Williams later.

The witnesses will appear anonymously behind a screen and will be referred to only as Witness K, Witness F, Witness G and SIS F.

Between them the witnesses will be asked to explain Mr Williams' role, both at his main job at GCHQ, and on his secondment to the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) at Vauxhall Cross in London.

BBC : Landlady found MI6 spy Gareth Williams 'tied to bed'

Landlady found MI6 spy Gareth Williams 'tied to bed'

Gareth Williams Gareth Williams was on secondment from GCHQ

April 25, 2012

The inquest into the death of MI6 officer Gareth Williams, whose body was found in a locked bag in his London flat on 23 August 2010, has been told he was once found tied to his bed.

His former landlady said the spy, dressed in boxer shorts, called for help when he could not untie himself.

Earlier, Det Supt Michael Broster told the coroner he did not think Mr Williams' death was linked to his work.

Mr Williams' boss at MI6 said he regretted not raising the alarm sooner.

Former intelligence agency colleagues gave evidence from behind a large blue screen, to protect their identities.

Mr Williams' line manager at MI6 - known as Witness G - told coroner Fiona Wilcox that Mr Williams' had performed some operational duties for the agency, and had never missed a day's work.

When pressed on why he did not report Mr Williams' disappearance sooner, Witness G said he thought the spy was stuck on a train: "In hindsight, knowing what I know now, should I have taken action? Absolutely."

Witness G said Mr Williams wanted to leave MI6 because he was getting bogged down in bureaucracy.

'Act of escapology'

In a statement read out earlier, Mr Williams' former landlady in Cheltenham said she once found him lying in his boxer shorts tied to his bedstead, in what she thought was a "sexually motivated" act.

Jennifer Elliot said he had shouted for help because he was unable to untie himself.

She said he claimed he wanted to see if he could free himself, but both she and her husband thought it was sexually motivated rather than an act of escapology.

He had been lying on his back with both hands and arms tied and was "very embarrassed and apologetic" after being cut free.

Speaking on Wednesday morning, Det Supt Broster, from the Metropolitan Police's counter terrorism command SO15, said he believed there was "no link this far detected" between Mr Williams's work with MI6 and his death.

Computers seized

Explaining the part SO15 played, he said officers had acted as a "conduit" between the different security services.

But he denied a suggestion that the close working relationship between his unit and the intelligence agencies amounted to "an old boys' act" which had disrupted the investigation.

SO15 carried out searches and interviews at MI6 and the government's secret listening station GCHQ, and arranged for DNA samples from Mr Williams's colleagues to be taken.

Det Supt Broster said the heads of the agencies provided the investigation with all the relevant information surrounding Mr Williams's work.

The spy's computers were seized from MI6 four days after his body was found, and then six days later from GCHQ.

Det Supt Broster told the coroner there was "no reason to suspect" evidence was interfered with at MI6 headquarters.

"I can't say absolutely that electronic equipment seized from MI6 wasn't interfered with, but I have no reason to suspect it was."

Scotland Yard detectives have yet to determine the cause of Mr Williams's death, or establish whether he had locked himself into the bag.

On Tuesday, Det Ch Insp Jackie Sebire said she believed a third party had been involved, after "two minor components of another contributor's DNA" were found on the zip toggle and padlock.

Earlier, Elizabeth Guthrie - the second friend to appear before the coroner - said Mr Williams had used another name and called her from different telephone numbers.

'Enormous intellect'

"It was different numbers coming in and calling me that turned out to be Gareth's voice," she added.

She described her friendship with Mr Williams as based on their mutual love of history, art, Japanese Manga cartoons, travel and humorous anecdotes.

Speaking of Mr Williams's character, Ms Guthrie said he had "a brilliant sense of humour" and "an enormous intellect".

About £20,000 worth of women's designer clothing and shoes were found in the flat.

Ms Guthrie told the inquest the clothing "certainly would not be for him", that he had no interest in cross-dressing and she believed he was "straight".

Mr Williams's sister, Ceri Subbe, told the inquest on Monday that she believed the items of women's clothing were possibly intended as gifts.

In another written statement, a worker from west London fashion store Dover Street Market remembered him coming in regularly to buy women's items he said were for his girlfriend.

Carol Kirton said he had never mentioned his girlfriend's name and "he was different from other male customers".

Gloucester Citizen : MI6 spy Gareth Williams 'tied himself to bed' inquest told

MI6 spy Gareth Williams 'tied himself to bed' inquest told

By This is Gloucestershire | April 25, 2012

FORMER MI6 spy Gareth Williams tied himself to his bed while lodging in Cheltenham years before his body was found in a holdall, an inquest heard today.

Mr Williams was working for GCHQ in Cheltenham when his landlord and landlady in the town discovered him with his wrists attached to the head board.

They concluded the act was “more likely to be sexual than escapology,” the hearing was told.

In a written statement read to Westminster Coroner’s Court, his landlady Jennifer Elliot described the startling scene that confronted her and her husband in the middle of the night three years before their tenant’s death.

Ms Elliot, who rented out an annex to her home to Mr Williams, said: “We were in bed and we heard Gareth shouting for help. It was about 1.30am and during winter.

“We both got up, got the spare key and opened the door to the annex.

