Body in a bag: Doubts over spy's state of mind
April 30, 2012
The handlers of body in the bag spy Gareth Williams raised concerns about his state of mind on the day he was found dead inside his flat.
The inquest into Mr Williams' death heard that a senior executive at GCHQ, the Government's secret listening post, told police that the MI6 spy may have reacted badly after being removed from a covert operation.
A transcript of the call revealed that the executive added: We are not sure how he's taken that.
The warning was passed on to officers searching for Mr Williams, who had been missing from work for more than a week.
He was expected at MI6's headquarters at Vauxhall Cross, South London, on Monday August 16, 2010.
But his bosses did not raise the alarm until Friday and waited until after the weekend before deciding to call the police.
Mr Williams' naked body was discovered in a padlocked holdall in the bath of his flat in Pimlico, Central London, on the evening of August 23.
The GCHQ warning has been seized on by Mr Williams' parents as possible evidence of a cover-up about the truth of what happened to their son. The intelligence services have always claimed the spy's death had nothing to do with his secret work.
But the warning message appears to contradict this, as it suggests they were concerned about him after they had told him to withdraw from a secret operation.
Gareth's parents, Ian and Ellen Williams, and sister Ceri, from Anglesey, North Wales, believe the dark arts of an unnamed secret agency may have been involved in his death.
Evidence submitted to Westminster Coroner's Court confirms that Mr Williams, who was on secondment to MI6 from GCHQ in Cheltenham, had been involved in covert operations in the months before he died.
The spy worked in a four-man team as an expert code breaker and shortly before his death had been in contact with two secret agents working in the field in the UK.
On August 11 he returned to London following a six-week visit to the US, where he had been part of a contingent of UK spies sent to a computer intelligence conference, known as the Black Hat.
The coroner, Dr Fiona Wilcox, said on Friday that the Las Vegas conference attracted criminal hackers who attend the briefings to keep up with the latest developments in computer technology.
But it is also used by security agencies from Britain and America to target hackers. The FBI has been reported to have sent teams of undercover agents to the conference to break up hacking cells, and al so to mount clandestine operations to recruit criminal hackers as informants.
If Mr Williams had gone to Las Vegas as part of an active intelligence operation he could have been exposed to dangers from criminal hacking gangs.
But GCHQ insists that its officers in the US faced no greater risk than they did in the UK.
His bosses also say Mr Williams, who was due to end his secondment with MI6 in September 2010, had not been working on an undercover operation at the time he went missing.
The eight-day delay in GCHQ and MI6 telling police he was officially missing has provoked accusations from his family that they knew something horrible had happened to him.
The inquest heard of a transcript of the call, made at 4.41pm on the 23rd by senior GCHQ officer Helen Yelland, in which she said: He was last spoken to on Friday 13th. He was expected into work all of last week and did not appear. Both the landline and mobile phones are not picked up. The mobile is switched off. His sister was expecting to stay with him on Wednesday this week and she has not been able to contact him.
The Metropolitan Police operator asked if there were any concerns, to which Ms Yelland replies: He is going to be coming back to Cheltenham because he's just been pulled back from a job he's supposed to do and we are not sure how he's taken that.
Police suspect another person was involved in Mr Williams' death and experts believe he was likely to have been unconscious or dead when he was placed in the bag.
Forensic experts are still examining Mr Williams' mobile phone after it emerged on Friday that all the data on it had been wiped.
Detective Constable Robert Burrows told the inquest that he was unable to say when the iPhone, which was found in the living room of the flat, had been wiped before or after the spy's death.
The inquest has also heard how traces of the date-rape drug GHB were found in Mr Williams' body.
Forensic scientist Denise Stanworth said the traces were probably naturally occurring, which is common after death, but admitted she could not rule out that it had been taken.
MI6 has apologised for failing to raise the alarm about his disappearance, conceding the error may have hampered police inquiries. The inquest will tomorrow be told the results of an investigation into a second post-mortem examination ordered by the coroner's office in the days after Mr Williams' death.
The spy's family want to know why the police were not informed of this post-mortem examination, as they would have been in an ordinary murder inquiry.
During the inquest, spies from MI6 and GCHQ have given evidence behind screens to protect their identities and Foreign Secretary William Hague has signed an order prohibiting the disclosure of details of Mr Williams' work. The family's barrister, Anthony O'Toole, told the inquest that since MI6 performed such an important job it was even more vital that Mr Williams' team leader known as Witness G should have done more to raise the alarm about the spy's absence from work.
It took Witness G five days before he visited Mr Williams' flat. The team leader has told the inquest he had been preparing to go into the field on a secret operation in the week the Welsh spy went missing.
The coroner has heard the dead spy was considered a world-class intelligence officer by GCHQ. Stephen Gale, Mr Williams' boss in Cheltenham, said the maths prodigy had won two awards for his code-breaking work.
Dr Wilcox has intimated that she is prepared to consider a verdict of unlawful killing if she believes another person was involved in the death.
The family want the coroner to explore the possibility that Mr Williams' flat may have been wiped of other people's DNA and the spy's office computers tampered with.
The electronic equipment was handed to Scotland Yard's counter-terrorism command, SO15, on August 27, four days after the death came to light, the inquest heard.
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.
But Superintendent Michael Broster, who was responsible for SO15's involvement in the investigation, insisted Mr Williams' workplace had been sealed and taped.
- Daily Mail
NZ Herald : Body in a bag: Doubts over spy's state of mind
Monday, April 30, 2012
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SMH : A very bizarre death gives an insight into a very secret service
Monday, April 30, 2012
A very bizarre death gives an insight into a very secret service
Nigel West | April 30, 2012
The death of MI6 officer Gareth Williams has shown that the reality of British espionage is stranger than any fiction. Spy writer Nigel West was at the inquest.
To hear shrieks, and then sobbing, at any inquest is harrowing. Such high emotion seems particularly at odds with the detached image many of us have of the world of spying. Yet last week during evidence into the death of the intelligence officer Gareth Williams, a female family member dramatically broke down in tears, and the hearing had to be adjourned.
Last week, the outside world had a rare glimpse into the shadowy world of MI6. At the coroner's court in Westminster, London, the focus of attention was Gareth Williams, a 31-year-old GCHQ technician on a three-year secondment to MI6, whose naked body was found in a padlocked holdall at his Pimlico flat in August 2010.
At the opening on Monday, the coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox promised she would oversee "a full, fair and fearless inquest into this highly controversial death", with more than 30 witnesses questioned. And indeed, this was the first time that many of us could learn some of the details of the circumstances surrounding Williams's bizarre death.
I was one of the spectators in the court. Having spent more than 30 years studying and recording the history of the British intelligence community, I can honestly say it was one of the strangest events I have witnessed. Because of the presence of Williams's parents and sister, it was agonising and troubling, too.
The family has long been convinced that "dark arts" were involved with his death, and that a third party was present, either at his death or who later destroyed evidence. There have also been blunders.
At an interim hearing ahead of last week's inquest, it was revealed that DNA evidence found on Williams's body came from a forensic scientist at the scene, a fact it took the forensic team more than a year to realise. And a Mediterranean couple who had visited the flat in the weeks before Williams's death, and who the police were keen to track down, turned out to be insignificant to the case. These mistakes have only helped fuel the conspiracy theories surrounding Williams's death.
Since we were dealing with British intelligence, security in the court was paramount. Members of MI6 were referred to by a letter rather than their names. Large blue screens were used to protect their identities (the family was allowed behind the screens, the rest of us were outside). The atmosphere was subdued; a rare moment of levity only when someone's mobile phone went off, and the coroner joked she had done the same herself some weeks before.
Yet if the entire episode were not so tragic, it could have been an exercise in absurdity. Even by the end of the week, the coroner had yet to grasp some of the basics of the espionage world, such as the difference between MI6 "officers" and their "agents".
So who was Gareth Williams? He was a tech wizard, regarded as a "world-class" expert in his field, who had joined GCHQ at the age of 21 and had then taken a postgraduate course at Cambridge in advanced mathematics. His precise skills - or their application by MI6 - cannot be discussed in public. We do know, however, that in 2007 he applied for a transfer to MI6, only to flunk the aptitude test administered by GCHQ, which suggested he lacked the requisite self-confidence. A year later he re-sat the exam and passed, which resulted in him moving in 2009 into an office - shared with Witness G (a member of MI6 who gave evidence) and three others - in "Legoland", as MI6's embarrassingly ostentatious headquarters at Vauxhall Cross are known.
Williams was a geek: private, shy and, reportedly, with a slight stammer. He did not socialise with colleagues, and none are known to have visited his top-floor flat. His sister had said in court last Monday that he "disliked office culture, post-work drinks, flash car competitions and the rat race".
Instead, he enjoyed cycling and running, and was fiercely competitive, but declined to join his fellow officers who shared the same pastimes, and exercised alone.
His private life was just that, and it came as a shock to those who thought they knew him that he had attended a six-week course in fashion design at the Central St Martin's College, and had accumulated a collection of women's designer clothes, shoes and boots - valued at £20,000 - lipstick and an orange wig.
Such interests, according to MI6, were of no concern to the organisation, although an audit of his office computer revealed some database searches that did not appear to be connected with his work. Under the terms of a Public Interest Immunity Certificate signed by the Foreign Secretary, we are not allowed to know the precise nature of this unauthorised activity. According to a senior MI6 officer - identified only as F - Williams might have been able to provide a satisfactory explanation for his apparently illicit access.
