Mirror : Spy in a bag Gareth Williams: Six reasons why doubts persist and the theories behind his death

Spy in a bag Gareth Williams: Six reasons why doubts persist and the theories behind his death

November 13, 2013

Expert Peter Faulding, who specialises in rescuing people from confined spaces, made 300 unsuccessful attempts to lock himself inside an identical bag

Key points which seem to contradict police claims the death was probably just an accident:

1. Expert Peter Faulding, who specialises in rescuing people from confined spaces, made 300 unsuccessful attempts to lock himself inside an identical bag.

He said it was ‘unbelievable’ that Gareth could have got in it on his own. Another expert, William MacKay, and a yoga-practising assistant made more than 100 attempts at it without success.

2. Police were previously looking for other people and released an e-fit of a man and woman seen near Gareth’s flat in July 2010.

3. Last year, Coroner Fiona Wilcox ruled that “on the balance of probabilities” Gareth was unlawfully killed and it was unlikely he got in the bag by himself.

4. Three pathologists told the inquest that poisoning and asphyxiation were the most likely reasons for his death. But postmortems were inconclusive.

5. None of Gareth’s DNA was found on the padlock and there was no evidence of his palm prints on the bath. Up to 15 unidentified DNA samples were found in the flat.

6. The flat had been locked from the outside when police arrived at the scene. No sign of forced entry could be found, but doors and locks had been removed by the time police experts arrived.

The theories: Was it a Russian hit?

Kremlin assassins

Russian agents could have killed Gareth in connection with his work examining the flow of money from Russia to Europe.

Their secret services had already struck at the heart of Britain. In 2006 Alexander Litvinenko, an ex-Russian agent who fled to London, was poisoned with radioactive polonium.

In 2007 a gunman from Russia was arrested at the Park Lane Hilton on a mission to murder oligarch Boris Berezovsky. He and Litvinenko were critics of President Vladimir Putin.

A couple seen on CCTV near Gareth’s flat have never been found despite police issuing e-fit photos.

Double agent

Gareth may have been betrayed by a British double agent who revealed his identity to foreign assassins.

The brilliant young mathematician would have been a high-value target. He was one of just a handful of spies launching effective counter-attacks to stop enemy computer hackers finding out British Government secrets.

Gay lover

He may have been killed to cover up a gay relationship with an MI6 spy who had a family and a career to lose if the truth came out.

Gareth had reportedly been spotted before his death frequenting a popular gay area of Vauxhall in London. If his lover had felt threatened that the affair would be exposed to MI6 bosses, he may have killed Gareth.

The evidence could then have been hidden by the secret service to prevent any further embarrassment for Britain’s intelligence community.

Fetish gone wrong

Despite evidence to the contrary at his inquest, another theory is that he got in the bag on his own, zipped it up and then padlocked it on the outside as part of an escapology fetish. Then he may have suffocated after becoming trapped.

There is evidence to suggest Gareth liked to be tied up as part of a game.

He was once discovered by a former landlady in Cheltenham tied to his bedposts wearing nothing but his boxer shorts. Gareth had to ask to be freed from the bed.