“I called ’are you ok?’ Gareth replied ’can you help me?’

“We went upstairs and found him lying in his bed with both hands tied with material attached at the headboard.”

The spy was dressed in boxer shorts, with the bedclothes pulled over his legs, she said.

“He was very embarrassed.

“He said ’I just wanted to see if I could get myself free’.”

Ms Elliot could not describe what material he had used to tie up his wrists, she said, adding that her husband thought he had formed two loops and put his hands through them.

The couple thought the material looked taut enough to cut into the spy’s skin, the court heard.

Ms Elliot’s statement continued: “My husband said ’what the bloody hell are you doing?’ and he said ’I just wanted to see if I could get free’.

“He told my husband there was a knife on the side and my husband cut him free.

“We said ’Gareth, we can’t have you doing this’. He agreed and said it wouldn’t happen again.”

There was no repeat of the strange incident, Ms Elliot said, and she and her husband never spoke of it to anyone but each other.

“We obviously discussed it and thought it more likely to be sexual than escapology,” she added.

But apart from this, Mr Williams’s flat was always immaculate and his landlady “never saw anything of a sexual or fetish nature” there, the inquest was told.

Mr Williams’s body was found locked in a hold-all in his flat in Pimlico, London, in August 2010 but 20 months on his death still remains a mystery.

When police entered Mr Williams's flat they found some #20,000-worth of high-end women's clothing and shoes among his possessions, the inquest has heard.

A member of staff who worked at upmarket west London fashion store Dover Street Market recalled him coming in regularly and buying women’s items he said were for his girlfriend.

In her written statement, Carol Kirton said he had never mentioned his girlfriend’s name.

“He would come into the store, browse the store and I would make a suggested purchase to him,” she said.

Initially the spy would decline her suggestion but then go on to make the purchase, she said.

“He described his girlfriend as tall and slim,” she said, adding that on one occasion he had bought a Christopher Kane patent leather skirt.

“He was different from other male customers,” Ms Kirton went on.

She described Mr Williams as “shy” and “on a mission to buy an item” when he came into the store.

Elizabeth Guthrie, a friend of Mr Williams, was asked in court whether the spy had ever expressed an interest in cross-dressing.

“Nothing of a sexual bent but we were going to a fancy dress ball together,” she said.

“He was going as a ninja, not as a queen.”

She also suggested that his collection of female clothing might have been “Gareth’s attempt at a support strategy for someone. They certainly would not have been for him”.

Asked about his sexuality, she said: “I have a personal view that he was straight.”

The court also heard that it had somehow been leaked to the press that Mr Williams’s home computer showed he visited websites about claustrophilia – the love of enclosure – and bondage and sadomasochism.

Ms Guthrie revealed that Mr Williams had sometimes gone by another name, but his mystery second identity was not revealed to the court as the coroner cut short the line of questioning.

The spy’s friend was asked by Mr Williams’s family lawyer Anthony O’Toole whether Mr Williams had told her he “sometimes used another name”, to which she replied “yes”.

She added that Mr Williams used a number of different phones to call her as well.

“He wouldn’t always call me from one number and he had brought various phones around,” she said.

“It was different numbers coming in and calling me that turned out to be Gareth’s voice.”

But more often than not he would “just show up and ring the bell”, she said.

Ms Guthrie, who signed a police statement on which her name was incorrect, described a friendship with Mr Williams based on their mutual love of history, art, Japanese Manga cartoons, travel and humorous anecdotes.

Questioned by the coroner over the puzzling issue of why she had signed the police statement despite the error, she explained she had been focusing on its content rather than alternative spellings of her name.

While the pair were close friends who spent lots of time together, Ms Guthrie said she had never been to Mr Williams’s flat.

“For someone to have been brought back to his own space would have been something of note and would have implied, in my view, a very strong relationship,” she said.

“He may or may not have chosen to tell me about it but he would have told his family.”

Detective Chief Inspector Jackie Sebire, the leading officer in the case, told the court yesterday she always assumed “a third party had been involved in the death or by putting the body in the bag”.

IOL News (Zambia) : DNA found on bag containing UK spy

DNA found on bag containing UK spy

By Yeganeh Torbati | Reuters | April 25, 2012

The bag in which a British MI6 agent's corpse was found in his London home in 2010 had small bits of unknown DNA, a detective testified on Tuesday, fuelling speculation about who may have been behind the mysterious death.

The nude body of Gareth Williams, 31, was found folded in the foetal position inside a padlocked bag in his bathtub at his Pimlico flat, not far from the headquarters of MI6, the British foreign spying service, where Williams worked.

Jackie Sebire, the detective handling Williams's case, said on Tuesday police found blood believed to be that of Williams as well as “small components of another contributor's DNA”.

One of the central questions of the case, she said, was whether Williams could have placed himself in the bag and locked the padlock or whether someone else was responsible.

“It is my opinion ... that a third party was involved in that padlock being locked, and Gareth being placed in the bag,” Sebire said. “No stone has been unturned. I've tried to do everything I can to understand what's happened.”

The bag in which Williams was found showed no signs of a struggle, such as torn netting or stitches, Sebire said, and keys that could have opened the padlock were found inside the bag with Williams, underneath his buttock.