On Thursday, a particularly upsetting detail of Williams's death was revealed. The officer known as F had said the secret service was "profoundly sorry" that his absence went unreported for five days after Williams, a meticulous time-keeper, had failed to show up for work. She blamed his line manager - Witness G - for a breakdown in communication, but said G should not face any disciplinary action. This confession greatly distressed Williams's mother, Ellen, sitting with her family inside the partition screening witnesses from the public area.
Later, it was revealed that when MI6 realised that Williams was missing, F had telephoned the police. In the conversation, taped by the police and played to the court, F said that Williams had been missing for the whole of the previous week and - after a question about his state of mind - she said he had been recalled from a job he had wanted to do, and was uncertain about how he had taken the news. The implication was obvious.
Key to the inquest was whether Williams - whose naked, decomposing body was found inside a padlocked holdall placed in his bath - could have locked himself in the bag. Given his apparent interest in bondage, fetish clothing and claustrophilia - as demonstrated by his web-surfing - could he have fastened the brass padlock himself, the keys to which were found in the bag, under his body? And if so, where did the other unidentified DNA traces, found on the lock and the zipper, come from? Put simply, was Williams alone when he died in the early hours of that summer morning, or, though there was no sign of a break-in, was someone else involved?
On Friday we heard from Peter Faulding, a former Parachute Regiment reservist and an expert in confined spaces, who said he was convinced another person was involved in putting Williams into the holdall and locking it. The court was shown a video of an attempt to climb into and lock a holdall of the same size. Mr Faulding said he had tried it 300 times and had failed every time. "My belief is that he was placed in there by a third party," he said.
The other question, then, is whether Williams's death was linked to his job. A police investigation concluded that he had died from unknown causes, but most likely asphyxiation and dehydration. Detective Superintendent Michael Broster of Counter-Terrorism Command - who has spent 31 years in the police and acted as the liaison between MI6 and the detectives - opined that there was nothing to link the death to Williams's professional occupation, and no sign of a cover-up. Mind you, there was not much need for any covering up: for motives unknown, Williams had been quite successful in deleting the internet browsing history of his laptops, and completely reset one of his mobile phones, thereby emptying its memory.
According to MI6, in May 2009 Williams had filled a GCHQ slot at Vauxhall Cross, but had recently been granted a transfer back to Cheltenham. He had found his work boring, constrained by too much administration. Instead, he longed to resume his technical research and live in the countryside. Although he had undergone five training courses, and had passed an operational deployment course in February 2010 with flying colours, he had been determined to return to Gloucestershire. Once his request had been approved, he appeared much more relaxed.
The conspiracy theories - that Williams was living in an MI6 safe-house and had been engaged in dangerous missions overseas; or had been categorised as a high-security risk, or should have been - have all been scotched. His flat was rented by GCHQ, and he had never been sent on any foreign operations. He only ever met two MI6 agents, defined with bureaucratic accuracy by MI6 as "covert human intelligence sources", and the operations he participated in had been undertaken in England.
In short, he was a loner who failed to fit in at Legoland. As for his private life, MI6 is now very broadminded about individual lifestyles, and anything legal is considered acceptable. Kinky sex is fine; the days when the wretched former MI6 Chief Maurice Oldfield had felt obliged to lie for decades on his enhanced vetting questionnaire about his homosexuality are long gone.
Still, the delay in reporting him AWOL is reminiscent of MI6's past culture, when officers were encouraged to show initiative, be self-starters, think laterally and exercise some independence. Now the organisation is wholly risk-averse, awash with lawyers, and resembles a particularly staid branch of the Department of Work and Pensions.
Although in theory G should have followed the protocol and started to suspect a problem when Williams failed to show up for a meeting scheduled for Monday, August 16 - the very day he died - there is a straightforward explanation. MI6 personnel are often called at short notice to work on a particular, compartmentalised project or operation, and not everyone is likely to be indoctrinated into some of these activities. Raising the alarm because a team member has slipped away for a secret assignation is de rigueur. It is equally probable that a line-manager would be reluctant to acknowledge that he or she had been left out of the loop.
Another problem for today's MI6 is its dependency on personnel seconded from other organisations where there is not a clearly defined chain of command and responsibility. As Williams was due to leave London permanently, the assumption was that he was already preparing for his move.
Significantly, his apparent lack of office friendships may be part of the reason why he was not missed by any of his colleagues. Although an earlier intervention would have allowed the forensic scientists to be more precise about what had happened, his life could not have been saved by battering down his door on that Monday afternoon.
* Nigel West is the pen name of Rupert Allason, a military historian and author specialising in intelligence and security issues. His new book, Historical Dictionary of Chinese Intelligence, will be published in July.
The Sunday Telegraph, London
Nigel West | April 30, 2012
The death of MI6 officer Gareth Williams has shown that the reality of British espionage is stranger than any fiction. Spy writer Nigel West was at the inquest.
To hear shrieks, and then sobbing, at any inquest is harrowing. Such high emotion seems particularly at odds with the detached image many of us have of the world of spying. Yet last week during evidence into the death of the intelligence officer Gareth Williams, a female family member dramatically broke down in tears, and the hearing had to be adjourned.
Last week, the outside world had a rare glimpse into the shadowy world of MI6. At the coroner's court in Westminster, London, the focus of attention was Gareth Williams, a 31-year-old GCHQ technician on a three-year secondment to MI6, whose naked body was found in a padlocked holdall at his Pimlico flat in August 2010.
At the opening on Monday, the coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox promised she would oversee "a full, fair and fearless inquest into this highly controversial death", with more than 30 witnesses questioned. And indeed, this was the first time that many of us could learn some of the details of the circumstances surrounding Williams's bizarre death.
I was one of the spectators in the court. Having spent more than 30 years studying and recording the history of the British intelligence community, I can honestly say it was one of the strangest events I have witnessed. Because of the presence of Williams's parents and sister, it was agonising and troubling, too.
The family has long been convinced that "dark arts" were involved with his death, and that a third party was present, either at his death or who later destroyed evidence. There have also been blunders.
At an interim hearing ahead of last week's inquest, it was revealed that DNA evidence found on Williams's body came from a forensic scientist at the scene, a fact it took the forensic team more than a year to realise. And a Mediterranean couple who had visited the flat in the weeks before Williams's death, and who the police were keen to track down, turned out to be insignificant to the case. These mistakes have only helped fuel the conspiracy theories surrounding Williams's death.
Since we were dealing with British intelligence, security in the court was paramount. Members of MI6 were referred to by a letter rather than their names. Large blue screens were used to protect their identities (the family was allowed behind the screens, the rest of us were outside). The atmosphere was subdued; a rare moment of levity only when someone's mobile phone went off, and the coroner joked she had done the same herself some weeks before.
Yet if the entire episode were not so tragic, it could have been an exercise in absurdity. Even by the end of the week, the coroner had yet to grasp some of the basics of the espionage world, such as the difference between MI6 "officers" and their "agents".
So who was Gareth Williams? He was a tech wizard, regarded as a "world-class" expert in his field, who had joined GCHQ at the age of 21 and had then taken a postgraduate course at Cambridge in advanced mathematics. His precise skills - or their application by MI6 - cannot be discussed in public. We do know, however, that in 2007 he applied for a transfer to MI6, only to flunk the aptitude test administered by GCHQ, which suggested he lacked the requisite self-confidence. A year later he re-sat the exam and passed, which resulted in him moving in 2009 into an office - shared with Witness G (a member of MI6 who gave evidence) and three others - in "Legoland", as MI6's embarrassingly ostentatious headquarters at Vauxhall Cross are known.
Williams was a geek: private, shy and, reportedly, with a slight stammer. He did not socialise with colleagues, and none are known to have visited his top-floor flat. His sister had said in court last Monday that he "disliked office culture, post-work drinks, flash car competitions and the rat race".
Instead, he enjoyed cycling and running, and was fiercely competitive, but declined to join his fellow officers who shared the same pastimes, and exercised alone.
His private life was just that, and it came as a shock to those who thought they knew him that he had attended a six-week course in fashion design at the Central St Martin's College, and had accumulated a collection of women's designer clothes, shoes and boots - valued at £20,000 - lipstick and an orange wig.
Such interests, according to MI6, were of no concern to the organisation, although an audit of his office computer revealed some database searches that did not appear to be connected with his work. Under the terms of a Public Interest Immunity Certificate signed by the Foreign Secretary, we are not allowed to know the precise nature of this unauthorised activity. According to a senior MI6 officer - identified only as F - Williams might have been able to provide a satisfactory explanation for his apparently illicit access.
On Thursday, a particularly upsetting detail of Williams's death was revealed. The officer known as F had said the secret service was "profoundly sorry" that his absence went unreported for five days after Williams, a meticulous time-keeper, had failed to show up for work. She blamed his line manager - Witness G - for a breakdown in communication, but said G should not face any disciplinary action. This confession greatly distressed Williams's mother, Ellen, sitting with her family inside the partition screening witnesses from the public area.
Later, it was revealed that when MI6 realised that Williams was missing, F had telephoned the police. In the conversation, taped by the police and played to the court, F said that Williams had been missing for the whole of the previous week and - after a question about his state of mind - she said he had been recalled from a job he had wanted to do, and was uncertain about how he had taken the news. The implication was obvious.
