Pakistan Observer : Poison not ruled out in MI6 spy death

Poison not ruled out in MI6 spy death

April 27, 2012

London—Forensic scientists cannot establish if a British spy was poisoned before being padlocked in a bag because it took his employers MI6 a week to realise he was missing, an inquest has heard. Forensic expert Denise Stanworth told the hearing in London that “we cannot rule out volatile agents” in the death of Gareth Williams two years ago as she was asked how reliable toxicology tests can be nine days after death. The decomposition of the body made it impossible to establish exactly which substances were present in the codebreaker’s body, she said.

Williams’ boss at MI6, Britain’s external intelligence agency, earlier apologised to the 31-year-old’s family for failing to raise the alarm about his disappearance and conceded the error may have hampered police inquiries. Speaking Thursday from behind a screen, the woman — identified only as Witness F — offered a full apology for MI6’s slow response to Williams’s disappearance in August 2010. ”We are profoundly sorry about what happened, she said. ”It shouldn’t have happened and we recognise that the delay in finding Gareth’s body has made it even harder for the family to come to terms with his dreadful death and we are truly sorry for that. ”I also appreciate the delay had some impact on the police investigation.

“Williams’ relatives left the hearing in tears after it was revealed MI6 had failed to realise he was missing. When police finally entered Williams’ flat in Pimlico, central London, they found his naked body padlocked in a red holdall placed in his bath. Police have been unable to establish a cause of death, though they have unearthed no proof that anyone was with him when he died.

AFP

Express : BODY-IN-BAG SPY MAY HAVE BEEN POISONED SAYS EXPERT

BODY-IN-BAG SPY MAY HAVE BEEN POISONED SAYS EXPERT

Gareth Williams may have been poisoned or drugged before being left in a sports holdall

By Cyril Dixon | April 27, 2012

MI6 officer Gareth Williams may have been poisoned or drugged before being left in a sports holdall placed in his bath, an inquest heard yesterday.

The revelation came as a secret service chief told how “profoundly sorry” spy bosses were for taking a week to realise he was missing.

Mr Williams’ superiors did nothing to trace the code-breaker for seven days after he failed to attend a meeting at MI6 headquarters.

Denise Stanworth, a toxicology expert, told the inquest that the delay meant blood and urine tests on his body were not conclusive.

She said although there was no sign of “old-fashioned” poisons, they could not be ruled out.

Although there were traces of the party drug GHB and alcohol in his blood, both were probably produced naturally after death.

“If someone had taken GHB close to the time of death you would expect the urine level to be much higher. I can’t completely rule out ingestion of GHB but it would seem unlikely.

“In my opinion it’s far more likely to be post-mortem production.”

When asked how reliable tests could be, Ms Stanworth added: “In terms of many of the drugs, reliable, but in terms of the more volatile substances, not that reliable.”

Ms Stanworth, who reviewed the toxicology, said it was “highly unlikely that he was administered with an old-fashioned poison but they cannot rule out volatile agents”. She said it was impossible to say if there were traces of the legal high poppers.

But she agreed with Westminster coroner Fiona Wilcox that if he had taken them, it “could have caused loss of consciousness or death”.

Yesterday’s apology to Mr Williams’ grieving family, including his mother Ellen Williams and sister Ceri Subbe, was delivered by a Secret Intelligence Service officer identified only as “SIS F”.

Speaking from behind a 10ft screen to protect her identity, she said: “We are profoundly sorry about what happened.

It shouldn’t have happened and we recognise that the delay in finding Gareth’s body has made it even harder for the family to come to terms with his dreadful death and we are truly sorry for that.

“I also appreciate the delay had some impact on the police investigation.”

Family members rushed out of court in tears as the apology came, and the inquest had to be adjourned while they were comforted. Anthony O’Toole, the family’s lawyer, accused MI6 of showing “total disregard for Gareth’s whereabouts and safety” after he went missing in August 2010.

Mr Williams, 31, failed to turn up on August 16 for the meeting, and his naked body was found rotting in the bag at his flat in Pimlico, central London, on August 23. He was curled up in the foetal position, and the red North Face holdall had been padlocked from the outside.

The hearing continues.

Telegraph : MI6 spy Gareth Williams could have locked himself in bag, inquest hears

MI6 spy Gareth Williams could have locked himself in bag, inquest hears

MI6 spy Gareth Williams may have been able to get into a holdall and lock it from the inside, an inquest heard.

By Tom Whitehead, Security Editor | April 27, 2012

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.

William MacKay, an expert in “unusual occurrences” and confined spaces, said some people can do “amazing things and Mr Williams may be one of those”.

In the fifth and most dramatic day of the inquest of Mr Williams, video footage of attempts to recreate climbing in to a holdall and lock it was shown to the hearing.

The inquest at Westminster Coroners’ Court is investigating Mr Williams’ death, whose decomposing, naked body was found in a padlocked holdall in his bath at his flat in Pimlico in August 2010.

The issue of whether Mr Williams could lock himself in the bag is central to the inquiry and has fuelled theories that a third party was involved.

Mr MacKay said none of his or his colleagues attempts worked but they came “reasonably close” at times.

Asked if it was possible, he said: “Without a lot of training probably not.”

Asked again by coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox if that meant it could not be done, he said: “I would not like to say that.

“There are people who can do amazing things and Mr Williams may well be one of those persons.”

On Thursday, the inquest heard how small traces of the date rape drug GHB were found in Mr Williams’ body.

Experts were also unable to rule out a series of poisons, including cyanide, anesthetics and chloroform, because the body was so badly decomposed it was not possible to accurately test for them.

Forensic scientist Denise Stanworth said the traces of GHB were “probably” naturally occurring, which is common after death, but admitted she could not rule out it had been taken.

She added that "we cannot rule out volatile agents" as she was asked how reliable toxicology can be nine days after death.

Ms Stanworth also said it was impossible to say if there was any sign of the legal high poppers, acknowledging that the drug "could have caused loss of consciousness or death".

MI6 also apologised for failing to raise the alarm about his disappearance, conceding the error may have hampered police inquiries.

Relatives walked out on the inquest in tears as a senior spy said the secret service was "profoundly sorry" for delays in noticing he was missing for a week.

The family's lawyer accused MI6 of showing "total disregard for Gareth's whereabouts and safety" before he was found dead in his London home on August 23, 2010.