Details revealed at the inquest have only added to the mystery surrounding the circumstances of the macabre death.

Inside Williams's flat at the time of his death were about 20 000 pounds in women's clothing. Some of the clothing included high-end shoes from Christian Louboutin, Chloe, Christian Dior, and Stella McCartney, including one pair of shoes worth about 1,000 pounds, Sebire said.

Police also found a woman's wig and new makeup inside the home.

Williams's close friend Sian Jones said she did not think the clothing was unusual, because Williams often gave her gifts of expensive clothing. Jones said she did not believe Williams was a transvestite or gay.

“He was truly such a generous person and through the gifts that he's bought me in the past, it wouldn't surprise me if they were gifts,” Jones said.

Jones said that although Williams did not have many other close friends, he was close to his colleagues at the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), the state eavesdropping service based in Cheltenham, northwest of London.

Williams was on a three-year secondment from GCHQ to MI6 at the time of his death, and on Monday his sister Ceri Subbe testified that he had complained of office tensions there.

Her comments added to speculation that the MI6 was somehow involved in Williams'S death, a theory stoked by a lawyer for Williams's family when he said last month that “a member of some agency specialising in the dark arts of the secret services” might be responsible.

Jones said Williams had left her a voicemail before his death in which he sounded all right and said he was moving back to Cheltenham.

Inside Williams's apartment, police found a newspaper clipping entitled “The Top Five Regrets of the Dying,” including not having the “courage to live the life true to myself” and working too hard.

Daily Star : BAG SPY’S GINGER WIG AND LIPSTICK

BAG SPY’S GINGER WIG AND LIPSTICK

Marc Walker | April 25, 2012

A GINGER wig, lipstick and make-up were in bag-death spy Gareth Williams’s flat, an inquest heard yesterday.

A police video also showed £20,000-worth of women’s clothing in the MI6 safe house.

Gareth’s distressed parents Ian and Ellen fled the Coroner’s Court as the clip focused on the padlocked holdall bulging with their son’s body.

Someone else’s DNA was on the zip and lock, the inquest heard.

A newspaper cutting headlined “top five regrets of the dying” was also filmed at the well-kept flat in Pimlico, central London.

Gareth’s pal Sian Jones, 34, said her friend had not been a transvestite. She insisted the women’s clothes, including Stella McCartney and Christian Dior items, were not worn by him.

“I have a lot of gay friends and this is something Gareth was aware of, and I do feel as well that if he was he would have told me,” she said.

Sian, who went to primary school with Gareth, from Anglesey, said they shared “in-depth” chats.

The clothes were likely to have been bought as presents, she said, adding: “He used to buy me a lot of gifts. He bought me a new season top, a Mulberry top, a scarf.” The collection also included 26 pairs of designer shoes in sizes 6 and 6.5, too big for Sian. She said they were probably for his sister Ceri Subbe, 29.

Det Chief Insp Jackie Sebire said all the garb would have “possibly” fitted Gareth, who was on secondment to MI6 from the Government’s GCHQ listening post in Cheltenham, Glos.

She told the Westminster hearing of the DNA samples and said there was no way codebreaker Gareth, 31, had got into the bag himself, adding that a “third party” was responsible.

The officer said she let a counter-terror colleague, who was in contact with MI6, enter the flat, but no-one from the spy agency.

There was no sign of a break-in but a dressing gown and a quilt were on the floor. She said: “I also found it difficult to explain because of his general tidiness.”

The spy’s family lawyer Anthony O’Toole asked why the front door was replaced. She said the original door had been taken for testing.

Another person’s blood was in the communal hallway and two shoe prints were detected in the kitchen.

The hearing continues.

marc.walker@dailystar.co.uk

Express : ORANGE WIG AND LIPSTICK FOUND AT FLAT OF SPY IN BAG GARETH WILLIAMS

ORANGE WIG AND LIPSTICK FOUND AT FLAT OF SPY IN BAG GARETH WILLIAMS

By Cyril Dixon | April 25, 2012

A BRIGHT orange wig and items of make-up were in the flat of the MI6 officer found dead in a sports bag, an inquest heard yesterday.

The hearing was also told unidentified DNA had been found on the holdall in which the naked body of Gareth Williams was discovered.

Forensic officers found two spots of DNA on the bag, which had been secured with a padlock.

Detective Chief Inspector Jackie Sebire said it would be “very difficult” for Mr Williams to have locked himself in the holdall, which was found in his bath in August 2010.

She told Westminster coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox the bag was zipped up and padlocked, with the keys inside, next to the 31-year-old’s body.

DCI Sebire added that the red North Face holdall was not torn inside and there no marks on Mr Williams’s fingers to suggest he tried to claw his way out.

She said that, had he manoeuvred himself into the bag, there would have been handprints on the bathroom wall – but there were none.

Giving evidence on the second day of the London inquest, she said she was surprised to find his duvet on the floor of the “incredibly tidy” flat.

“My thought or my opinion since I went into the scene is that a third party had been involved in the death or by putting the body in the bag,” she added.

The hearing was given a video tour of the flat in Pimlico, central London, where Mr Williams stayed during his three-year secondment to MI6 from GCHQ intelligence base in Cheltenham.

