Reuters : UK police believe 'spy in the bag' case was an accident

UK police believe 'spy in the bag' case was an accident

November 13, 2013

(Reuters) - Police said on Wednesday they had found no evidence that anyone else was involved in the bizarre death of a British intelligence officer whose body was found in a padlocked bag in his bath in 2010.

Last year, a coroner concluded that other people were most likely involved in the death of Gareth Williams, 31, who was working at the time for Britain's MI6 foreign intelligence service. An inquest found the death was "unnatural and likely to have been criminally mediated."

But Deputy Assistant Commissioner Martin Hewitt told a news briefing that after reviewing the case, police believed the most likely explanation was that the death was an accident.

"The most probable scenario is that Gareth was alone," he told reporters.

"Our investigation concludes, therefore, that despite extensive enquiries ... no evidence has been identified to establish the full circumstances of Gareth's death beyond all reasonable doubt."

Hewitt said however he could not categorically rule out anyone else being involved.

Williams' family said while they accepted the police conclusions, they shared the coroner's belief that someone else must have been there at the London flat - an intelligence service "safe house" - in which his body was discovered.

(Reporting by Michael Holden; editing by Stephen Addison)