Speaking from behind a screen, Mr Williams' boss offered a full apology for MI6's slow response to Mr Williams's disappearance in August 2010.

The woman - named only as SIS F - said: "We are profoundly sorry about what happened.

"It shouldn't have happened and we recognise that the delay in finding Gareth's body has made it even harder for the family to come to terms with his dreadful death and we are truly sorry for that.

"I also appreciate the delay had some impact on the police investigation."

SIS F blamed Mr Williams' line manager for the "breakdown in communication" but said disciplinary action was not taken.

When officers finally entered Mr Williams's flat in Pimlico, central London, they discovered among his possessions some £20,000 of high-end women's clothing and shoes.

Examination of his home computer showed he had also visited websites about claustrophilia - the love of enclosure - and bondage and sadomasochism, the inquest has heard.

Mr O'Toole told the witness of speculation "that revelations about Gareth's private life might have rendered him unsuitable for SIS work".

SIS F replied that it was a "sensitive area" of questioning as it related to vetting issues but indicated his lifestyle and sexual preferences would not in themselves have posed a problem.

"I can't respond directly to the questions over Gareth because that goes to what knowledge we did or didn't have of him," she said.

"There's no set template as to what (an employee's) lifestyle should be. Individuals have lifestyles and sexual choices which are perfectly legitimate.

"Our concern in the vetting process is to identify whether anything in the individual's background, lifestyle, creates a risk for him."

The hearing continues.

Channel 4 : Spy inquest : 'Houdini would have trouble squeezing into bag'

Spy inquest : 'Houdini would have trouble squeezing into bag'

April 27, 2012

Escapologist Harry Houdini would not have been able to fit inside the bag in which MI6 spy Gareth Williams was found dead, his inquest is told.

While one expert testified that it was possible Mr Williams locked himself in the sports bag, Peter Faulding said a third party must have been present.

"I couldn't say it is impossible, but I think even Houdini would have struggled with this one," Mr Faulding, an ex-Parachute Regiment reservist, testified. "Mr Williams was either placed in the bag unconscious, or he was dead before he was in the bag."

A reconstruction played to the London hearing shows a man of similar height and build to Mr Williams struggling to pull the zip shut. The reconstruction in the video was carried out by experts under controlled conditions and should not be copied.

'Extreme heat'

If Mr Williams was alive at the time, he would have only been able to survive for 30 minutes as it was "extremely hot" and uncomfortable, Mr Faulding said. Between them, the two specialists tried 400 times to lock themselves into a similar bag 81cm x 48cm with no success.

William MacKay, an expert in "unusual occurrences," would not rule out the possibility, however, telling the inquest some people can do astonishing things.

"There are people around who can do amazing things and Mr Williams may well have been one of those persons," he said.

Bondage websites

With the hearing now in its fifth and final day, it is unlikely the public will ever know if Mr Williams was the target of foreign agents, the victim of MI6's own "dark arts," or a claustrophiliac with a love of enclosure. The 31-year-old maths genius visited websites about claustrophobia, bondage and sadomasochism.

Police said they found £20,000 of designer women's clothes in his London flat, although one of his close friends said that in her opinion Mr Williams was "straight". His former landlady testified that she found him tied to the bedpost, hollering for help three years before his death.

"My husband said 'What the bloody hell are you doing?'" Jennifer Elliot testified. Mr Williams, wearing only his boxer shorts, said he was "just messing about" to see if he could free himself.

Contaminated evidence

Some of the crime scene evidence was either contaminated or inconclusive because MI6 - including Mr Williams' superviser - said they did not notice he was missing from work for a week. Mr Williams had never missed one day's work previously, and normal procedure was to investigate within two to four hours, fuelling conspiracy theories.

Mr Williams' body was eventually found naked and decomposing, alongside the keys, inside a bag left in his bath. His family say they suspect "a member of some agency specialising in the dark arts" of entering the flat and removing evidence. The equipment used by Mr Williams at MI6 headquarters and Government Communications Headquarters Cheltenham was not retrieved for days after his body was discovered. The agency denies a cover-up.

"There was no reason to think his death was in any way connected to his work," said one MI6 witness, known only as "F". Nor, she added, was there any evidence that Mr Williams' identity as an MI6 officer had been discovered by foreign agencies.

Mr Williams, a former mathematics prodigy, was on a three-year secondment from GCHQ in Cheltenham. He designed technology for his four-person team, according to "F".

One of the detectives who worked on the case said she believed Williams had help getting into the bag as specks of unknown DNA were found on it. But in earlier testimony, the inquest heard crime scene investigators may have contaminated evidence.

Telegraph : MI6 spy inquest: Gareth Williams was 'dead or unconscious before he went into the bag'

MI6 spy inquest: Gareth Williams was 'dead or unconscious before he went into the bag'

MI6 spy Gareth Williams was "dead or unconscious" when placed in a sports bag because not even Harry Houdini could have locked himself in it, his inquest heard on Friday.

By Tom Whitehead, Security Editor | April 27, 2012

Peter Faulding, a former Parachute Regiment reservist and expert in confined rescues, said he was convinced another person was involved in putting Mr Williams in to a North Face holdall and padlocking it.

He said the idea of him doing it himself was in "unbelievable scenarios" and that even the world's greatest escapologist would have struggled.

His revelations will further fuel theories that the 31-year-old codebreaker may have been killed and dumped in a bag in the bath.

The inquest at Westminster Coroners' Court is investigating Mr Williams' death, whose decomposing, naked body was found in a padlocked holdall in his bath at his flat in Pimlico in August 2010.

The maths prodigy had been on secondment to MI6 from GCHQ when he died.

The issue of whether Mr Williams could lock himself in the bag is central to the inquiry and has fuelled theories that a third party was involved.

In the fifth and most dramatic day of the hearing, video footage of attempts to recreate climbing in to an 81cm by 48 cm holdall and locking it was shown to the court.

Mr Faulding, who is of similar height and build to Mr Williams, tried to climb in to a bag inside a bath and lock it himself 300 times and failed every time.

He said: "I have never been able to get this case out of my head.

"My conclusion is that he was either placed in the bag unconscious or he was dead before he was put in the bag."

When asked if it was impossible for him to have got in unaided he said: "I can't say it was impossible but I think I even Houdini would struggle with that one."

