NYT : Police Say Spy Found in Bag Probably Died by Accident

Police Say Spy Found in Bag Probably Died by Accident

By STEPHEN CASTLE | November 13, 2013

LONDON — The bizarre death of a British intelligence analyst whose body was discovered inside a sports bag in a bathtub was called a probable accident by the London police on Wednesday, an inconclusive ending to one of the most puzzling investigations in recent years.

Gareth Williams, 31, a Welsh-born mathematician involved in code-breaking work, was found dead on Aug. 23, 2010, by police officers who entered his London apartment. His naked body was curled in a fetal position inside a sports bag in an otherwise empty bathtub. In a twist worthy of a spy movie, the bag was padlocked, but the keys to the lock were inside the bag, beneath the decomposing body.

Mr. Williams had evidently led a private existence, with few close friends. But with its tantalizing glimpse into the secretive world of espionage, the “spy in a bag” case drew intense interest from the news media, which speculated that Mr. Williams might have been killed, or might have died as an accidental consequence of an interest in escapology or bondage.

A post-mortem examination failed to identify a cause of death. A coroner’s inquest in 2012 found that someone else was probably involved in the death. However, the police now say they believe that Mr. Williams was most likely alone and locked himself in the bag, though they cannot rule out the possibility that someone else was present.

“From the inquest, we set up our investigation in a different way, and this has led to greater clarity on some aspects of the case,” Deputy Assistant Commissioner Martin Hewitt, who oversaw the police investigation, said in a statement. “Now, at the end of our investigation, based on the evidence, or where we have been unable to find positive evidence, we believe that it is a more probable conclusion that there was no other person present when Gareth died.”

After three years of investigation, Mr. Hewitt said, “many questions remain unanswered.”

He said there was no evidence that Mr. Williams’s apartment on Alderney Street in the Pimlico neighborhood — close to the headquarters of the Secret Intelligence Service, where he had been working — had been “deep-cleaned,” a term used for the removal of forensic traces by intelligence operatives. There was also nothing to suggest a struggle or a break-in, he said.

Though the police did not themselves demonstrate that it was possible for a person to lock himself inside a bag, Mr. Hewitt said, they saw video of this being done.

Why Mr. Williams would have done so was not entirely clear. The 2012 coroner’s inquest heard evidence that he had visited websites dedicated to bondage and claustrophilia, which involves seeking sexual thrills from being shut in enclosed spaces.

Mr. Williams’s family said in a statement on Wednesday that they stood by the coroner’s findings — that he was probably the victim of an unlawful killing — rather than those of the police.

“We are naturally disappointed that it is still not possible to state with certainty how Gareth died, and the fact that the circumstances of his death are still unknown adds to our grief,” the family said. “We consider that, on the basis of the facts at present known, the coroner’s verdict accurately reflects the circumstances of Gareth’s death.”

A version of this article appears in print on November 14, 2013, on page A8 of the New York edition with the headline: Police Say Spy Found in Bag Probably Died by Accident.