Key to the inquest was whether Williams - whose naked, decomposing body was found inside a padlocked holdall placed in his bath - could have locked himself in the bag. Given his apparent interest in bondage, fetish clothing and claustrophilia - as demonstrated by his web-surfing - could he have fastened the brass padlock himself, the keys to which were found in the bag, under his body? And if so, where did the other unidentified DNA traces, found on the lock and the zipper, come from? Put simply, was Williams alone when he died in the early hours of that summer morning, or, though there was no sign of a break-in, was someone else involved?
On Friday we heard from Peter Faulding, a former Parachute Regiment reservist and an expert in confined spaces, who said he was convinced another person was involved in putting Williams into the holdall and locking it. The court was shown a video of an attempt to climb into and lock a holdall of the same size. Mr Faulding said he had tried it 300 times and had failed every time. "My belief is that he was placed in there by a third party," he said.
The other question, then, is whether Williams's death was linked to his job. A police investigation concluded that he had died from unknown causes, but most likely asphyxiation and dehydration. Detective Superintendent Michael Broster of Counter-Terrorism Command - who has spent 31 years in the police and acted as the liaison between MI6 and the detectives - opined that there was nothing to link the death to Williams's professional occupation, and no sign of a cover-up. Mind you, there was not much need for any covering up: for motives unknown, Williams had been quite successful in deleting the internet browsing history of his laptops, and completely reset one of his mobile phones, thereby emptying its memory.
According to MI6, in May 2009 Williams had filled a GCHQ slot at Vauxhall Cross, but had recently been granted a transfer back to Cheltenham. He had found his work boring, constrained by too much administration. Instead, he longed to resume his technical research and live in the countryside. Although he had undergone five training courses, and had passed an operational deployment course in February 2010 with flying colours, he had been determined to return to Gloucestershire. Once his request had been approved, he appeared much more relaxed.
The conspiracy theories - that Williams was living in an MI6 safe-house and had been engaged in dangerous missions overseas; or had been categorised as a high-security risk, or should have been - have all been scotched. His flat was rented by GCHQ, and he had never been sent on any foreign operations. He only ever met two MI6 agents, defined with bureaucratic accuracy by MI6 as "covert human intelligence sources", and the operations he participated in had been undertaken in England.
In short, he was a loner who failed to fit in at Legoland. As for his private life, MI6 is now very broadminded about individual lifestyles, and anything legal is considered acceptable. Kinky sex is fine; the days when the wretched former MI6 Chief Maurice Oldfield had felt obliged to lie for decades on his enhanced vetting questionnaire about his homosexuality are long gone.
Still, the delay in reporting him AWOL is reminiscent of MI6's past culture, when officers were encouraged to show initiative, be self-starters, think laterally and exercise some independence. Now the organisation is wholly risk-averse, awash with lawyers, and resembles a particularly staid branch of the Department of Work and Pensions.
Although in theory G should have followed the protocol and started to suspect a problem when Williams failed to show up for a meeting scheduled for Monday, August 16 - the very day he died - there is a straightforward explanation. MI6 personnel are often called at short notice to work on a particular, compartmentalised project or operation, and not everyone is likely to be indoctrinated into some of these activities. Raising the alarm because a team member has slipped away for a secret assignation is de rigueur. It is equally probable that a line-manager would be reluctant to acknowledge that he or she had been left out of the loop.
Another problem for today's MI6 is its dependency on personnel seconded from other organisations where there is not a clearly defined chain of command and responsibility. As Williams was due to leave London permanently, the assumption was that he was already preparing for his move.
Significantly, his apparent lack of office friendships may be part of the reason why he was not missed by any of his colleagues. Although an earlier intervention would have allowed the forensic scientists to be more precise about what had happened, his life could not have been saved by battering down his door on that Monday afternoon.
* Nigel West is the pen name of Rupert Allason, a military historian and author specialising in intelligence and security issues. His new book, Historical Dictionary of Chinese Intelligence, will be published in July.
The Sunday Telegraph, London
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AFP : MI6 withheld evidence on codebreaker death
Monday, April 30, 2012
MI6 withheld evidence on codebreaker death
April 30, 2012
LONDON — MI6 failed to disclose evidence to police investigating the death of a spy whose body was found locked in a bag in his bathtub, the inquest into his death has heard.
Britain's external spy agency kept nine memory sticks belonging to codebreaker Gareth Williams, 31, after he was found dead, and also failed to give police a black holdall from his office that was similar to the bag in which he was found dead.
The detective heading the case said she had been unaware of the items until Monday, although police have been investigating since Williams' naked and decomposing body was found in August 2010.
"I would have expected to have been told," Detective Chief Inspector Jackie Sebire told the inquest Tuesday.
Detective Constable Colin Hall, of the Metropolitan Police's counter-terror squad, said he had searched Williams' office but did not seize the memory sticks because he was told they contained material "of a sensitive nature".
Hall did not take the black sports bag because "I was told there was nothing there about Gareth's death", he added.
Police were asked to leave Williams' office when they made their first visit three days after he was found dead, without being given a reason, Hall said.
"We had not completed our search," he said, later adding: "I will do what I'm told."
Counter-terror police liaised with MI6 because they are the only police with the required security clearance.
Intelligence officers also searched Williams' "electronic media" without telling police, the inquest heard.
Williams' death has so far remained unexplained, and the inquest also examined whether he could have padlocked himself in the holdall alone -- a feat one expert said "Houdini would have struggled" to achieve.
Pathologists said Williams likely died from poisoning or suffocation, but the decomposition of his body reduced the scope for pinpointing the cause of death.
MI6 did not report Williams missing for a week after he failed to arrive at work.
Police found women's clothing worth about £20,000 ($32,400, 24,500 euros) in Williams' flat, while the inquest also heard he visited bondage sites, filmed himself naked apart from a pair of boots, and was once found tied to a bed.
But his family have said they believe secret agents versed in the "dark arts" tried to cover up the codebreaker's death.
His sister, Ceri Subbe, earlier told the inquest Williams had been unhappy at MI6, where he was seconded from Britain's intelligence monitoring centre.
The coroner said Monday she was aiming for a verdict on Wednesday in the inquest, which has gripped Britain and sparked a series of conspiracy theories.
Copyright © 2012 AFP. All rights reserved.
April 30, 2012
LONDON — MI6 failed to disclose evidence to police investigating the death of a spy whose body was found locked in a bag in his bathtub, the inquest into his death has heard.
Britain's external spy agency kept nine memory sticks belonging to codebreaker Gareth Williams, 31, after he was found dead, and also failed to give police a black holdall from his office that was similar to the bag in which he was found dead.
The detective heading the case said she had been unaware of the items until Monday, although police have been investigating since Williams' naked and decomposing body was found in August 2010.
"I would have expected to have been told," Detective Chief Inspector Jackie Sebire told the inquest Tuesday.
Detective Constable Colin Hall, of the Metropolitan Police's counter-terror squad, said he had searched Williams' office but did not seize the memory sticks because he was told they contained material "of a sensitive nature".
Hall did not take the black sports bag because "I was told there was nothing there about Gareth's death", he added.
Police were asked to leave Williams' office when they made their first visit three days after he was found dead, without being given a reason, Hall said.
"We had not completed our search," he said, later adding: "I will do what I'm told."
Counter-terror police liaised with MI6 because they are the only police with the required security clearance.
Intelligence officers also searched Williams' "electronic media" without telling police, the inquest heard.
Williams' death has so far remained unexplained, and the inquest also examined whether he could have padlocked himself in the holdall alone -- a feat one expert said "Houdini would have struggled" to achieve.
Pathologists said Williams likely died from poisoning or suffocation, but the decomposition of his body reduced the scope for pinpointing the cause of death.
MI6 did not report Williams missing for a week after he failed to arrive at work.
Police found women's clothing worth about £20,000 ($32,400, 24,500 euros) in Williams' flat, while the inquest also heard he visited bondage sites, filmed himself naked apart from a pair of boots, and was once found tied to a bed.
But his family have said they believe secret agents versed in the "dark arts" tried to cover up the codebreaker's death.
His sister, Ceri Subbe, earlier told the inquest Williams had been unhappy at MI6, where he was seconded from Britain's intelligence monitoring centre.
The coroner said Monday she was aiming for a verdict on Wednesday in the inquest, which has gripped Britain and sparked a series of conspiracy theories.
Copyright © 2012 AFP. All rights reserved.
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Guardian : MI6 and MI5 must be held to account
Monday, April 30, 2012
MI6 and MI5 must be held to account
The Gareth Williams case is just one in a series of failings – the security services need reform, for our sake and theirs
Richard Norton-Taylor | April 30, 2012
Britain's security and intelligence agencies, MI5 and MI6, have always been the targets of criticism, conspiracy theories, all sorts of allegations. And they are used to it.
But this time is different. They are mired in unprecedented controversy, desperately trying to withstand growing evidence – evidence, not just allegations – of unacceptable activities, specifically conniving with Gaddafi's secret police over the fate of Libyan dissidents.
The inquest into the death of Gareth Williams, the GCHQ computer expert, has revealed a side to MI6 management that raises serious questions about its duty of care to its own staff. Williams was missing for a week before MI6, to which he was seconded, notified the police and his family. The delay seriously hampered the investigation and caused distress to those close to the young man. Williams's naked body was discovered inside a locked hold-all in his flat more than a week after he failed to turn up to a scheduled meeting at Vauxhall Cross, the agency's headquarters on the Thames in August 2010.