"My personal belief is that it could not be done."

He added: "I believe he was placed in there. I am satisfied from the evidence that I have seen from no DNA around the bath, the way it was locked, the shower screen placed back and the door closed my belief is that he was placed in there by a third party."

A bag similar to the one in which the body of Mr Williams was found

Mr Faulding, an expert in mine rescue and the man who helped dig out the tunneling protestor Swampy, suggested Mr Williams was then put in the bath 'to reduce body fluid or decomposition'.

He said it would have been "very very easy" for a single person to lift Mr Williams in to the bath and there would have been marks in or around the bath if he had done it himself, which there was not.

The inquest heard that if Mr Willliams had been alive when he went in to the bath, he would have been dead within 30 minutes.

Oxygen levels dropped to 17 per cent and the temperature rose by 10 per cent within five minutes.

Earlier, another expert in "unusual occurrences" and confined places suggested Mr Williams may have been able to do it himself but it was very unlikely.

William MacKay and a colleague tried and failed 100 times although they came "reasonably close" at times.

He tried different scenarios of climbing in and locking it from the inside or first locking it then splitting the zip, climbing in and then trying to re-zip it.

However, Mr MacKay's attempts did not involve a bath.

Asked by coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox if that meant it could not be done, he said: "I would not like to say that.

"There are people who can do amazing things and Mr Williams may well be one of those persons."

On Thursday, the inquest heard how small traces of the date rape drug GHB were found in Mr Williams' body.

Experts were also unable to rule out a series of poisons, including cyanide, anesthetics and chloroform, because the body was so badly decomposed it was not possible to accurately test for them.

Forensic scientist Denise Stanworth said the traces of GHB were "probably" naturally occurring, which is common after death, but admitted she could not rule out it had been taken.

MI6 also apologised for failing to raise the alarm about his disappearance, conceding the error may have hampered police inquiries.

Relatives walked out on the inquest in tears as a senior spy said the secret service was "profoundly sorry" for delays in noticing he was missing for a week.

The hearing continues.

NZ Herald : UK probe of slain spy hampered by delay

UK probe of slain spy hampered by delay

April 27, 2012

A colleague of a British spy whose body was found locked inside a sports bag says a delay in reporting him as missing hampered police inquiries into his death.

Gareth Williams, 31, worked for Britain's secret eavesdropping service GCHQ but was attached to the country's MI6 overseas spy agency when his naked and decomposing remains were found in curious circumstances in August 2010 at his central London apartment.

The spy's manager at MI6 previously acknowledged he didn't raise the alarm for a week after Williams first failed to appear for work.

At an inquest hearing Thursday, some of Williams' relatives walked out in tears as a second intelligence official - identified only as SIS F - said she recognized the delay had an "impact on the police investigation."

- AP

Telegraph : MI6 spy inquest: 'even Houdini could not have locked himself in the bag'

MI6 spy inquest: 'even Houdini could not have locked himself in the bag'

MI6 spy Gareth Williams was “dead or unconscious” and placed in a sports holdall by another person, his inquest heard today.

By Tom Whitehead, Security Editor | April 27, 2012

Expert Peter Faulding tried to climb in to a bag inside a bath and lock it himself 300 times and failed every time.

He said: “My conclusion is he was placed in the bag unconscious or was dead when he was put in the bag.”

He also raised the idea the bag was placed in the bath so “bodily fluids” could drain away.

The inquest at Westminster Coroners’ Court is investigating Mr Williams’ death, whose decomposing, naked body was found in a padlocked holdall in his bath at his flat in Pimlico in August 2010.

The issue of whether Mr Williams could lock himself in the bag is central to the inquiry and has fuelled theories that a third party was involved.

In the fifth and most dramatic day, video footage of attempts to recreate climbing in to a holdall and lock it was shown to the hearing.

Mr Faulding said he “cannot get this case out of my head” adding: “I cannot say it is impossible but I think even Houdini would struggle with this one.”

Crucially, he concluded: “I believe he was placed in the bag by a third person.”

He said had Mr Williams attempted it alone there would have been marks in or around the bath, which there was not.

Earlier, another expert in “unusual occurrences” and confined places suggested Mr Williams may have been able to do it but it was very unlikely.

William MacKay and a colleague tried and failed 100 times although they came “reasonably close” at times.

However, it appeared Mr MacKay’s attempts did not involve a bath.

Asked if it was possible, he said: “Without a lot of training probably not.”

Asked again by coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox if that meant it could not be done, he said: “I would not like to say that.

“There are people who can do amazing things and Mr Williams may well be one of those persons.”

On Thursday, the inquest heard how small traces of the date rape drug GHB were found in Mr Williams’ body.

Experts were also unable to rule out a series of poisons, including cyanide, anesthetics and chloroform, because the body was so badly decomposed it was not possible to accurately test for them.

Forensic scientist Denise Stanworth said the traces of GHB were “probably” naturally occurring, which is common after death, but admitted she could not rule out it had been taken.

She added that "we cannot rule out volatile agents" as she was asked how reliable toxicology can be nine days after death.

Ms Stanworth also said it was impossible to say if there was any sign of the legal high poppers, acknowledging that the drug "could have caused loss of consciousness or death".

MI6 also apologised for failing to raise the alarm about his disappearance, conceding the error may have hampered police inquiries.

Relatives walked out on the inquest in tears as a senior spy said the secret service was "profoundly sorry" for delays in noticing he was missing for a week.

The family's lawyer accused MI6 of showing "total disregard for Gareth's whereabouts and safety" before he was found dead in his London home on August 23, 2010.

Speaking from behind a screen, Mr Williams' boss offered a full apology for MI6's slow response to Mr Williams's disappearance in August 2010.

The woman - named only as SIS F - said: "We are profoundly sorry about what happened.

"It shouldn't have happened and we recognise that the delay in finding Gareth's body has made it even harder for the family to come to terms with his dreadful death and we are truly sorry for that.

"I also appreciate the delay had some impact on the police investigation."

SIS F blamed Mr Williams' line manager for the "breakdown in communication" but said disciplinary action was not taken.

When officers finally entered Mr Williams's flat in Pimlico, central London, they discovered among his possessions some £20,000 of high-end women's clothing and shoes.

Examination of his home computer showed he had also visited websites about claustrophilia - the love of enclosure - and bondage and sadomasochism, the inquest has heard.

