Daily Post : MI6 spy death probe continues

MI6 spy death probe continues

by Dan Beavan, DPW West | August 24, 2011

POLICE are still investigating the death of MI6 spy Gareth Williams – a year after his body was found locked in a sports bag in his flat.

Codebreaker Mr Williams, 31, from Valley, Anglesey, was discovered at his central London flat 12 months ago.

Mystery still surrounds the death with detectives saying his private life remains the main focus of the investigation, which they say is active.

Twelve months on Mr Williams' death remains suspicious and unexplained.

A date for his inquest has still not been set although sources say it will take place before Christmas and last several weeks.

Former Ysgol Uwchradd Bodedern pupil Mr Williams was a gifted mathematician who attained a first class degree in maths aged just 17.

He began work at the Government Communications Headquarters in Cheltenham before being seconded to MI6 for a year.

Daily Post : Anglesey spy Gareth Williams' body was padlocked in holdall

Anglesey spy Gareth Williams' body was padlocked in holdall

by Our Correspondent, Daily Post | September 2, 2010

THE decomposing body of code-breaker Gareth Williams was found padlocked shut in a holdall in a bath in his flat, an inquest heard yesterday.

The cause of death is yet to be established after Mr Williams, from Valley on Anglesey, was discovered in the Government flat on August 23, Westminster Coroner’s Court heard.

Police broke into the top floor flat in Alderney Street, Pimlico, central London, after Mr Williams failed to appear at work for several days.

Coroner Dr Paul Knapman revealed he was found in a bag which was “padlocked shut” and the corpse appeared to be in an “advanced state of decay”, a court spokeswoman said.

A post mortem examination carried out on August 25 failed to establish a cause of death and investigations are continuing. The inquest was adjourned to September 8.

Dr Knapman will be kept informed of how the investigation is progressing and consider when to release the body so a funeral can take place.

There were no members of his family in court. His parents, Ian and Ellen, who live in Valley, were in London last week to identify their son’s body. His younger sister Ceri, who lives in the Wrexham area, is believed to have joined them.

Mr Williams, 30, a former pupil at Ysgol Morswyn, Holyhead, and Ysgol Uwchradd Bodedern, was last seen alive eight days before his corpse was discovered.

Police have not said whether the sighting was made on CCTV or came from another source.

The investigation is being led by the Met’s Homicide Command with the security-vetted Counter Terror Command (SO15) also playing a lesser role in proceedings.

Officers are still trying to determine if he was asphyxiated, poisoned or if drugs or alcohol were present in his system. A pathologist found Mr Williams was not stabbed or shot and there were no obvious signs of strangulation.

Mr Williams was a code-breaker at Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) in Cheltenham.

He was days from completing a one-year secondment to the headquarters of the Secret Intelligence Service, MI6, in Vauxhall, London.

Daily Mail : Parents of murdered British spy hit back at 'government's gay smear' campaign to discredit him

Parents of murdered British spy hit back at 'government's gay smear' campaign to discredit him

By Charlotte Gill, Emily Andrews and Liz Hull | August 27, 2010

The family of murdered British spy Gareth Williams today accused the government of running a 'dirty tricks' campaign to blacken his name.'

William Hughes, the codebreaker's uncle, said Mr Williams' parents Ellen and Ian were 'furious' at suggestions their son has been labelled as gay and a cross dresser.

'It is completely false,' Mr Hughes, 62, who yesterday visited the Williams's family home in Holyhead, North Wales.

'They are very, very angry,' he told the London Evening Standard.

'The lad had been away from home for a long time — we did not know much about his private life, but it has never crossed any of our minds that he could be gay.

'It's not the picture they have of their son.

'Maybe it's the Government or somebody trying to discredit him.'

The mathematics genius, who was on secondment to MI6, was found dead in a sports holdall in the bath of his Government flat on Monday.

Scotland Yard detectives continued to investigate whether GCHQ codes expert the 31-year-old lived a secretive double life.

Police sources believe one theory is the spy's killer may have planted a trail of clues to make it seem as though he was murdered by a gay lover.

They said gay magazines and the phone numbers of gay escort men were found in the apartment near the agent's body.

The latest reports on Mr Williams include claims that bondage gear and equipment associated with sado-masochism had been discovered in the flat he used in Pimlico, London, while it has also been claimed he had links to a male escort.

Mr Williams lived alone and did not have a partner.

But people who knew the cycling enthusiast said he never gave any indication of being homosexual and a former landlord, who rented a flat to him for ten years, never saw him bring anyone – male or female – back to his home.

Sources close to the inquiry have dismissed some of the allegations, which raises questions over who was behind them - and why they were made.

Mr Hughes, a cousin of Mr Williams's mother, Ellen, said: 'I have spoken to Gareth's parents and they are not doing well at all.

'They are in a state of shock and struggling to come to terms with what has happened.

'They have seen what has been in the papers and they are very, very upset about these untruths. I don't see any evidence of it.

'It never crossed my mind that Gareth was that sort of person. He left home at a young age and what happened in his private life was his business,' he said.

'When you have these rumours in the papers, it is most distressing.

'It is heartbreaking that he has died so young and his family have enough on their plate without having to read these stories.'

A spokesman for the Foreign Office said: 'There is no question of there being a government dirty tricks campaign; we are as concerned as the family to establish the facts of Gareth's death.