A GCHQ witness told the inquest that action should have been taken on the first day of Williams's absence. A female MI6 officer, witness F, apologised saying "it clearly took too long" to do anything about it. She blamed Williams's line manager, identified only as witness G, and what she called a "breakdown in communications".
MI6's attitude seems even less explicable given that Williams had already made it clear he was unhappy working at Vauxhall Cross. "My understanding through conversations with Gareth at the time was that there was some frustration in that the job was not quite what he anticipated", G told the inquest. He was "frustrated by the amount of process risk mitigation".
Not for the first time, bureaucratic procedures designed to minimise risk in Britain's security and intelligence agencies had not taken into account an individual's sensitivities. The ethos in GCHQ is quite different to that prevailing in MI6.
MI6 and MI5, meanwhile, are facing legal action from opponents of Muammar Gaddafi who sought refuge in Britain. Two were rendered to Tripoli where they were brutally treated. Other dissidents say MI5 pressed them to spy on their fellow refugees in the UK. Salah al-Hashemi, a businessman, has told the Sunday Times he was threatened with detention if he did not accept MI5 demands to supply the Libyan authorities with details of fellow dissidents who had fled to London and Manchester.
According to a Libyan intelligence dossier, a named female MI5 agent wanted Hashemi to feel "pursued by both the British and the Libyan security services in order to make him feel worried enough to seek a friend's advice". The friend, who had been recruited by MI5, would then encourage him to co-operate.
According to the documents, MI5 advised that a dissident in Manchester be told that if he did not supply information, he should be warned that "British security services will arrest him and accuse him of working with Libyan intelligence … or he will face court and be deported to Libya".
MI5's job is to seek informants but only in the interests of protecting Britain's national security. And, according to MI5's own guidelines, such sources must never be coerced into providing information, nor should they be threatened with deportation, or being rendered, back to their own country.
These cases may be pursued in the courts but are unlikely to be resolved at least until the completion of police investigations into the role played by MI5 and MI6 officers and by Labour ministers to whom they were accountable at the time.
Just as well, perhaps. The security and intelligence agencies, MI5 in particular, are facing a huge challenge — namely, securing the Olympics. That is their priority now. After the Olympics, there will in any case be a shake-up with the election of police commissioners and the setting up of a National Crime Agency.
That should be the time for MI5 and MI6 to be subjected to a shake-up in the way they are held to account. They should be scrutinised by an independent inspector general (as security and intelligence agencies are in the US, Australia and Canada) and the parliamentary intelligence and security committee should be made much more robust and effective than the government, and its existing members, have suggested. This would help to restore confidence in them and boost their own morale. Reforms such as these are essential, for the sake of MI5 and MI6, as well as the public.
The Gareth Williams case is just one in a series of failings – the security services need reform, for our sake and theirs
Richard Norton-Taylor | April 30, 2012
Britain's security and intelligence agencies, MI5 and MI6, have always been the targets of criticism, conspiracy theories, all sorts of allegations. And they are used to it.
But this time is different. They are mired in unprecedented controversy, desperately trying to withstand growing evidence – evidence, not just allegations – of unacceptable activities, specifically conniving with Gaddafi's secret police over the fate of Libyan dissidents.
The inquest into the death of Gareth Williams, the GCHQ computer expert, has revealed a side to MI6 management that raises serious questions about its duty of care to its own staff. Williams was missing for a week before MI6, to which he was seconded, notified the police and his family. The delay seriously hampered the investigation and caused distress to those close to the young man. Williams's naked body was discovered inside a locked hold-all in his flat more than a week after he failed to turn up to a scheduled meeting at Vauxhall Cross, the agency's headquarters on the Thames in August 2010.
A GCHQ witness told the inquest that action should have been taken on the first day of Williams's absence. A female MI6 officer, witness F, apologised saying "it clearly took too long" to do anything about it. She blamed Williams's line manager, identified only as witness G, and what she called a "breakdown in communications".
MI6's attitude seems even less explicable given that Williams had already made it clear he was unhappy working at Vauxhall Cross. "My understanding through conversations with Gareth at the time was that there was some frustration in that the job was not quite what he anticipated", G told the inquest. He was "frustrated by the amount of process risk mitigation".
Not for the first time, bureaucratic procedures designed to minimise risk in Britain's security and intelligence agencies had not taken into account an individual's sensitivities. The ethos in GCHQ is quite different to that prevailing in MI6.
MI6 and MI5, meanwhile, are facing legal action from opponents of Muammar Gaddafi who sought refuge in Britain. Two were rendered to Tripoli where they were brutally treated. Other dissidents say MI5 pressed them to spy on their fellow refugees in the UK. Salah al-Hashemi, a businessman, has told the Sunday Times he was threatened with detention if he did not accept MI5 demands to supply the Libyan authorities with details of fellow dissidents who had fled to London and Manchester.
According to a Libyan intelligence dossier, a named female MI5 agent wanted Hashemi to feel "pursued by both the British and the Libyan security services in order to make him feel worried enough to seek a friend's advice". The friend, who had been recruited by MI5, would then encourage him to co-operate.
According to the documents, MI5 advised that a dissident in Manchester be told that if he did not supply information, he should be warned that "British security services will arrest him and accuse him of working with Libyan intelligence … or he will face court and be deported to Libya".
MI5's job is to seek informants but only in the interests of protecting Britain's national security. And, according to MI5's own guidelines, such sources must never be coerced into providing information, nor should they be threatened with deportation, or being rendered, back to their own country.
These cases may be pursued in the courts but are unlikely to be resolved at least until the completion of police investigations into the role played by MI5 and MI6 officers and by Labour ministers to whom they were accountable at the time.
Just as well, perhaps. The security and intelligence agencies, MI5 in particular, are facing a huge challenge — namely, securing the Olympics. That is their priority now. After the Olympics, there will in any case be a shake-up with the election of police commissioners and the setting up of a National Crime Agency.
That should be the time for MI5 and MI6 to be subjected to a shake-up in the way they are held to account. They should be scrutinised by an independent inspector general (as security and intelligence agencies are in the US, Australia and Canada) and the parliamentary intelligence and security committee should be made much more robust and effective than the government, and its existing members, have suggested. This would help to restore confidence in them and boost their own morale. Reforms such as these are essential, for the sake of MI5 and MI6, as well as the public.
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CBS : Experts puzzled over U.K. spy's mystery death
Monday, April 30, 2012
Experts puzzled over U.K. spy's mystery death
April 30, 2012
(CBS/AP) LONDON - Poisoning or asphyxiation may have killed a British spy whose naked body was found locked inside a sports bag, but pathologists acknowledged Monday they can't be certain of the exact cause of his mysterious death.
Three specialists who conducted autopsies on the intelligence officer told an inquest hearing that his cadaver badly decomposed as it lay undiscovered for several days, hampering attempts to explain his death.
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 at his London apartment inside the bag, and placed in a bathtub.
Coroner Fiona Wilcox has previously been told that MI6 colleagues failed to report Williams as missing for a week, meaning that police and pathologists lost vital chances to gather evidence.
Pathologist Benjamin Swift told the inquest that radiators had been turned on inside Williams' apartment — even though it was the height of Britain's warm summer — increasing the heat levels and accelerating the decomposition of his body.
Asked whether Williams may have been poisoned or suffocated, Swift said the options "were certainly two of the more prominent" explanations for the cryptology expert's death.
"I would never say never but those are the foremost contenders," he told the hearing.
Police have said they are not certain exactly how Williams died and have so far made no arrests, although a senior detective has told the inquest she believes that someone else must have been involved.
Ivestigators staged a re-enactment in the hopes that it would help explain how Williams wound up dead in the bathtub, CBS News' Charlie D'Agata reported.
Officers have indicated Williams' death may have had links to his private life and an apparent interest in sadomasochism — possibly during a sexual encounter gone awry.
His relatives, however, insist his demise must be related to his highly secret work.
Pathologists agreed that it was most likely that Williams had climbed inside the sports bag voluntarily.
Ian Calder, who carried out a second autopsy, said Williams would have rapidly suffered from an accumulation of carbon dioxide, which "plays some considerable havoc with the chemistry of the body."
The spy would have soon been in "a situation of not being aware, of not being able to react to getting himself out of the environment," Calder said.
Pathologist Richard Shepherd, who carried out a third examination, said it was more likely that Williams "was alive when he entered the bag than that he was dead."
He said that it would have been very difficult to place Williams' dead body inside the duffel bag in the position it was found in. He was discovered in the fetal position with his arms folded across his chest.
There were also no signs that the spy had struggled to free himself.
"Were he to be alive and struggling I would anticipate there to have been injuries," Shepherd said.
Wilcox has said she expects to deliver a verdict in the case this week.
© 2012 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
April 30, 2012
(CBS/AP) LONDON - Poisoning or asphyxiation may have killed a British spy whose naked body was found locked inside a sports bag, but pathologists acknowledged Monday they can't be certain of the exact cause of his mysterious death.
Three specialists who conducted autopsies on the intelligence officer told an inquest hearing that his cadaver badly decomposed as it lay undiscovered for several days, hampering attempts to explain his death.
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 at his London apartment inside the bag, and placed in a bathtub.
Coroner Fiona Wilcox has previously been told that MI6 colleagues failed to report Williams as missing for a week, meaning that police and pathologists lost vital chances to gather evidence.