Mr O'Toole told the witness of speculation "that revelations about Gareth's private life might have rendered him unsuitable for SIS work".

SIS F replied that it was a "sensitive area" of questioning as it related to vetting issues but indicated his lifestyle and sexual preferences would not in themselves have posed a problem.

"I can't respond directly to the questions over Gareth because that goes to what knowledge we did or didn't have of him," she said.

"There's no set template as to what (an employee's) lifestyle should be. Individuals have lifestyles and sexual choices which are perfectly legitimate.

"Our concern in the vetting process is to identify whether anything in the individual's background, lifestyle, creates a risk for him."

The hearing continues.

Gulf Times (Qatar) : MI6 played no part in spy death: officer

MI6 played no part in spy death: officer

London Evening Standard/London | April 27, 2012

MI6 yesterday denied allegations that its “black arts” were involved in the death of spy Gareth Williams, or in any related cover-up.

A senior officer told the Westminster coroner’s court inquest there was no evidence that MI6 knew about the codebreaker’s death until after police found his naked, decomposing body locked inside a sports bag.

Speaking anonymously from behind a screen, she denied Williams family claims that the “black arts” of an intelligence organisation were involved in the mysterious death.

The officer, referred to only as SIS F, said a “very comprehensive review” carried out by the intelligence agency 12 months after the death found no link with Williams’s security service work.

He had made some unauthorised searches on the secret intelligence service database, creating a “theoretical possibility” that he could have been open to blackmail by a “malign or hostile” foreign power. But there was no evidence that anyone knew about it, nor that any “foreign intelligence or security organisation” represented any threat to Williams.

He had been fully vetted and assessed as “very low risk”, said the officer.
Williams had not been required to inform his bosses about a collection of women’s clothing worth £20,000 in his Pimlico flat. But if he’d had any concerns about possible sexual preferences or lifestyle, he should have raised it with MI6 so any possible risk could be analysed, the officer said.

Williams, 31, was on secondment to MI6 from the GCHQ government listening post when he was found dead in 2010. The inquest has heard that he probably lay undiscovered for eight days before his family reported him missing, and that his MI6 line manager failed to raise the alarm.

Witness SIS F said Williams was “highly skilled” with a “very able technical brain” and rated by GCHQ as “a world-class contributor to his field”.

The hearing continues.

Seattle PI : Experts: UK spy found dead in bag likely had help

Experts: UK spy found dead in bag likely had help

DAVID STRINGER, Associated Press | April 27, 2012

LONDON (AP) — Experts said Friday it was almost impossible for a British spy whose naked body was found locked inside a sports bag to have climbed inside and pulled the zipper closed himself — increasingly the likelihood someone else was involved in his mysterious death.

Cryptology expert Gareth Williams, 31, worked for Britain's secret eavesdropping service GCHQ but was attached to the MI6 overseas spy agency when his remains were found in August 2010 inside the bag in a bathtub at his London apartment.

Police are not certain exactly how Williams died and have so far made no arrests, although a senior detective has told an inquest on the spy's death that she believes someone else must have been involved.

Coroner Fiona Wilcox is in charge of the inquest, which must attempt to determine when and how Williams died.

Police have indicated Williams' death may have had links to his private life — possibly during in a sexual encounter gone awry. His relatives, however, insist his demise must be related to his highly secret work.

The inquiry heard earlier this week that MI6 colleagues failed to report Williams as missing for a week, meaning that police lost vital chances to gather evidence at the scene.

The hearing has also been told that Williams had visited websites on sadomasochism and had previously had to call for help after he tied himself to his bed and couldn't escape.

Peter Faulding, an-ex military reservist who specializes in rescuing people from confined spaces, told the hearing Friday that getting into this bag would likely even have defeated famed escapologist Harry Houdini.

"I couldn't say it's impossible, but I think even Houdini would have struggled with this one," Faulding told Westminster Coroner's Court in London. "My conclusion is that Mr. Williams was either placed in the bag unconscious, or he was dead before he was in the bag."

Faulding said he had made 300 unsuccessful attempts to lock himself inside an identical sized sports bag, measuring 81cm (32 inches) by 48cm (18.9 inches). Williams was the same height as Faulding, 170 cm (5 feet 7 inches) tall.

A second expert, William MacKay, told the hearing that it was possible, but very unlikely, that Williams could have climbed inside the bag and locked it unaided. His yoga-practicing assistant had made more than 100 attempts to recreate the feat without success, MacKay said.

"I would not like to say that it could not be done," MacKay said. "There are people around who can do amazing things and Mr. Williams may well have been one of those persons."

The hearing was also told that detectives had found video stored on the spy's mobile phone which appeared to show Williams dressed in only black leather boots and gyrating at a camera.

A trawl of his internet browsing had uncovered searches for bondage sites, designer female clothing and high-profile drag artists.

Wilcox expects to deliver a verdict in the case next Wednesday.

Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

SMH : Landlady found British spy tied to bed in underwear

Landlady found British spy tied to bed in underwear

April 27, 2012

LONDON: The MI6 spy, Gareth Williams, was discovered tied to his own bed wearing only boxer shorts three years before he was found dead, naked in a sports bag, an inquest has heard.

The maths prodigy was living alone in Cheltenham in 2007 when he had to call for help in the middle of the night. His landlady and landlord, who lived below him, heard his yells and were met with the "shocking" scene, Westminster coroners' court heard.

The incident was disclosed in a written statement from the landlady, Jennifer Elliot, at the inquest into the death of Mr Williams, whose decomposing body was found in a holdall in the bath of his London flat in 2010. One of the theories surrounding his death included suggestions that he had been involved in a sex game that went wrong. Searches of his home computers showed that he visited "claustrophilia", bondage and sadomasochism websites, the inquest heard.
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The inquiry also heard that Mr Williams's boss, identified only as "G", said he waited a week before raising the alarm after his colleague went missing.

In another dramatic day of evidence, a senior counter-terrorism officer said he could not guarantee that Mr Williams's work computers had not been tampered with after his death.

The inquest heard that in 2007, Mr Williams was living in an annexe above Jennifer and Brian Elliot's home when the couple heard cries for help at about 1.30am one winter night. They discovered Mr Williams, who was working at GCHQ at the time, lying on his back with both hands tied to the bedposts and wearing only boxer shorts.