DCI Sebire talked the coroner through the film, which showed his personal effects and clothes dotted about immaculately-clean rooms.

Mr Williams’s parents Ellen and Ian left the court when the coroner warned them the content would be upsetting.

“He was in the foetal position,” the officer said. “His legs were folded up towards his chest, his arms were bent slightly inwards. His face was very calm. His hands were resting on his chest.”

The DNA spots were on the padlock and a toggle of the holdall’s zip, while a spot of someone else’s blood was found in the communal hallway.

On the police video, a bright orange woman’s wig could be seen hung on the back of a chair, while a Jemma Kidd lipstick and matt foundation from Harvey Nichols were left on a sofa.

DCI Sebire said a stocking cap to be worn under the wig was on the living room table, and other expensive women’s hairpieces were found elsewhere in the flat, mostly still in their wrapping.

Women’s clothing worth £20,000 was discovered in the flat, including 26 pairs of women’s shoes – one pair alone cost £1,000.

The footage showed boxes with the fashion footwear still inside, and styles included black patent leather high-heel boots and designs by Stella McCartney and Christian Louboutin.

Most of the shoes were size six or six-and-a-half, which would have fitted Mr Williams’s size six feet, and many were stuffed into North Face holdalls in the spare bedroom.

“These were very high value shoes in pristine condition; they had obviously been looked after,” said DCI Sebire.

She added that a newspaper article detailing five things “we regret when we are on our deathbed”, was cut out and left under a book on the table. The list included the wish to have “courage to express feelings”.

Sian Jones, Mr Williams’s childhood sweetheart from their schooldays in North Wales, denied he was a transvestite, claiming he would have told her. She said the women’s clothes were probably gifts for his sister, Ceri Subbe.

Asked by the coroner if the intelligence officer would have been able to tell her of any interest in transvestism, Ms Jones replied: “Most definitely. We both shared things that were quite in-depth and personal, and I think he would have confided in me, I wouldn’t have judged him.”

The inquest was shown CCTV images of Mr Williams’s final days, after he returned from a working trip to the United States and spent a few days relaxing in London.

He is pictured in the period before his absence was noticed on August 16, 2010, trailing around exclusive west London stores including Harrods, Harvey Nichols and Selfridges. Describing the footage, DCI Sebire and Dr Wilcox agreed he looked relaxed and that nobody appeared to be following him.

The inquest has heard that he asked to leave MI6 after complaining of “friction” at its Vauxhall Cross headquarters. Mrs Subbe said he did not like the culture of “flash car competitions and the rat race” and wanted to return to GCHQ.

Mr Williams had missed a meeting on August 16 and his body was discovered on August 23. The hearing continues.

ABC (Australia) : Mystery DNA found on dead spy's bag

Mystery DNA found on dead spy's bag

Reuters | April 25, 2012

Unknown pieces of DNA were found on a bag containing a British MI6 agent's corpse found in his London home in 2010, an inquest has heard.

The nude body of Gareth Williams, 31, was found folded in the foetal position inside a padlocked bag in the bathtub at his Pimlico flat, not far from the headquarters of MI6, the British foreign spying service where he worked.

Detective chief inspector Jackie Sebire, the woman handling the case, said police found blood believed to be that of Mr Williams as well as "small components of another contributor's DNA".

One of the central questions of the case, she said, was whether Mr Williams could have placed himself in the bag and locked the padlock or whether someone else was responsible.

"It is my opinion ... that a third party was involved in that padlock being locked and Gareth being placed in the bag," she said.

"No stone has been unturned. I've tried to do everything I can to understand what's happened."

Chief Inspector Sebire said the bag in which Mr Williams was found showed no signs of a struggle, such as torn netting or stitches, and keys to open the padlock were found inside the bag underneath his buttock.

Details revealed at the inquest have added to the mystery surrounding the circumstances of the macabre death.

Inside Mr Williams's flat at the time of his death was about $32,000 in high-end women's clothing.

Mr Williams's close friend Sian Jones said she did not think the clothing was unusual because he often gave her gifts of expensive clothing.

Ms Jones said she did not believe Mr Williams was a transvestite or gay.

"He was truly such a generous person and through the gifts that he's bought me in the past, it wouldn't surprise me if they were gifts," Ms Jones said.
Tensions

She said that although Mr Williams did not have many other close friends, he was close to his colleagues at the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), the state eavesdropping service based in Cheltenham, north-west of London.

Mr Williams was on a three-year secondment from GCHQ to MI6 at the time of his death, and on Monday his sister Ceri Subbe testified he had complained of office tensions there.

Her comments added to speculation that MI6 was somehow involved in Mr Williams's death, a theory stoked by a lawyer for his family when he said last month that "a member of some agency specialising in the dark arts of the secret services" might be responsible.

Ms Jones said her friend had left her a voicemail before his death in which he said he was moving back to Cheltenham.

Inside Mr Williams's apartment, police found a newspaper clipping entitled "The top five regrets of the dying", including not having the "courage to live the life true to myself" and working too hard.