Pathologist Benjamin Swift told the inquest that radiators had been turned on inside Williams' apartment — even though it was the height of Britain's warm summer — increasing the heat levels and accelerating the decomposition of his body.
Asked whether Williams may have been poisoned or suffocated, Swift said the options "were certainly two of the more prominent" explanations for the cryptology expert's death.
"I would never say never but those are the foremost contenders," he told the hearing.
Police have said they are not certain exactly how Williams died and have so far made no arrests, although a senior detective has told the inquest she believes that someone else must have been involved.
Ivestigators staged a re-enactment in the hopes that it would help explain how Williams wound up dead in the bathtub, CBS News' Charlie D'Agata reported.
Officers have indicated Williams' death may have had links to his private life and an apparent interest in sadomasochism — possibly during a sexual encounter gone awry.
His relatives, however, insist his demise must be related to his highly secret work.
Pathologists agreed that it was most likely that Williams had climbed inside the sports bag voluntarily.
Ian Calder, who carried out a second autopsy, said Williams would have rapidly suffered from an accumulation of carbon dioxide, which "plays some considerable havoc with the chemistry of the body."
The spy would have soon been in "a situation of not being aware, of not being able to react to getting himself out of the environment," Calder said.
Pathologist Richard Shepherd, who carried out a third examination, said it was more likely that Williams "was alive when he entered the bag than that he was dead."
He said that it would have been very difficult to place Williams' dead body inside the duffel bag in the position it was found in. He was discovered in the fetal position with his arms folded across his chest.
There were also no signs that the spy had struggled to free himself.
"Were he to be alive and struggling I would anticipate there to have been injuries," Shepherd said.
Wilcox has said she expects to deliver a verdict in the case this week.
© 2012 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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CBS : What killed U.K. spy found in duffel bag?
Monday, April 30, 2012
What killed U.K. spy found in duffel bag?
By Elizabeth Palmer | April 30, 2012
(CBS News) LONDON - Some of Britain's top investigators are stumped by a spy mystery that gets stranger by the day. CBS News correspondent Elizabeth Palmer reports detectives have called in called in computer experts, even a contortionist to solve it.
It took Britain's intelligence services a whole week to make this call to the police after a 31-year-old junior spy didn't show up for work: "I want to report one of our staff who lives and works in London missing."
Police started their search for Gareth Williams at his home. But what they found when they got inside his third floor apartment quickly turned what had been a simple missing persons case into a baffling mystery.
In the bathroom, a red duffel bag sat in the tub - padlocked. Inside it was Williams tightly folded naked body.
Investigators are hoping a re-enactment will help explain how a British intelligence agent wound up dead in a zipped-up duffel bag in his own bathtub.
Detectives found no signs of a struggle in the apartment. And nothing to show whether this was a homicide or a suicide.
Police even asked a yoga expert to prove whether Williams could have locked himself in as a kind of stunt.
Unlikely said the expert.
Gareth Williams was an athlete.
And, as police discovered when they searched his computer, he had a secret interest in bondage.
Security cameras showed images of him shopping alone. They are the last known pictures of Williams.
What happened after he got home , and who - if anyone - was there, remains an open question.
Which, unlike the best fictional spy stories, may never be resolved.
© 2012 CBS Interactive Inc.. All Rights Reserved.
By Elizabeth Palmer | April 30, 2012
(CBS News) LONDON - Some of Britain's top investigators are stumped by a spy mystery that gets stranger by the day. CBS News correspondent Elizabeth Palmer reports detectives have called in called in computer experts, even a contortionist to solve it.
It took Britain's intelligence services a whole week to make this call to the police after a 31-year-old junior spy didn't show up for work: "I want to report one of our staff who lives and works in London missing."
Police started their search for Gareth Williams at his home. But what they found when they got inside his third floor apartment quickly turned what had been a simple missing persons case into a baffling mystery.
In the bathroom, a red duffel bag sat in the tub - padlocked. Inside it was Williams tightly folded naked body.
Investigators are hoping a re-enactment will help explain how a British intelligence agent wound up dead in a zipped-up duffel bag in his own bathtub.
Detectives found no signs of a struggle in the apartment. And nothing to show whether this was a homicide or a suicide.
Police even asked a yoga expert to prove whether Williams could have locked himself in as a kind of stunt.
Unlikely said the expert.
Gareth Williams was an athlete.
And, as police discovered when they searched his computer, he had a secret interest in bondage.
Security cameras showed images of him shopping alone. They are the last known pictures of Williams.
What happened after he got home , and who - if anyone - was there, remains an open question.
Which, unlike the best fictional spy stories, may never be resolved.
© 2012 CBS Interactive Inc.. All Rights Reserved.
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This Is London : MI6 spy was poisoned or suffocated after he was put in bag alive, says pathologist
Monday, April 30, 2012
MI6 spy was poisoned or suffocated after he was put in bag alive, says pathologist
Paul Cheston | April 30, 2012
MI6 spy Gareth Williams was “likely” to have been alive when he was put in the holdall where his body was found, an inquest heard today.
Pathologist Dr Richard Shepherd said that it would be “extremely difficult” to place a dead body inside a bag, either immediately after death, because of the floppy nature of the body, or after rigor mortis had set in.
Dr Shepherd said he was “confident” that Mr Williams’s death was unnatural and that the most likely causes were poisoning or suffocation.
But there was also no evidence that he was “manhandled” into the bag, and it could have been that “Gareth placed himself in due to an external threat. But I think to get in that bag so neatly requires some skill at manoeuvring.”
He said: “The handling of a body immediately after death is extremely difficult. I would have thought it would be an extremely difficult process to achieve in such a neat way.”
Asked by coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox: “Do you think Gareth was likely to be alive or dead when he got into the bag?”
He replied: “From a pathologist’s point of view, it is a difficult line to try to draw. I could conceive of situations where he could be placed in the bag, but it would be difficult. I think it is more likely than not he was alive.”
Dr Wilcox said: “It could have been that Gareth voluntarily got in the bag … but there would have been a point at which he needed to get out. It is possible that he could have got into the bag unaided, lost consciousness and then someone else put it in the bath.”
Dr Shepherd replied: “Yes, but the difficulty is the lock. It would be possible for him to get in the bag and do the zips up on his own.” He agreed that increasing unawareness of his surroundings as the air ran out could have led to his death.
Dr Wilcox asked: “Do you think it is more likely that he was prevented from getting out?”
He replied: “Once the lock was placed on it, there was no possibility of him escaping from the bag. So the question is, did he lock the bag or did another?”
Consultant forensic pathologist Dr Benjamin Swift, who conducted the post-mortem examination on 25 August 2010, said the level of decomposition “would be consistent with 10 days since he was last seen alive”.
Dr Swift said bodies could sometimes show injuries in decomposition which mimic actual injuries, but that “sometimes injuries that have occurred at the end of someone’s life can almost disappear as a result of the decomposition. It is possible to grab someone and move them without causing injury.”
The inquest continues.
Paul Cheston | April 30, 2012
MI6 spy Gareth Williams was “likely” to have been alive when he was put in the holdall where his body was found, an inquest heard today.
Pathologist Dr Richard Shepherd said that it would be “extremely difficult” to place a dead body inside a bag, either immediately after death, because of the floppy nature of the body, or after rigor mortis had set in.
Dr Shepherd said he was “confident” that Mr Williams’s death was unnatural and that the most likely causes were poisoning or suffocation.
But there was also no evidence that he was “manhandled” into the bag, and it could have been that “Gareth placed himself in due to an external threat. But I think to get in that bag so neatly requires some skill at manoeuvring.”
He said: “The handling of a body immediately after death is extremely difficult. I would have thought it would be an extremely difficult process to achieve in such a neat way.”
Asked by coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox: “Do you think Gareth was likely to be alive or dead when he got into the bag?”
He replied: “From a pathologist’s point of view, it is a difficult line to try to draw. I could conceive of situations where he could be placed in the bag, but it would be difficult. I think it is more likely than not he was alive.”
Dr Wilcox said: “It could have been that Gareth voluntarily got in the bag … but there would have been a point at which he needed to get out. It is possible that he could have got into the bag unaided, lost consciousness and then someone else put it in the bath.”
Dr Shepherd replied: “Yes, but the difficulty is the lock. It would be possible for him to get in the bag and do the zips up on his own.” He agreed that increasing unawareness of his surroundings as the air ran out could have led to his death.
Dr Wilcox asked: “Do you think it is more likely that he was prevented from getting out?”
He replied: “Once the lock was placed on it, there was no possibility of him escaping from the bag. So the question is, did he lock the bag or did another?”
Consultant forensic pathologist Dr Benjamin Swift, who conducted the post-mortem examination on 25 August 2010, said the level of decomposition “would be consistent with 10 days since he was last seen alive”.
Dr Swift said bodies could sometimes show injuries in decomposition which mimic actual injuries, but that “sometimes injuries that have occurred at the end of someone’s life can almost disappear as a result of the decomposition. It is possible to grab someone and move them without causing injury.”
The inquest continues.
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Northumberland Gazette : Inquest hears spy suffocation claim
Monday, April 30, 2012
Inquest hears spy suffocation claim
April 30, 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.
Copyright (c) Press Association Ltd. 2012, All Rights Reserved.
April 30, 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.
Copyright (c) Press Association Ltd. 2012, All Rights Reserved.