The spy did not "appear aroused", Mrs Elliot said, but he was "very embarrassed, panicky and apologetic" and insisted that he was "just messing about".

The inquest has previously heard that traces of DNA belonging to another person were discovered on the bag containing Mr Williams's body but they were too small to be of use to the police. Detective Chief Inspector Jackie Sebire said it had always been her opinion that another party was involved in locking the padlock on the bag and placing it in the bath.

It also emerged that the spy, regularly bought women's clothing at an upmarket store, claiming that they were for his girlfriend. Police found women's clothing, shoes and wigs valued at more than £20,000 ($31,204) in his flat.

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

Ms Guthrie, who had known Mr Williams since 2009, said he may have had women's clothing in his flat as a "support strategy" for women friends. The hearing continues.

Telegraph, London; Associated Press

BBC : MI6 officer inquest hears claim of third party role

MI6 officer inquest hears claim of third party role

April 27, 2012

A third party must have been involved in putting MI6 officer Gareth Williams in the padlocked bag in which his body was found, an expert witness believes.

Peter Faulding told Mr Williams's inquest he would have been dead within 30 minutes of being put in the holdall.

The body of Mr Williams, from Anglesey, was found in his London flat in 2010.

The inquest was shown footage of two experts' attempts in which they struggled to lock themselves in a bag - but neither ruled it out completely.

These tests have addressed the crucial question of whether Mr Williams, 31, could have locked himself in the holdall in his bath or if another person must have been involved.

Footage played at Westminster Coroner's Court showed Mr Faulding trying to get into the bag in an empty bath.

Mr Faulding said that he had tried and failed to lock the bag from inside 300 times.

"I couldn't say it's impossible, but I think even Houdini would have struggled with this one," he said.

"My conclusion is that Mr Williams was either placed in the bag unconscious, or he was dead before he was in the bag."

Mr Faulding added that he had really struggled to get himself in the bag in the first place, and had had his feet resting on the bath and tiles, and his hands on the side.

He told the court that Mr Williams could not have got into the bag unaided without leaving marks and footprints, none of which were found at the scene in the flat in Pimlico.

But William MacKay, who said his military career made him adept at working in confined spaces, told the inquest that locking the bag was a skill that would have required training but that once a person had done it, they could not get out.

Mr MacKay and an assistant failed in 100 attempts to lock the bag from inside, and caused damage to the zip.

But he would not rule out that it was possible, adding: "There are people around who can do amazing things and Mr Williams may well have been one of those persons."

BBC security correspondent Gorden Corera, at the inquest, said: "This leaves the likelihood, which the police say they have believed since the beginning, that someone else was involved."

Computers examined

Later on Friday the inquest heard from Det Con Simon Warren, the police officer who had examined Mr Williams's laptop computers, memory sticks, CDs and DVDs.

He said that no security-sensitive information had been found, and also that there was no evidence files had been amended since Mr Williams's death.

Det Con Warren went on to say that about half of the internet use on the computers had been in the area of women's high fashion, including handbags, cosmetics, belts and gloves.

In December 2010, police revealed that they had found £15,000-worth of unworn women's designer clothing in six boxes at Mr Williams's flat.

Officers also revealed at that time that Mr Williams had visited a drag cabaret in east London four days before his death and had tickets to two more.

Det Con Warren told the inquest that the computers had been used to visit bondage websites, but he said this browsing was isolated and did not suggest an ongoing, active interest.

Det Con Robert Burrows said that Mr Williams's phones also had bondage websites in their browsing history, while a smartphone found on a table contained no data because the factory settings had been restored.

Following the conclusion of evidence for the day, coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox indicated that she might deliver her verdict next Wednesday.

Mr Williams has previously been described as a "world class intelligence officer" by his former boss at the government listening agency GCHQ.

At the time he was found dead he had been on a three-year secondment with MI6 in London and wanted to return to his role at GCHQ, the inquest has heard.

UKPA : Video shows spy wearing only boots

Video shows spy wearing only boots

April 27, 2012

A video recovered from Gareth Williams's flat appears to show him dressed in nothing but black leather boots, the inquest into his death has heard.

He "wiggles and gyrates" with his back to the camera in the footage found on a mobile phone by detectives.

The MI6 spy also kept pictures of drag queens on his computer and browsed self-bondage websites on his computers and phone. He spent 50% of his time online looking at "couture" women's fashion and was looking at fetish websites days before his death.

In one record of him viewing self-bondage websites, images showed "a model enclosed in plastic and using a vacuum cleaner to suck the air out", Detective Constable Robert Burrows said.

Det Con Burrows said film also "appears to show him being filmed from the back naked apart from a pair of leather boots".

Describing the footage, Dec Con Burrows said: "He walks up to the chair and stands directly behind the back of the chair."

He appears to reach down and touch his boots before he "wiggles and gyrates his posture". He then turns towards the camera before walking out of view.

Web records also showed he once searched for bondage sites and watched a YouTube video after typing "dress bondage training". Pages from 2008 showed he may have looked at sites relating to "hogtie", a bondage method of tying the limbs together.

Drag queen images saved on his computer include those of Jay Clarke and Jeffrey Star.

Detective Constable Simon Warren said: "I would say that Gareth was keenly interested in ladies' fashion but the very high end couture fashion." He said the bondage footage on his computer was "an isolated (incident) among a sea of other data".

Copyright © 2012 The Press Association. All rights reserved.

NYT : Death of Spy, Zipped Into Bag, Spawns Theories and Inquest

Death of Spy, Zipped Into Bag, Spawns Theories and Inquest

By John F. Burns | April 27, 2012

LONDON — Britain, home to the MI6 spy agency that inspired the James Bond stories and the billion-dollar film franchise, has been wrestling this week with one of the country’s strangest real-life spy mysteries in a generation, one that has become known popularly as the case of the spy in the bag.

An inquest held just across the Thames from MI6’s headquarters here has brought forth details of the bizarre and lonely death in August 2010 of Gareth Williams, a 31-year-old rising star in supersecret counterterrorism work. He was found in a fetal position, arms crossed on his chest, locked inside a duffel bag resting in an unfilled bathtub at the government flat assigned to him in the upscale Pimlico district of London.

His naked body had been in the bag for a week before it was discovered, so badly decomposed that the police and pathologists have been unable to determine whether he was murdered in what his family’s lawyer has suggested to the court was a plot by others skilled in the “dark arts” of spy work.