Money Control (India) : Unknown DNA found on bag containing British spy

Unknown DNA found on bag containing British spy

By Yeganeh Torbati | Reuters | April 25, 2012

LONDON (Reuters) - The bag in which a British MI6 agent's corpse was found in his London home in 2010 had small bits of unknown DNA, a detective testified on Tuesday, fuelling speculation about who may have been behind the mysterious death.

The nude body of Gareth Williams, 31, was found folded in the fetal position inside a padlocked bag in his bathtub at his Pimlico flat, not far from the headquarters of MI6, the British foreign spying service, where Williams worked.

Jackie Sebire, the detective handling Williams's case, said on Tuesday police found blood believed to be that of Williams as well as "small components of another contributor's DNA".

One of the central questions of the case, she said, was whether Williams could have placed himself in the bag and locked the padlock or whether someone else was responsible.

"It is my opinion ... that a third party was involved in that padlock being locked, and Gareth being placed in the bag," Sebire said. "No stone has been unturned. I've tried to do everything I can to understand what's happened."

The bag in which Williams was found showed no signs of a struggle, such as torn netting or stitches, Sebire said, and keys that could have opened the padlock were found inside the bag with Williams, underneath his buttock.

Details revealed at the inquest have only added to the mystery surrounding the circumstances of the macabre death.

Inside Williams's flat at the time of his death were about 20,000 pounds in women's clothing. Some of the clothing included high-end shoes from Christian Louboutin, Chloe, Christian Dior, and Stella McCartney, including one pair of shoes worth about 1,000 pounds, Sebire said.

Police also found a woman's wig and new makeup inside the home.

NOT TRANSVESTITE, OR GAY

Williams's close friend Sian Jones said she did not think the clothing was unusual, because Williams often gave her gifts of expensive clothing. Jones said she did not believe Williams was a transvestite or gay.

"He was truly such a generous person and through the gifts that he's bought me in the past, it wouldn't surprise me if they were gifts," Jones said.

Jones said that although Williams did not have many other close friends, he was close to his colleagues at the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), the state eavesdropping service based in Cheltenham, northwest of London.

Williams was on a three-year secondment from GCHQ to MI6 at the time of his death, and on Monday his sister Ceri Subbe testified that he had complained of office tensions there.

Her comments added to speculation that the MI6 was somehow involved in Williams'S death, a theory stoked by a lawyer for Williams's family when he said last month that "a member of some agency specialising in the dark arts of the secret services" might be responsible.

Jones said Williams had left her a voicemail before his death in which he sounded all right and said he was moving back to Cheltenham.

Inside Williams's apartment, police found a newspaper clipping entitled "The Top Five Regrets of the Dying," including not having the "courage to live the life true to myself" and working too hard.

(Reporting By Yeganeh Torbati; Editing by Michael Roddy)

Sun : Video of bag bulging with body of spy shown at inquest

Video of bag bulging with body of spy shown at inquest

By STAFF REPORTER | April 25, 2012

DISTURBING footage of a red holdall bulging with the curled-up body of MI6 spy Gareth Williams was played at his inquest today.

The video — taken by police officers who discovered the 31-year-old's body at his Pimlico, West London, home on August 23, 2010 — took the court on a walking tour of his immaculately kept flat.

It revealed carefully arranged piles of books, an extensive CD collection, some of the spy’s own paintings, as well as a red woman’s wig, lipstick and make-up.

And it zoomed in on the North Face bag holding the tragic codebreaker, showing impressions from his limbs inside and a brass padlock locking two zips together from the outside.

Police images of the death scene also showed a cutting from the Observer newspaper headlined “top five regrets of the dying”.

Mr Williams' sister, Ceri Subbe, watched the footage alone after her devastated parents left the court.

Officers found the spy's decomposing body locked inside the holdall in the bathroom of the flat after a cop on foot patrol received instructions to carry out a “welfare check” on Mr Williams, who had not been seen for around 12 days.

Despite exhaustive tests his cause of death remains a mystery.

There was no sign of a break-in — cash was left in a cupboard and a mobile phone was lying on the living room table.

But Detective Chief Inspector Jackie Sebire, the officer in charge of the case, today appeared to rule out the idea Mr Williams got in the bag himself.

She told Westminster Coroner’s Court: “My thought or my opinion since I went into the scene is that a third party had been involved in the death or by putting the body in the bag. So my primary focus was looking at the bathroom.”

Specks of mystery DNA were discovered on the bag, the inquest heard.

DCI Sebire said “two minor components of another contributor’s DNA” were found on the zip toggle and padlock.

She also revealed Mr Williams was found in the foetal position, there were no signs of struggle and his body position appeared “calm”.

She added that she would have expected to find fingerprints left by Mr Williams on the bathroom tiles.

She said: “Certainly there were no prints of anybody’s in the lower-tiled wall.

“He was in the foetal position. His legs were folded up towards his chest, his arms were bent slightly inwards.

“In my opinion he was very calm. His face was very calm. His hands were resting on his chest.”

The last evidence he was alive was left on August 16 when he looked at a cycling time trial website.

The inquest had already heard there was £20,000 worth of women’s clothing in the flat, described as “immaculate” and “in pristine condition”.

Ms Sebire described the “high-value” items found in the smaller bedroom, which included 26 shoes and boots, mainly bearing designer labels such as Christian Louboutin, Stella McCartney, Christian Dior and Chloe.