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Guardian : Gareth Williams probably died by suffocation or poisoning, inquest told
Monday, April 30, 2012
Gareth Williams probably died by suffocation or poisoning, inquest told
MI6 officer could have lost consciousness within two to three minutes due to buildup of CO2 inside bag, says pathologist
Caroline Davies | April 30, 2012
The MI6 officer Gareth Williams probably suffocated to death in a locked sports holdall or died from an unknown poison, his inquest heard.
The 31-year-old codes and ciphers expert would have been overcome very rapidly by CO2, losing consciousness within two to three minutes, if the bag was sealed while he was alive.
Cause of death could not be ascertained because of the level of decomposition by the time his body was found, which meant certain poisons or volatile agents would not be detected, Dr Benjamin Swift, a consultant forensic pathologist, told the inquest. The "foremost contenders" were asphyxiation by suffocation or poisoning, he said.
The naked body of Williams was found in a padlocked holdall in his bath at his top-floor flat in Pimlico, central London, on 23 August 2010.
The Home Office pathologist Richard Shepherd said it was "more likely than not" that Williams was alive when he entered the bag, but it was "an extremely difficult call". Because of the "floppiness" of a newly dead body, it was not easy to place a body as neatly as Williams was found, he said.
Postmortem examinations revealed no evidence of "restraint, gripping or holding" marks inflicted before death. There was no evidence of strangulation or physical trauma. Williams could have entered the bag voluntarily or been coerced into it under threat, Shepherd agreed.
The independent pathologist Ian Calder, who carried out a second postmortem, said hypercapnia – carbon dioxide poisoning – would have caused a soporific effect with "gradual fading away with no pain and an increasing lack of awareness".
Asked by the coroner, Fiona Wilcox, how long that might have taken, Calder said: "Two to three minutes at best for the level to become toxic."
Small abrasions on the tips of Williams's elbows were discovered. The hearing was told these could be consistent with him moving his arms inside the bag, possibly in an attempt to escape. "Once the lock is placed on it there was no possibility of getting out of that bag," said Shepherd. "The question is: did he place the lock or did another?"
Williams would have had "a period of awareness" of being overcome by CO2, and the grazes could represent an attempt to get out, the inquest heard. "Death will come so fast, leaving little or no chance even in fit young people for there to be a response," said Shepherd. Hypercapnia was a "sign-free death", he added.
The inquest heard that the postmortem examinations were hampered by decomposition caused by heat. Despite it being summer, the radiators in the flat were on. The degree of decomposition suggested Williams had been dead for 10 days at the time of postmortem, consistent with the last time he was seen alive on CCTV on 15 August 2010.
Two hairs were recovered from the back of Williams's right thumb and his right little finger. The coroner said no forensic analysis of them had been submitted to the inquest, and she asked for any details to be disclosed.
DNA from another person was found on Williams's left hand. The inquest was told that details of the DNA were erroneously inputted into a database by LGC, the forensic company analysing samples, an error only discovered a year after Williams's death. The DNA sample was from one of the forensic scientists at the scene. Paul Allen, of LGC, expressed his "very deep regret" to Williams's family for the error.
MI6 officer could have lost consciousness within two to three minutes due to buildup of CO2 inside bag, says pathologist
Caroline Davies | April 30, 2012
The MI6 officer Gareth Williams probably suffocated to death in a locked sports holdall or died from an unknown poison, his inquest heard.
The 31-year-old codes and ciphers expert would have been overcome very rapidly by CO2, losing consciousness within two to three minutes, if the bag was sealed while he was alive.
Cause of death could not be ascertained because of the level of decomposition by the time his body was found, which meant certain poisons or volatile agents would not be detected, Dr Benjamin Swift, a consultant forensic pathologist, told the inquest. The "foremost contenders" were asphyxiation by suffocation or poisoning, he said.
The naked body of Williams was found in a padlocked holdall in his bath at his top-floor flat in Pimlico, central London, on 23 August 2010.
The Home Office pathologist Richard Shepherd said it was "more likely than not" that Williams was alive when he entered the bag, but it was "an extremely difficult call". Because of the "floppiness" of a newly dead body, it was not easy to place a body as neatly as Williams was found, he said.
Postmortem examinations revealed no evidence of "restraint, gripping or holding" marks inflicted before death. There was no evidence of strangulation or physical trauma. Williams could have entered the bag voluntarily or been coerced into it under threat, Shepherd agreed.
The independent pathologist Ian Calder, who carried out a second postmortem, said hypercapnia – carbon dioxide poisoning – would have caused a soporific effect with "gradual fading away with no pain and an increasing lack of awareness".
Asked by the coroner, Fiona Wilcox, how long that might have taken, Calder said: "Two to three minutes at best for the level to become toxic."
Small abrasions on the tips of Williams's elbows were discovered. The hearing was told these could be consistent with him moving his arms inside the bag, possibly in an attempt to escape. "Once the lock is placed on it there was no possibility of getting out of that bag," said Shepherd. "The question is: did he place the lock or did another?"
Williams would have had "a period of awareness" of being overcome by CO2, and the grazes could represent an attempt to get out, the inquest heard. "Death will come so fast, leaving little or no chance even in fit young people for there to be a response," said Shepherd. Hypercapnia was a "sign-free death", he added.
The inquest heard that the postmortem examinations were hampered by decomposition caused by heat. Despite it being summer, the radiators in the flat were on. The degree of decomposition suggested Williams had been dead for 10 days at the time of postmortem, consistent with the last time he was seen alive on CCTV on 15 August 2010.
Two hairs were recovered from the back of Williams's right thumb and his right little finger. The coroner said no forensic analysis of them had been submitted to the inquest, and she asked for any details to be disclosed.
DNA from another person was found on Williams's left hand. The inquest was told that details of the DNA were erroneously inputted into a database by LGC, the forensic company analysing samples, an error only discovered a year after Williams's death. The DNA sample was from one of the forensic scientists at the scene. Paul Allen, of LGC, expressed his "very deep regret" to Williams's family for the error.
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poisoning,
Richard Shepherd,
suffocation
by Winter Patriot
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Telegraph : MI6 spy Gareth Williams 'probably died from poisoning or asphyxiation'
Monday, April 30, 2012
MI6 spy Gareth Williams 'probably died from poisoning or asphyxiation'
MI6 spy Gareth Williams is most likely to have died from poisoning, suffocation or strangulation, his inquest heard today.
By Tom Whitehead, Security Editor | April 30, 2012
Pathologist Dr Benjamin Swift said Mr Williams’ body was so badly decomposed it meant his cause of death could not be officially “ascertained”.
But he said “poisoning or asphyxiation” were the “foremost contenders” for his death.
The court heard how he could have been dead within "two to three minutes" of being in bag due to the levels of carbon dioxide that would have quickly built up.
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.
It has already heard that some poisons may not show up in a post mortem because of the level of decomposition.
Dr Swift estimated Mr Williams’ body had been in the bag for ten days.
A second pathologist, Dr Ian Calder said death from carbon dioxide poisoning, because of the restricted breathing space within the bag, was a “very likely possibility”.
Dr Richard Shepherd, who carried out a third post mortem, said he was sure Mr Williams suffered an “unnatural death” and that poisoning or suffocation were the most likely causes.
He said he believed he died in the bag.
Evidence of slight bruising and grazing were also found on Mr Williams' arms but the three separate post mortem examinations failed to find any evidence of a “traumatic” death or struggle.
Dr Shepherd said there was no suggestion he had been “manhandled” but could not rule out he might have been coerced to climb in to it himself, possibly even gunpoint.
He said the slight bruising and grazes could have come from being inside the bag.
But even if he was aware of his predicament and attempted to escape, the padlock on the bag would have “sealed” his fate, he said.
The sixth day of the inquest also heard how police followed a potential DNA clue for more than year before it emerged it belonged to a forensic officer who attended the scene.
An error in recording the data for checking on the database meant no match was initially found suggesting a mystery person was at the flat.
Evidence from forensics officers showed spots of blood were found on the carpet near the kitchen, on the edge of the bath and in the communal doorway.
They also recovered “very weak” traces of blood from the bag handles and padlock. The inquest has already heard that police are still investigating those traces.
A forensic officer also apologised to Mr Willliams’ family after his blunder sent the police on a wild goose chase for more than a year.
Officers believed that had recovered an unknown DNA sample from the back of Mr Williams’ hand.
It was not until February this year that it emerged the sample belonged to a forensic officer from the scene but there had been error when uploading it meaning it did not initially throw up a match.
In a written statement, Paul Stafford Allen apologise for the “distressed” it must have caused.
The inquest heard on Friday how Mr Williams must have been “dead or unconscious” when placed in to the sports bag.
Peter Faulding, a former Parachute Regiment reservist and expert in confined rescues, concluded that not even Harry Houdini could have padlocked himself in the holdall in the bath.
His revelations will further fuel theories that the 31-year-old codebreaker may have been killed.
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.
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.
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.
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.
However, 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 said: “There are people who can do amazing things and Mr Williams may well be one of those persons.”
It also emerged a homemade video showing Mr Williams naked except for black leather boots in which he “wiggles and girates” with his back to the camera was on one of his iPhones.
Evidence of visits to bondage and fetish websites were also found on his phones and lap tops.
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.
His last internet activity was during the early hours of Monday August 16, a week before his body was discovered, and one of his phone had had its factory settings restored - the equivalent of wiping a hard drive.
The phone was backed up on August 15th but it is not known when it was reset.
The hearing continues.