That theory has played prominently here, with Mr. Williams depicted alternately as a victim of Russian secret service hit men, extremists with Al Qaeda, or a multitude of other potential assassins working in the murky world of espionage who poisoned him with potassium cyanide or an overdose of a powerful sedative drug, GHB, a theory pathologists said could not be effectively tested because of the advanced decomposition.

While the police and MI6 officials have refused to rule out those theories, they suggested a more likely but mundane explanation: that although the day had long passed when the agency dictated agents’ lifestyles, he was leading a doubly secret life, as a licensed MI6 field agent and as a sexual fantasist.

According to this hypothesis, he simply died in a sex game that went wrong, probably involving someone who fled the scene. One of the sparse forensic discoveries at the scene involved traces of DNA that were found on the duffel bag’s zipper and the lock, not belonging to Mr. Williams or to anybody on the police or pathology teams, but too microscopic to offer a trail to anybody else.

The theory of sexual misadventure has been bolstered by evidence that Mr. Williams, a bachelor with no known romantic involvements, went to transvestite performances and visited sites on the Internet dedicated to bondage and “claustrophilia,” a condition that involves getting sexual thrills from being shut in enclosed spaces.

Investigators also discovered that he had more than $30,000 worth of women’s high-fashion clothing, including Christian Louboutin shoes and Christian Dior dresses, in carefully packed bags in his apartment. Much of the clothing was brand new, but some of the 26 pairs of shoes had been worn, and a bright orange woman’s wig was found over the back of a chair, along with a pair of newly pressed men’s underpants, in Mr. Williams’s otherwise sparsely decorated but conspicuously tidy bedroom.

At the inquest on Friday, a video was played showing two men hired by the police — one a yoga expert and the other a former military man trained in escape techniques, and both of roughly the same size and height as the muscular, athletic, 5-foot-7-inch Mr. Williams — trying to replicate what he would have had to do to get himself into the bag alone and lock it from inside. Using the same kind of red, extra-large North Face duffel bag, and the tub in the Pimlico flat, the two men were shown contorting themselves — more than 100 times in the case of one man, and 300 times in the case of the other — without managing the feat.

Investigators concluded that someone else had to have helped in closing the bag and locking it. The police have said further that they cannot rule out that Mr. Williams was dead before being placed in the bag, or that the bag with his body in it was lifted into the bathtub from somewhere else. There were no fingerprints or other traces that would have been expected if Mr. Williams had supported himself on the bathtub’s rim while lowering himself into the bag.

Concerns about national security have contributed to the 20-month delay in the inquest.

Mr. Williams, a Cambridge-educated mathematical genius from the mountains of North Wales, was working on what his superiors have described as the practical use of new technologies in the field of electronic surveillance. Police testimony has described him as a picture of tranquillity in death, lying faceup, looking “very calm,” with no injuries to his nails or fingers and no “signs of stress or fear” on his body or on the bag’s interior netting. But the men who tried to lock themselves in the bag, and pathologists, have said at the inquest that he would have suffocated within 30 minutes from a rapid 20-degree rise in heat and a buildup of carbon dioxide.

Family members, including Mr. Williams’s parents and a sister, appealed unsuccessfully to the coroner not to allow the video of the re-enactment to be shown to the court, but it was quickly posted on the Internet after the court session ended. Inquest sessions have been suspended when relatives have broken into sobbing and hyperventilating, on one occasion when a senior MI6 officer testified anonymously from behind a screen that their son’s MI6 supervisor had not been disciplined for failing to report him missing, even though the normally punctilious Mr. Williams had not been at work for more than a week.

MI6 and the other spy agencies in Britain, including Government Communications Headquarters, the powerful, partly American-financed electronic surveillance center, which had transferred Mr. Williams to MI6, are no strangers to scandals that have involved the sex lives of some of their greatest talents.

Alan M. Turing, the mathematician whom many regard as the father of modern computer science, known for leading the team that cracked Nazi Germany’s military ciphers in World War II, committed suicide in 1954 by eating a cyanide-laced apple after being convicted of homosexuality, then a criminal offense. The so-called Cambridge spies of the 1950s, several of whom fled to the Soviet Union, had homosexual liaisons as young men.

But MI6 has used the mystery of Mr. Williams’s death to signal that efforts have been made to neutralize the potential for blackmail in the private lives of British agents. One of the two MI6 officials who have testified at the inquest said the agency knew of Mr. Williams’s sexual predilections, including his visits to bondage Web sites, his interest in transvestite performances and his collection of women’s clothing, and deemed that they posed no problem in his professional life, where he had performed “world-class work.” Other MI6 officials have said some of his work involved close contact with American spy agencies, and visits to the United States.

The MI6 official, identified in court as SIS F — for the Secret Intelligence Service, MI6’s formal name, and “female” — said agents’ sex lives were now their own private concern. “There is no set template for what their lifestyle should be,” she said. “Individuals have lifestyle and sexual choices and sexual preferences which are perfectly legitimate.” But she also said Mr. Williams had used his MI6 computer to make “a small number” of illicit searches on the MI6 database, which she did not detail, that could have made him vulnerable to blackmail by foreign agents. While the agency believed there was no connection between his spy work and his death, she said, that could not be ruled out.

Another clue to Mr. Williams’s mind-set at his death came from a clipping from the newspaper The Observer that was found in his flat. Dated on the day before his last Web search, the article focused on research into what people on their deathbeds most regretted. These included not having the “courage to live true to myself” and wishing they had “stayed in touch with friends” and had “let myself be happier.”

Guardian : Gareth Williams inquest: MI6 spy could have shut himself in bag, says expert

Gareth Williams inquest: MI6 spy could have shut himself in bag, says expert

Despite trying and failing 100 times to mimic the act of locking himself in an identical bag, expert tells court it is not impossible

Press Association | April 27, 2010

Experts have refused to rule out the possibility that dead MI6 spy Gareth Williams locked himself in his sports holdall unaided.

Video reconstructions showed a yoga specialist repeatedly fail in the "frustrating, fiddly" task of pulling the zip from within the 81cm x 48cm space.

But William MacKay – who said he made more than 100 attempts without success – said it was not impossible that the fitness-loving maths prodigy died without a third party present.