There were also wigs wrapped in net packaging, which “appear to be unused” including one Mr Williams had bought on his recent trip to the US.

Make-up items including nail varnish and eye shadow were “all new” and apparently unused.

Asked by Coroner Fiona Wilcox whether she thought the clothes would have fitted Mr Williams, the detective replied: “Possibly.”

SMH : British spy found in sports bag 'wanted out of MI6'

British spy found in sports bag 'wanted out of MI6'

Martin Evans, Tom Whitehead, London | April 25, 2012

THE British spy found dead in a padlocked sports bag in his London apartment in August 2010 hated the "flash car and drinking" culture of MI6 and complained of "friction" at work, his family told an inquest.

Gareth Williams, 31, told his sister, Ceri Subbe, he wanted to leave London because he did not like the "rat race" lifestyle and was unhappy working for the security services. He had applied to cut short his three-year secondment to MI6 and return to GCHQ, an intelligence agency that monitors communications, in Cheltenham but felt his superiors were "dragging their feet", Mrs Subbe told the hearing.

A date for his return was fixed for September 2010. His body was discovered in his Pimlico flat a week before he was due to return.
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The spy's parents, Ian and Ellen, were on holiday in Canada, celebrating Mrs Williams' 50th birthday when they learned of their son's death.

The long-awaited inquest was opened at Westminster Coroner's Court on Monday to investigate the "highly controversial" death of Mr Williams. Dr Fiona Wilcox, the coroner, has promised a "full, fair and fearless" inquiry in which no evidence will be heard behind closed doors. Up to 40 witnesses are due to give evidence, including intelligence officers, police, forensic experts and friends.

The family believes that a third party was involved in Mr Williams' death.

The naked and decomposing body of the maths prodigy, a cipher and codes expert, was discovered in a sports bag that had been locked from the outside and placed in the bath at his flat.

Lawyers for Scotland Yard said there was still a "real possibility" that criminal proceedings could arise.

Mrs Subbe described her brother as "the most scrupulous risk-assessor" she had ever known.

She said he would never have let anyone into his flat who had not been cleared by security.

She said he would turn back a few hundred metres from the summit of mountains if there was "the hint of adverse weather conditions", adding: "Better to be safe than sorry."

She said her brother 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."

The inquest heard how Mr Williams failed to turn up for a meeting at work on August 16 but the alarm was not raised until August 23 - by his family. After his death, Mrs Subbe described how she had spoken to a colleague about the missed meeting, "He said Gareth was like a Swiss clock - very punctual, very efficient, and it was very unlike him not to attend a meeting."

Detective Chief Superintendent Hamish Campbell, from the Metropolitan Police's homicide unit, said the force's SO15 counter-terrorism unit was called to assist, but its officers would not have had access to the flat without permission from the crime scene manager.

Four intelligence officers will be allowed to give evidence from behind a screen in the coming days after Dr Wilcox granted an application to keep their identity a secret. The request came from MI6 and GCHQ, backed by Foreign Secretary William Hague, amid concerns over a risk to national security if they were exposed.

The coroner will also allow some evidence to remain secret, including any information from foreign intelligence agencies, ongoing operations or details of secret service officers, methods and tactics.

TELEGRAPH

Sky : MI6 Spy Found Tied To Bed Years Before Death

MI6 Spy Found Tied To Bed Years Before Death

April 25, 2012

MI6 spy Gareth Williams tied himself to his bed "to see if he could get free" years before his body was found in a padlocked bag, his inquest heard.

Mr Williams was working for GCHQ in Cheltenham when his landlord and landlady in the town discovered him with his wrists attached to the head board.

They concluded the act was "more likely to be sexual than escapology," the hearing was told.

In a written statement read to Westminster Coroner's Court, his landlady Jennifer Elliot described the startling scene that confronted her and her husband in the middle of the night three years before their tenant's death.

Ms Elliot, who rented out an annex to her home to Mr Williams, said: "We were in bed and we heard Gareth shouting for help. It was about 1.30am and during winter.

"We both got up, got the spare key and opened the door to the annex. I called 'are you ok?' Gareth replied 'can you help me?'

"We went upstairs and found him lying in his bed with both hands tied with material attached at the headboard."

The spy was dressed in boxer shorts, with the bedclothes pulled over his legs, she said.

"He was very embarrassed," she said.

"He said 'I just wanted to see if I could get myself free'."

Ms Elliot could not describe what material he had used to tie up his wrists, adding that her husband thought he had formed two loops and put his hands through them.

The couple thought the material looked taut enough to cut into the spy's skin, the court heard.

Ms Elliot's statement continued: "My husband said 'what the bloody hell are you doing?' and he said 'I just wanted to see if I could get free'.

"He told my husband there was a knife on the side and my husband cut him free.

"We said 'Gareth, we can't have you doing this'. He agreed and said it wouldn't happen again."

Mr Williams then offered to pay more rent but Ms Elliot declined, the inquest heard.

There was no repeat of the strange incident, Ms Elliot said, and she and her husband never spoke of it to anyone but each other.

"We obviously discussed it and thought it more likely to be sexual than escapology," she added.