MI6 spy Gareth Williams is most likely to have died from poisoning, suffocation or strangulation, his inquest heard today.
By Tom Whitehead, Security Editor | April 30, 2012
Pathologist Dr Benjamin Swift said Mr Williams’ body was so badly decomposed it meant his cause of death could not be officially “ascertained”.
But he said “poisoning or asphyxiation” were the “foremost contenders” for his death.
The court heard how he could have been dead within "two to three minutes" of being in bag due to the levels of carbon dioxide that would have quickly built up.
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.
It has already heard that some poisons may not show up in a post mortem because of the level of decomposition.
Dr Swift estimated Mr Williams’ body had been in the bag for ten days.
A second pathologist, Dr Ian Calder said death from carbon dioxide poisoning, because of the restricted breathing space within the bag, was a “very likely possibility”.
Dr Richard Shepherd, who carried out a third post mortem, said he was sure Mr Williams suffered an “unnatural death” and that poisoning or suffocation were the most likely causes.
He said he believed he died in the bag.
Evidence of slight bruising and grazing were also found on Mr Williams' arms but the three separate post mortem examinations failed to find any evidence of a “traumatic” death or struggle.
Dr Shepherd said there was no suggestion he had been “manhandled” but could not rule out he might have been coerced to climb in to it himself, possibly even gunpoint.
He said the slight bruising and grazes could have come from being inside the bag.
But even if he was aware of his predicament and attempted to escape, the padlock on the bag would have “sealed” his fate, he said.
The sixth day of the inquest also heard how police followed a potential DNA clue for more than year before it emerged it belonged to a forensic officer who attended the scene.
An error in recording the data for checking on the database meant no match was initially found suggesting a mystery person was at the flat.
Evidence from forensics officers showed spots of blood were found on the carpet near the kitchen, on the edge of the bath and in the communal doorway.
They also recovered “very weak” traces of blood from the bag handles and padlock. The inquest has already heard that police are still investigating those traces.
A forensic officer also apologised to Mr Willliams’ family after his blunder sent the police on a wild goose chase for more than a year.
Officers believed that had recovered an unknown DNA sample from the back of Mr Williams’ hand.
It was not until February this year that it emerged the sample belonged to a forensic officer from the scene but there had been error when uploading it meaning it did not initially throw up a match.
In a written statement, Paul Stafford Allen apologise for the “distressed” it must have caused.
The inquest heard on Friday how Mr Williams must have been “dead or unconscious” when placed in to the sports bag.
Peter Faulding, a former Parachute Regiment reservist and expert in confined rescues, concluded that not even Harry Houdini could have padlocked himself in the holdall in the bath.
His revelations will further fuel theories that the 31-year-old codebreaker may have been killed.
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.
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.
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.
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.
However, 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 said: “There are people who can do amazing things and Mr Williams may well be one of those persons.”
It also emerged a homemade video showing Mr Williams naked except for black leather boots in which he “wiggles and girates” with his back to the camera was on one of his iPhones.
Evidence of visits to bondage and fetish websites were also found on his phones and lap tops.
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.
His last internet activity was during the early hours of Monday August 16, a week before his body was discovered, and one of his phone had had its factory settings restored - the equivalent of wiping a hard drive.
The phone was backed up on August 15th but it is not known when it was reset.
The hearing continues.
Filed under
asphyxiation,
Benjamin Swift,
blood,
bondage,
Houdini,
Ian Calder,
Paul Stafford Allen,
Peter Faulding,
poisoning,
Richard Shepherd,
strangulation,
Telegraph,
William MacKay
by Winter Patriot
on Monday, April 30, 2012 |
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Independent : MI6 spy Gareth Williams 'poisoned or suffocated'
Monday, April 30, 2012
MI6 spy Gareth Williams 'poisoned or suffocated'
Tom Morgan, Rosa Silverman | April 30, 2012
MI6 spy Gareth Williams would have suffocated within three minutes after getting inside his sports holdall, an inquest heard today.
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.
Ian Calder, who performed the second post-mortem examination, observed that the build-up of carbon dioxide would have become poisonous to Mr Williams within about two or three minutes, had he been alive when he entered the bag.
"The toxic effect of the carbon dioxide... plays some considerable havoc with the chemistry of the body and so as a result of that the accumulation of carbon dioxide has quite a considerable effect on the wellness of the individual," he said.
The results would include headaches, then confusion and eventually unconsciousness and cardiac arrest, he added.
A soporific state would have been induced before the spy lost consciousness, which could have prevented him from trying to escape, he explained.
"He would get into a situation of not being aware, of not being able to react to getting himself out of the environment," Dr Calder said.
Hypercapnia - a high level of carbon dioxide in the blood - would be a "reasoned explanation" of what might have happened to Mr Williams, the pathologist noted.
"I think it's a very likely possibility considering we have a healthy person with no damage, as far as we know no drugs, no trauma, no natural disease," he said.
Examinations on August 25 2010 - two days after Mr Williams was found in a holdall in his bathroom - gave cause of death as "unascertained".
But under questioning today, Dr Swift said poisoning or asphyxiation such as suffocation were "probably rather than possibly" to blame.
Dr Swift said the two causes of death "were certainly two of the more prominent" beliefs as he conducted examinations.
When family lawyer Anthony O'Toole asked if there were any other possible causes of death, Dr Swift replied: "I would never say never but those are the foremost contenders."
Another pathologist, Richard Shepherd, also said it was "more likely (Mr Williams) was alive when he entered the bag than that he was dead".
There was, however, "no suggestion" the spy's body had been manhandled into the holdall and were he to have been forced into it either alive or straight after he died, marks on his body would have been expected, Mr Shepherd said.
Dr Swift said he believed Mr Williams would have died shortly after his last-known movements on August 15 in his top-floor apartment in Pimlico, central London.
The evidence came after bag experts said even Harry Houdini would have struggled to lock himself in the bag.
The inquest was adjourned until tomorrow. Coroner Fiona Wilcox is likely to deliver her verdict on Wednesday.
PA
Tom Morgan, Rosa Silverman | April 30, 2012
MI6 spy Gareth Williams would have suffocated within three minutes after getting inside his sports holdall, an inquest heard today.
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.
Ian Calder, who performed the second post-mortem examination, observed that the build-up of carbon dioxide would have become poisonous to Mr Williams within about two or three minutes, had he been alive when he entered the bag.
"The toxic effect of the carbon dioxide... plays some considerable havoc with the chemistry of the body and so as a result of that the accumulation of carbon dioxide has quite a considerable effect on the wellness of the individual," he said.
The results would include headaches, then confusion and eventually unconsciousness and cardiac arrest, he added.
A soporific state would have been induced before the spy lost consciousness, which could have prevented him from trying to escape, he explained.
"He would get into a situation of not being aware, of not being able to react to getting himself out of the environment," Dr Calder said.
Hypercapnia - a high level of carbon dioxide in the blood - would be a "reasoned explanation" of what might have happened to Mr Williams, the pathologist noted.
"I think it's a very likely possibility considering we have a healthy person with no damage, as far as we know no drugs, no trauma, no natural disease," he said.
Examinations on August 25 2010 - two days after Mr Williams was found in a holdall in his bathroom - gave cause of death as "unascertained".
But under questioning today, Dr Swift said poisoning or asphyxiation such as suffocation were "probably rather than possibly" to blame.
Dr Swift said the two causes of death "were certainly two of the more prominent" beliefs as he conducted examinations.
When family lawyer Anthony O'Toole asked if there were any other possible causes of death, Dr Swift replied: "I would never say never but those are the foremost contenders."
Another pathologist, Richard Shepherd, also said it was "more likely (Mr Williams) was alive when he entered the bag than that he was dead".
There was, however, "no suggestion" the spy's body had been manhandled into the holdall and were he to have been forced into it either alive or straight after he died, marks on his body would have been expected, Mr Shepherd said.
Dr Swift said he believed Mr Williams would have died shortly after his last-known movements on August 15 in his top-floor apartment in Pimlico, central London.
The evidence came after bag experts said even Harry Houdini would have struggled to lock himself in the bag.
The inquest was adjourned until tomorrow. Coroner Fiona Wilcox is likely to deliver her verdict on Wednesday.
PA
Filed under
Anthony O'Toole,
asphyxiation,
Benjamin Swift,
blood,
DNA,
Fiona Wilcox,
Houdini,
Ian Calder,
Independent,
mysterious,
poisoning,
Richard Shepherd,
Ros Hammond,
suffocation
by Winter Patriot
on Monday, April 30, 2012 |
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Sky : MI6 Spy 'Died From Suffocation Or Poisoning'
Monday, April 30, 2012
MI6 Spy 'Died From Suffocation Or Poisoning'
April 30, 2012
Poisoning and asphyxiation are the "foremost contenders" in the sports bag death of MI6 spy Gareth Williams, an inquest has heard.
Mr Williams' body was found curled up naked in a padlocked holdall in the bath of his flat in Pimlico, central London, in August 2010.
Three pathologists who carried out post-mortem examinations on Mr Williams' body are giving evidence at the sixth day of the inquest at Westminster Coroner's Court.
The first pathologist to give evidence, Dr Benjamin Swift, could not confirm the cause of Mr Williams' death.
He told the inquiry he did not want to speculate but said asphyxiation and poison were the two "foremost contenders".
Another pathologist, Richard Shepherd, told the inquest it was "more likely (Mr Williams) was alive when he entered the bag than that he was dead".