"I would not like to say that it could not be done," he told Westminster coroner's court. "There are people around who can do amazing things and Mr Williams may well have been one of those persons."

Several reconstruction scenarios were played of a man of similar build to Williams getting inside an identical red North Face holdall.

While he had little problem curling his body inside the space, pulling the zip into position proved problematic.

MacKay, an expert who has worked with the Army, suggested Williams would have needed extensive training to have pulled off the act in pitch darkness.

"I think you could continue to work on this for a long period of time," MacKay said. He said "many problems arise" in trying to complete the task.

MacKay said his assistant was very flexible and "if the task could be done, he is the person that could do it".

Williams' mountain climbing experience would have given him an advantage as it would have strengthened his fingers.

But MacKay added: "It was very painful to do it. You tend to move the zip with your finger nails, straggling about. It was very frustrating, fiddly, you just can't get the thing together."

Williams was found curled up naked in the bag in the bath of his flat on 23 August 2010. The family believe he had been dead for nine days.

MacKay said he even tried to pull off the task in water and using chewing gum.

Burton Mail : Inquest hears spy suffocation claim

Inquest hears spy suffocation claim

April 27, 2012

MI6 spy Gareth Williams would have suffocated within three minutes after getting inside his sports holdall, an inquest has heard.

Poisoning and asphyxiation are the "foremost contenders" in solving the death riddle, pathologists said.

It also emerged scientists found traces of "at least" two unknown people in his upmarket London apartment despite evidence Mr Williams rarely invited people over.

Forensic expert Ros Hammond said there were hopes of a breakthrough "within a matter of weeks" from DNA tests on a green towel discovered in his kitchen.

"There's hope," she told Westminster Coroner's Court. "The tests are still in progress and there may be some promising results from those tests."

Ms Hammond said a third party would not necessarily have left any DNA on his red North Face bag and padlock.

But she added: "There's certainly evidence of at least two people other than Mr Williams on the samples tested."

The 31-year-old was probably suffocated or killed by a poison which disappeared in his system during decomposition, pathologist Benjamin Swift said.

Dr Swift said his post-mortem examination was hampered by levels of heat within the bag after radiators were mysteriously turned on in Mr Williams's top-floor flat in the middle of summer.

The inquest was adjourned until Tuesday. Coroner Fiona Wilcox is likely to deliver her verdict on Wednesday.

Belfast Telegraph : Mother breaks down as MI6 says sorry for failures over 'body-in-bag' spy death

Mother breaks down as MI6 says sorry for failures over 'body-in-bag' spy death

Kim Sengupta | April 27, 2012

MI6 yesterday offered a public apology to the family of Gareth Williams for the failure to investigate the disappearance of the intelligence officer whose body was later found in a padlocked bag in his London flat.

Mr Williams's mother, Ellen, broke down in tears after a Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) official – called Witness F – told an inquest into his death that her son's immediate boss, who admitted he had not followed procedure, had not faced any disciplinary action.

Witness F said: "We are profoundly sorry about what happened. It shouldn't have happened and we recognise delay in finding Gareth's body has made it even harder for the family to come to terms with his dreadful death and we are truly sorry for that. I also appreciate the delay had some impact on the police investigation."

The inquest at Westminster Coroners' Court heard the delay meant it could not be ruled out that Mr Williams was poisoned. Traces of a drug matching the party drug GHB was found in his blood. Forensic scientist Denise Stanworth said because up to nine days had passed after his death before his body was found "we cannot rule out volatile agents".

She added it was impossible to say if there was any sign of the legal high "poppers", acknowledging the drug "could have caused loss of consciousness or death". She also stressed, however, the symptoms are likely to have appeared naturally after Mr Williams' death.

Anthony O'Toole QC, for the family, accused MI6 of a "total disregard for Gareth's whereabouts and safety". He blamed the delay for preventing the family from saying goodbye to Mr Williams while his body was in an "acceptable form" and for making it more or less impossible for police to establish how he died.

"Because of the decomposition of the body, any forensic evidence that could have been derived from it has disappeared, so the police investigation has in essence been almost defeated," he said. It emerged at yesterday's hearing that Mr Williams, 34, a cipher expert, had carried out unauthorised searches on the MI6 website and this, according to Witness F, could have "theoretically" put him at risk from "hostile and malign" forces.

However, Witness F maintained that evidence of Mr Williams's sexual practices, which included him visiting 'claustrophilia' and bondage and sadomasochism websites, and the discovery of £20,000 worth of female designer clothing at his home would not have made him a security risk. Mr O'Toole told Witness F of speculation "that revelations about Gareth's private life might have rendered him unsuitable for SIS work". Witness F responded "There's no set template as to what (an employee's) lifestyle should be. Individuals have lifestyles and sexual choices which are perfectly legitimate."

At an earlier hearing Mr O'Toole said the family believed Mr Williams may have been executed by secret agents specialising in the "dark arts" with a cover-up organised to ensure his killers did not face justice. But Witness F insisted an internal review found there was "no evidence of any specific threat to Gareth and we concluded there was no reason to think his death was anything to do with his work".

Witness F said Mr Williams was "a fully deployable, highly talented officer" who had passed exams to carry out difficult covert work six months before he was found dead in August 2010. He had only been deployed in the UK, and not in Afghanistan or Russia as some media reports had claimed. He was on secondment with MI6 in London when he died but he had requested to return to his role at GCHQ, which had been accepted.

The inquest continues.

Sky : 'Third Party Must Have Locked Spy In Bag'

'Third Party Must Have Locked Spy In Bag'

Tom Parmenter, Sky News correspondent | April 27, 2012

An expert has said he believes a third party was present when Gareth Williams died because theories that the MI6 spy got inside a bag by himself were "unbelievable scenarios".

Mr Williams' body was found curled up naked in the padlocked holdall in the bath of his flat in Pimlico, central London, in August 2010.

Former Parachute Regiment reservist Peter Faulding told an inquest even escapologist Harry Houdini "would have struggled" to squeeze himself into the bag and lock it from the inside.

Mr Faulding, who specialises in rescuing people from confined spaces, made 300 unsuccessful attempts to lock himself inside an identical bag measuring 81cm by 48cm.

"My conclusion is that Mr Williams was either placed in the bag unconscious, or he was dead before he was in the bag," Mr Faulding said.