But apart from this, Mr Williams's flat was always immaculate and his landlady "never saw anything of a sexual or fetish nature" there, the inquest was told.

Mr Williams's body was found locked in a hold-all in his flat in Pimlico, London, in August 2010 but 20 months on his death still remains a mystery.

MI6 spies are expected to give evidence at the inquest of GCHQ codebreaker Mr Williams later.

The witnesses will appear anonymously behind a screen and will be referred to only as Witness K, Witness F, Witness G and SIS F.

Between them the witnesses will be asked to explain Mr Williams' role, both at his main job at GCHQ, and on his secondment to the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) at Vauxhall Cross in London.

(c) Sky News 2012

UKPA : MI6 spy 'used another name'

MI6 spy 'used another name'

April 25, 2012

The MI6 spy whose body was found in a padlocked hold-all in his bathtub in London sometimes went by a name other than Gareth Williams, his inquest has heard.

But his mystery second identity was not revealed as the coroner cut short the line of questioning to a friend of the 31-year-old.

Elizabeth Guthrie was asked by Mr Williams's family lawyer Anthony O'Toole whether the spy had told her he "sometimes used another name", to which she replied "yes". She also revealed that Mr Williams had used a number of different phones to call her. "He wouldn't always call me from one number and he had brought various phones around," she said. "It was different numbers coming in and calling me that turned out to be Gareth's voice."

Mr Williams's body was found in his Pimlico flat in London in August 2010 but, 20 months on, the circumstances of his death remain a riddle.

When police entered his home, they found some £20,000-worth of expensive women's clothing and shoes, the inquest at Westminster Coroner's Court has heard. Ms Guthrie said she and Mr Williams had been planning to attend a fancy dress ball together, dressed as luridly-coloured Manga characters.

Asked if her friend had ever expressed an interest in cross-dressing, Ms Guthrie said: "Nothing of a sexual bent but we were going to a fancy dress ball together. He was going as a ninja, not as a queen." Asked about his sexuality, she said: "I have a personal view that he was straight."

Questions were also raised about whether Mr Williams's work computer could have been tampered with by the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) after the spy's body was discovered. The electronic equipment was handed to Scotland Yard's counter-terrorism command, SO15, on August 27 - four days after his death came to light, the inquest heard.

But Mr O'Toole noted there was not "any statement from any person at GCHQ to say that equipment was not tampered with" in the interim period.

Superintendent Michael Broster, who was responsible for SO15's involvement in the investigation, said Mr Williams's workplace had been "sealed and taped". He went on: "I can't testify absolutely it wasn't interfered with. However I've no reason to suspect that it was." He told the court he had not established any link between Mr Williams's work and his death. "There's no link between his work and his death that I've been privy to," he said.

He was asked how it could have been leaked to the press that Mr Williams's home computer showed he had visited websites about claustrophilia - the love of enclosure - and bondage and sadomasochism. Mr Broster said he did not know how this had happened.

Copyright © 2012 The Press Association. All rights reserved.

Channel 4 : MI6 spy Gareth Williams 'tied himself up'

MI6 spy Gareth Williams 'tied himself up'

April 25, 2012

A former landlady of Gareth Williams, the MI6 spy who was found dead inside a padlocked bag in his bath, describes how she once had to set him free by untying him from his bed.

Jennifer Elliot told an inquest how she and her husband heard Mr Williams shouting for help in the middle of the night while he was staying in an annex to her home that she had rented out to him when he worked for GCHQ in Cheltenham three years ago.

In a statement to Westminster Coroner's Court, she described how she and her husband unlocked the door to his room to find him lying in bed wearing his boxer shorts, with the sheets pulled over his legs and his wrists tied to the headboard.

"My husband said 'What the bloody hell are you doing'? and he said, 'I just wanted to see if I could get free'. He was very embarrassed."

Mr Williams told her husband that there was a knife on the side, and he used it to cut the spy free.

"We said, 'Gareth, we can't have you doing this'," the statement continued. "He agreed and said it wouldn't happen again."

Immaculate

Ms Elliot said that she and her husband discussed the incident, and concluded that it was more likely to be "sexual than escapology", but added that he had not been aroused when they went to free him, and that no sperm had been found nearby.

His flat, she said, had always been immaculate, and the couple had never discovered anything "of a sexual or fetish nature" there.

Mr Williams was due to move back into their flat in November 2010 when his secondment to MI6 from GCHQ had ended. But instead, his naked and decomposing body was discovered in the padlocked hold-all in August 2010 in his flat in Pimlico, in London.

At the inquest, Mr Williams' family's lawyer, Anthony O'Toole, raised questions over whether his work computer could have been tampered with by the Secret Intelligence Service after his body was discovered.

He also asked how the press received leaks which suggested that his home computer showed he had visited websites about claustrophilia – the love of enclosure – and bondage and sadomasochism.

The electronic equipment was handed to Scotland Yard's counter-terrorism command, SO15, four days after his death came to light.

Superintendent Michael Broster, who was responsible for SO15's involvement, said he did not know how the leaks had emerged, and said that Mr Williams' workplace had been "sealed and taped".

"I can't tesitify absolutely it wasn't interfered with," he said. "However I've no reason to suspect it was."

Another name?