The evidence from pathologists comes after a bag expert told the inquest even Harry Houdini would have struggled to lock himself in the red North Face holdall.
Dr Swift said his post-mortem examination was hampered by levels of heat within the bag after radiators were turned on in Mr Williams' top floor flat in the middle of summer.
There were no injuries indicating Mr Williams had struggled to get out of the bag, the pathologist added.
He also said there were no signs on Mr Williams' fingertips that suggested he tried to get out the bag.
No tablet deposits were found in his system and there was no bruising consistent with strangulation.
The pathologist told the coroner there was no sign of significant traumatic injury, or sexual assault.
Dr Swift said he believed Mr Williams would have died shortly after his last known movements on August 15.
Dr Shepherd, who performed the third post-mortem examination, said there was "no suggestion" the spy's body had been manhandled into the holdall.
He said were Mr Williams to have been forced into it either alive or straight after he died, marks on his body would have been expected.
Dr Shepherd said: "I think it would have been a very difficult process to achieve, getting a body so neatly into a bag.
"Were he to be alive and struggling I would anticipate there to have been injuries".
Getting a body into a bag straight after death would be impeded by the "floppiness" of the corpse in this period, the court heard.
April 30, 2012
Poisoning and asphyxiation are the "foremost contenders" in the sports bag death of MI6 spy Gareth Williams, an inquest has heard.
Mr Williams' body was found curled up naked in a padlocked holdall in the bath of his flat in Pimlico, central London, in August 2010.
Three pathologists who carried out post-mortem examinations on Mr Williams' body are giving evidence at the sixth day of the inquest at Westminster Coroner's Court.
The first pathologist to give evidence, Dr Benjamin Swift, could not confirm the cause of Mr Williams' death.
He told the inquiry he did not want to speculate but said asphyxiation and poison were the two "foremost contenders".
Another pathologist, Richard Shepherd, told the inquest it was "more likely (Mr Williams) was alive when he entered the bag than that he was dead".
The evidence from pathologists comes after a bag expert told the inquest even Harry Houdini would have struggled to lock himself in the red North Face holdall.
Dr Swift said his post-mortem examination was hampered by levels of heat within the bag after radiators were turned on in Mr Williams' top floor flat in the middle of summer.
There were no injuries indicating Mr Williams had struggled to get out of the bag, the pathologist added.
He also said there were no signs on Mr Williams' fingertips that suggested he tried to get out the bag.
No tablet deposits were found in his system and there was no bruising consistent with strangulation.
The pathologist told the coroner there was no sign of significant traumatic injury, or sexual assault.
Dr Swift said he believed Mr Williams would have died shortly after his last known movements on August 15.
Dr Shepherd, who performed the third post-mortem examination, said there was "no suggestion" the spy's body had been manhandled into the holdall.
He said were Mr Williams to have been forced into it either alive or straight after he died, marks on his body would have been expected.
Dr Shepherd said: "I think it would have been a very difficult process to achieve, getting a body so neatly into a bag.
"Were he to be alive and struggling I would anticipate there to have been injuries".
Getting a body into a bag straight after death would be impeded by the "floppiness" of the corpse in this period, the court heard.
Filed under
asphyxiation,
Benjamin Swift,
poisoning,
Richard Shepherd
by Winter Patriot
on Monday, April 30, 2012 |
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BBC : MI6 officer 'possibly poisoned or asphyxiated'
Monday, April 30, 2012
BBC : MI6 officer 'possibly poisoned or asphyxiated'
April 30, 2012
MI6 officer Gareth Williams possibly died from poisoning or asphyxiation, a Home Office pathologist has said.
These were the "foremost contenders", Dr Benjamin Swift told the inquest into the death, but he added they were possibilities not probabilities.
Pathologist Dr Richard Shepherd said grazes on Mr Williams's arms could have been caused by attempts to get out of the bag in which his body was found.
Mr Williams, 31, from Anglesey, was found dead in his London flat in 2010.
The three pathologists who conducted post-mortem examinations, and who all gave evidence at Westminster Coroner's Court on Monday, had been unable to reach a firm conclusion on how Mr Williams died.
Dr Swift said he had found no trace of poison, which he said could have disappeared in Mr Williams's system during decomposition.
The pathologist found some grazes and bruising on the body, as well as three areas of internal bruising, but said these could have occurred accidentally - and that he did not think these suggested a struggle to get out of the holdall in which the body was found in an empty bath.
Dr Swift found no significant traumatic injury, no offensive or defensive injuries, no injury from sexual assault nor any bruising consistent with strangulation.
'Not manhandled'
Dr Shepherd said he thought it more likely than not that Mr Williams was alive when he got into, or was put in, the sports bag.
He said it would have been difficult to put a newly-dead body into a bag in a bath "so neatly".
"There is nothing to suggest Gareth's body was manhandled into the bag," he added.
But he said he thought the grazing and bruises on Mr Williams's arms were "indicative of the type of injuries which could have been caused by rubbing his elbows on the inside of the bag to try to get out or to manoeuvre the zip".
"The balance of probability is that Gareth was alive when he got in the bag," he said.
"I think there could have been a period of awareness that he needed to get out. The length of time might have been short."
Dr Ian Calder told the inquest that if Mr Williams had entered the bag alive, the build-up of carbon dioxide inside would have become poisonous within two or three minutes, causing him to become confused and sleepy before eventually leading to loss of consciousness and cardiac arrest.
"He would get into a situation of not being aware, of not being able to react to getting himself out of the environment," Dr Calder said.
"I think it's a very likely possibility considering we have a healthy person with no damage, as far as we know no drugs, no trauma, no natural disease."
Unidentified people
Forensic scientist Ros Hammond told the inquest there was "certainly evidence" of at least two unidentifed people at the flat in Pimlico, central London.
She told the court there were hopes of a breakthrough "within a matter of weeks" from DNA tests on a green towel discovered in the kitchen.
"The tests are still in progress and there may be some promising results from those tests," she said.
Dr Swift said he believed that Mr Williams died shortly after he was last seen alive on 15 August, because the level of decomposition was consistent with the length of time before his body was found on 23 August.
The pathologist said that it was the extent of the decomposition that had prevented the cause of death being ascertained.
He said the heat inside the bag, and in Mr Williams's flat where the radiators were on in the middle of summer, had increased decomposition.
The inquest was adjourned until Tuesday.
April 30, 2012
MI6 officer Gareth Williams possibly died from poisoning or asphyxiation, a Home Office pathologist has said.
These were the "foremost contenders", Dr Benjamin Swift told the inquest into the death, but he added they were possibilities not probabilities.
Pathologist Dr Richard Shepherd said grazes on Mr Williams's arms could have been caused by attempts to get out of the bag in which his body was found.
Mr Williams, 31, from Anglesey, was found dead in his London flat in 2010.
The three pathologists who conducted post-mortem examinations, and who all gave evidence at Westminster Coroner's Court on Monday, had been unable to reach a firm conclusion on how Mr Williams died.
Dr Swift said he had found no trace of poison, which he said could have disappeared in Mr Williams's system during decomposition.
The pathologist found some grazes and bruising on the body, as well as three areas of internal bruising, but said these could have occurred accidentally - and that he did not think these suggested a struggle to get out of the holdall in which the body was found in an empty bath.
Dr Swift found no significant traumatic injury, no offensive or defensive injuries, no injury from sexual assault nor any bruising consistent with strangulation.
'Not manhandled'
Dr Shepherd said he thought it more likely than not that Mr Williams was alive when he got into, or was put in, the sports bag.
He said it would have been difficult to put a newly-dead body into a bag in a bath "so neatly".
"There is nothing to suggest Gareth's body was manhandled into the bag," he added.
But he said he thought the grazing and bruises on Mr Williams's arms were "indicative of the type of injuries which could have been caused by rubbing his elbows on the inside of the bag to try to get out or to manoeuvre the zip".
"The balance of probability is that Gareth was alive when he got in the bag," he said.
"I think there could have been a period of awareness that he needed to get out. The length of time might have been short."
Dr Ian Calder told the inquest that if Mr Williams had entered the bag alive, the build-up of carbon dioxide inside would have become poisonous within two or three minutes, causing him to become confused and sleepy before eventually leading to loss of consciousness and cardiac arrest.
"He would get into a situation of not being aware, of not being able to react to getting himself out of the environment," Dr Calder said.
"I think it's a very likely possibility considering we have a healthy person with no damage, as far as we know no drugs, no trauma, no natural disease."
Unidentified people
Forensic scientist Ros Hammond told the inquest there was "certainly evidence" of at least two unidentifed people at the flat in Pimlico, central London.
She told the court there were hopes of a breakthrough "within a matter of weeks" from DNA tests on a green towel discovered in the kitchen.
"The tests are still in progress and there may be some promising results from those tests," she said.
Dr Swift said he believed that Mr Williams died shortly after he was last seen alive on 15 August, because the level of decomposition was consistent with the length of time before his body was found on 23 August.
The pathologist said that it was the extent of the decomposition that had prevented the cause of death being ascertained.
He said the heat inside the bag, and in Mr Williams's flat where the radiators were on in the middle of summer, had increased decomposition.
The inquest was adjourned until Tuesday.
Filed under
asphyxiation,
Benjamin Swift,
Ian Calder,
poisoning,
radiators,
Richard Shepherd,
Ros Hammond
by Winter Patriot
on Monday, April 30, 2012 |
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