He suggested it would have been "very easy" to fold the dead spy's arms and place him in the holdall as long as rigor mortis had not set in.

During the forensic investigation no fingerprints were found at the scene but tiny DNA samples were discovered on the bag, their owner has never been identified.

But a second expert, William MacKay, told the inquest it was not impossible that the fitness-loving maths prodigy died without a third party present.

Mr MacKay's assistant, a yoga specialist who is of similar build to Mr Williams, carried out another reconstruction and was able to curl his body into an identical red North Face bag.

But despite more than 100 attempts, he was not able to pull the zip into position within the space, and could not lock it from the inside.

Mr MacKay told Westminster Coroner's Court: "I would not like to say that it could not be done.

"There are people around who can do amazing things and Mr Williams may well have been one of those persons."

Mr MacKay, an expert who has worked with the Army, suggested Mr Williams would have needed extensive training to have pulled off the act in pitch darkness.

Mr Williams' mountain climbing experience would have given him an advantage as it would have strengthened his fingers.

But Mr MacKay added: "It was very painful to do it. You tend to move the zip with your fingernails, straggling about. It was very frustrating, fiddly, you just can't get the thing together."

The inquest also heard how Mr Williams occasionally looked at bondage and fetish websites.

A police officer described to the coroner the findings of his work investigating Mr Williams' electronic devices.

Around half of his web browsing surrounded female fashion but he had also stored electronic images of several drag queens.

Records showed that he had researched bondage on Wikipedia and had visited bondage and fetish websites.

There was very little evidence of Mr Williams researching suffocation or experiencing confined spaces.

The inquest continues on Monday.

West End Extra : ‘Shy’ Gareth... Why the speculation won’t end

‘Shy’ Gareth... Why the speculation won’t end [scroll down]

by JOSH LOEB | April 27, 2012

THE discovery of Gareth Williams’s body in bizarre circumstances in a flat in a quiet Pimlico street in August 2010 sparked raging speculation and numerous news stories about his private life.

There has been discussion at the inquest over whether the flat in Alderney Street was a “safe house” for MI6, also known as SIS.

This has been denied by the security services, but yesterday Anthony O’Toole, the lawyer acting for Mr Williams’s family, suggested that there was evidence that “since 2003 the tenant of the flat has been the Secretary of State”– in other words that it had been occupied continuously by agents from MI6 or GCHQ since that year.

Mr O’Toole asked if it was “possible that it may have been known to certain parties as being the residence of SIS”.

It appears Mr Williams rarely strayed far from the area of Westminster in which he lived. He would go for walks around Belgravia and regularly shopped in Dover Street Market, Mayfair.

A collection of women’s clothing, estimated to have a total value of around £20,000, was found in Mr Williams’s flat.

Stephen Gale, a director of “operational analysis” at GCHQ at the time Mr Williams worked there, said the code-breaker had been given a pay rise shortly before moving to London, but he estimated the extremely expensive, high-end clothing would have taken up “a large chunk of this salary”.

Carol Kirtin, who worked in a store in Dover Street where Mr Williams had shopped, said in a witness statement: “He was very different to most male customers. He struck me as being shy and reserved.”

West End Extra : MI6 chiefs say sorry to family of Gareth Williams, the spy found dead in a locked holdall

MI6 chiefs say sorry to family of Gareth Williams, the spy found dead in a locked holdall

by JOSH LOEB | April 27, 2012

SENIOR member of the security services apologised to the family of spy Gareth Williams yesterday (Thursday) for MI6’s delay in raising the alarm until a week after the code-breaker first failed to show up for work.

Speaking from behind a screen, the witness, known only as “F” due to the sensitive nature of her work, said she was “profoundly sorry”.

She added that the 31-year-old’s absence should have become a matter of concern within hours of him failing to appear at his desk on August 16 2010. “F” added: “We acknowledge that the delay in finding Gareth’s body has made it even harder for the family to come to terms with his tragic death.”

Mr Williams’s body was found curled up in the foetal position inside a padlocked sports holdall in the bath of his top-floor, two-storey flat in Alderney Street, Pim­lico, on August 23.

The case remains shrouded in mystery despite a 21-month investigation and the inquest which today (Friday) enters its fifth day.

Westminster Coroner’s Court heard the dead body of the prodigious computer expert, who was known to colleagues as “the Swiss watch” because of his punctuality, could have lain undiscovered for as long as nine days.

“F” told the court that under MI6 protocol an investigation into the whereabouts of Mr Williams, who was on a secondment to the organ­isation from the GCHQ listening station in Cheltenham, should have been launched as early as two hours after he failed to appear for work.

Anthony O’Toole, a lawyer for Mr Williams’s family, said the delay had produced “horrendous results” as the family had been unable to “say goodbye properly” because the corpse had not been “in an acceptable state”.

He added: “Because of the decomposition of the body, any forensic evidence that could have been derived from it has disappeared, so the police investigation has in effect been defeated.”

Mr Williams’s family walked out of court in tears as “F” said no one had been disciplined for what Mr O’Toole called “this total disregard for Gareth’s whereabouts and safety”.

When coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox suggested there had been a “complete breakdown in communication” between Mr Williams and his line manager, “F” told the court she agreed.

She also said she did not believe that Mr Williams’s job – the details of which have been excluded due to national security – had been a factor in his death.

The court heard that Mr Williams, originally from Wales, had wanted to leave London to return to GCHQ and had received clearance to do so shortly before his death.

He had also recently returned to London from an annual digital security event, The Black Hat Conference, in Las Vegas.

“F” was asked by Dr Wilcox whether there was evidence from Mr Williams’s work compu­ter that indicated he had used restricted databases improperly to search for information unconnected with his work.

“F” said such searches had potentially taken place. But she said it would be better to describe the searches as “unexplained”.

Somewhat cryptically, Dr Wilcox also asked “F” whether contact with anyone from the central Asian country of Kyrgyzstan was something M16 employees were expected to report – but “F” said she was unable to answer for national security reasons.

On Wednesday, Superintendent Michael Broster, of the SO15 counter terrorism command, whose job was to liaise between homicide investigators and the secret services, said he had received “assurances” from his contact in MI6 that nothing on Mr Williams’s desk or computer had been tampered with prior to it being seized by police on August 27.

Mr O’Toole replied: “So, almost under the old boys act – they tell you that and you accept it, do you?”

The inquest continues.