Previous evidence at the inquest has heard how police who entered his home discovered £20,000 of designer women's clothing and shoes.

According to Carol Kirton, he regularly went to an upmarket west London fashion store at Dover Street Market, and bought women's items he said were for his girlfriend, whom he described as "tall and slim", but whose name he never mentioned.

On Wednesday, his friend, Elizabeth Guthrie, told the inquest that she did not believe Mr Williams was a cross-dresser, and that the clothes may have been "Gareth's attempt at a support strategy for someone".

She said: "I have a personal view that he was straight," Ms Guthrie told the court.

But she added that she had suspected that he was a spy, and that he had told her he sometimes used another name.

Ms Guthrie added that although they had become close friends based on their shared love of history, art, travel and Japanese Manga cartoons, she had never been back to his flat.

"For someone to have been brought back to his own space would have been something of note and would have implied, in my view, a very strong relationship," she said.

"He may or may not have chosen to tell me about it but he would have told his family."

The inquest continues.

Telegraph : MI6 spy Gareth Williams was 'discovered in bed with hands tied to headboard'

MI6 spy Gareth Williams was 'discovered in bed with hands tied to headboard'

MI6 spy Gareth Williams was once discovered tied to his bed posts wearing only boxer shorts, the inquest in to his death heard.

By Tom Whitehead, Security Editor | April 25, 2012

The maths prodigy was living alone in Cheltenham at the time and had to call for help in the middle of the night to be set free.

His landlady and landlord, who lived below him heard his yells and were met with the “shocking” scene, Westminster Coroners’ Court heard.

It is the first time the incident has been revealed and emerged in a written statement from landlady Jennifer Elliot at the inquest in to Mr Williams, who was found dead in a sports bag in the bath at his London flat in 2010.

The death sparked widespread conspiracy theories including suggestions he had been involved in some kind of sex game that went tragically wrong.

Searches of his home computers seized after his death revealed that he had been visited "websites of claustrophillia, and he also had access to bondage and sado masochism websites, the inquest has heard earlier in the day.

In 2007, Mr Williams was living in an annexe above Jennifer and Brian Elliot’s home in Cheltenham when the couple heard cries for help around 1.30 one winter night.

They let themselves in to the flat and discovered Mr Williams, who was working at GCHQ at the time, lying on his back with both hands tied to the knobs of the his bed posts and wearing boxer shorts.

The spy did not “appear aroused”, Mrs Elliot said, but he was "very embarrassed, panicky and apologetic".

He was tied with some material that was so tight it was cutting in to his wrists but insisted he was “just messing about”.

Mrs Elliot added: “My husband said ‘What the bloody hell are you doing?’ and he just said he wanted to try and get himself free."

Mr Ellliot cut him free adding: “Gareth we cannot have you doing this.”

Mr Williams offered to pay more rent but Mrs Elliot refused.

She added: “My husband and I discussed it and said it was more likely to be sexual than escapology or similar but cannot be sure.

“There was nothing a sexual or fetishtistique nature in the flat” she added and she did not think of Mr Williams as “sexual”.

The three never spoke about the incident again.

Mr Williams had planned to return to the flat after completing a three year secondment in London but in August 2010 his naked decomposing body was found in padlocked holdall in his flat in Pimlico.

Earlier in the inquest, a senior counter-terrorism police officer could not guarantee that security service computer equipment belonging to Mr Williams had not being tampered with after his death.

Superintendent Michael Broster, from the Met’s SO15, acted as a "conduit" between the Met's murder squad, who were investigating the death and GCHQ and MI6.

He revealed his GCHQ computer was not handed over until six days after his body was discovered and the MI6 one four days later.

Supt Broster insisted there was nothing to suggest a link between his work and his death but under cross-examination by Anthony O'Toole, representing the family, he admitted he could not “say absolutely definitely”.

Mr O’Toole suggested he had accepted GCHQ’s word that there was nothing of relevance in his computer because it was “almost like the Old Boys Act, they told you that and you accepted it”.

The officer strongly denied the claim but when quizzed whether he could be sure that Mr William’s MI6 computer hadn’t been interfered with, he said: “I can't specify absolutely that it wasn't interfered with, but I have no reason to suspect that it was."

It also emerged that no witness statements were compiled for the interviews carried out with the security service officers and those questioned were not given the opportunity to check the summaries that were written up.

Mr O’Toole claimed at least two believed the summaries were inaccurate in some way.

Earlier, friend Elizabeth Guthrie insisted Mr Williams was “straight” and would never consider cross-dressing for sexual purposes.

The inquest has already heard that Mr Williams had £20,000 worth of expensive womens’ clothing and shoes in his flat.

Miss Guthrie, known as Missa, who had known Mr Williams since 2009, said he may have had women’s clothing in his flat as “support strategy” for female friends.

She revealed the pair had planned to go to a fancy dress party in bright clothes and wigs as Manga characters - Japanese cartoon characters.

At the end of the hearing a woman, believed to be a member of the Williams family, was heard hyperventalating and the court was cleared.

It was not possible to see who it was as the family were sitting behind the screen set up to mask the security witnesses from the press.

Mr Williams mother, Ellen, and his sister Ceri are among those who have been attending the hearing.

The hearing continues.