'But the police investigation is now underway and we must await its outcome.'

The family criticisms comes as CIA agents began examining details of Mr Williams's work and private life in the US to establish if there could be a link to his death — or a threat to national security.

The Daily Mail can reveal Mr Williams flew to the National Security Agency, the Pentagon's listening post and the largest intelligence agency in the world, up to four times a year.

Mr Williams, who worked for the GCHQ listening station in Cheltenham but was on secondment to MI6 in London, returned from his last trip to America only a few weeks before he was found dead.

Questions also remain over why his body lay undiscovered for up to a fortnight at his £400,000 flat in a Victorian townhouse in central London, half a mile from MI6 headquarters.

The body of the keen cyclist was found in a sports holdall in the bath on Monday afternoon.

But yesterday his former landlady in Cheltenham insisted he had not been off work, intensifying the mystery surrounding his death.

Security sources could not explain why some one holding such a sensitive post was able to go 'missing' for such a long time before police were called.

Officers were last night examining the hard drive of a laptop computer found in the flat.

Landlady Jenny Elliott said: 'He definitely wasn't on annual leave as the security services woman who came to see me after they found his body told me that he wasn't on holiday.

'Why did no one notice? It's disgraceful the police weren't alerted earlier that he was missing. His murder is devastating and I just hope the person who did it is caught.

Mrs Elliott, 71, who rented Mr Williams a self-contained flat attached to her home in Cheltenham, said he would often travel to America for weeks at a time three or four times a year either with a male colleague or on his own.

His uncle, Mr Hughes, who lives in Anglesey, North Wales where Mr Williams grew up, said: 'He'd been making the trips for a couple of years.

'I only found this out very recently and I do not know where in America he was staying or who he was working for out there, but I do know it was in relation to his job.

'His last trip was this summer. He returned from the States just a couple of weeks or so before he died.'

A U.S. intelligence source said there was 'no panic' yet within the National Security Agency and people who knew Mr Williams were still to be questioned.

The source said: 'The strong implication is that his death is not connected to his intelligence work, though this could change at any time. They are understandably concerned about what has happened and are keeping a close eye on developments.'

Police are still waiting for the results of toxicology tests which could shed light on how he died.

Police have also asked a pathologist to check whether Mr Williams's neck was broken, which would suggest a professional hit, the sources said

A postmortem examination proved inconclusive and now they must wait for toxicology results to find out whether drugs, alcohol, poisoning or suffocation were the cause of death.

Sources say he was not stabbed, shot, strangled or beaten. Scotland Yard is describing the death as 'suspicious and unexplained'.

A former MI6 officer said that intelligence chiefs are furious that details of Mr Williams's work as a spy had been leaked.

Harry Ferguson said senior officials at the Secret Intelligence Service wanted to suppress any information about his work and to simply refer to him as a 'civil servant' when news of the murder was made public.

'They hoped details of his role could all be kept covered up. It is a standard process. Blurting it out has caused a lot of unnecessary embarrassment, risk and upheaval to the SIS.

'If it had been managed properly it could have been kept quiet. He could simply have been described as a government worker or civil servant.

'They are especially frustrated that it has emerged that not only was he was working in GCHQ, but also on secondment to MI6.'

Mr Ferguson said secret service bosses feared that the 'nightmare scenario' had come true when the body was discovered.

'One of the concerns about having such a high profile building as the SIS does is that, while staff can be protected when inside the building, there a significant risk that they could be followed home,' he said.

'It is the sort of thing that a small group of Islamists or other terror network would clearly be capable of doing.'

He said the apparent 'ritualistic' scene at Mr Williams' flat, with his mobile phone and SIM cards carefully laid out, also suggested it could have been carried out by a foreign agency to send a message.

The reclusive maths genius and rumours of cross-dressing and blackmail

From a tender age, it was clear to his teachers at Morswyn primary school on Anglesey that there was something special about Gareth Williams.

A talented pupil, he was fast-tracked through education, earning his maths GCSE aged nine while most of his contemporaries were still grappling with basic arithmetic.

By 13 he had secured his A-levels and had a degree in maths by 17.

He was known as ‘the maths genius’ by fellow pupils and possessed the ‘fastest brain’ his teachers had encountered. But his academic excellence came at a price.

Forced to study with children several years older than himself, he found it hard to make friends and was last night described by former school mates as ‘socially naive’ and ‘introverted’.

Detectives were last night investigating whether this shy, private side to his nature made him vulnerable to blackmail amid lurid claims that he was a secret cross-dresser.

Geraint Williams, his maths teacher at secondary school, recalled how young Gareth was so clever that he sat his intermediate maths GCSE, gaining a grade B, while still at primary school, before being moved up to Bodedern Secondary School, Holyhead, a year ahead of his peers.

Within months of his arrival he took his advanced GCSE, scoring an A grade, and received top marks in A-level maths and computer studies two years later, when he was 13.

His teachers were initially at a loss at how best to educate him.Their solution was to move him up two years and enrol the youngster, then aged 15, on a three-year maths degree course at his local university at Bangor, which he attained in just two years with first class honours.

Teacher Mr Williams said: ‘I’d heard about this amazing pupil who had done his GCSE at primary school and got a B at intermediate level.

‘He took the higher level GCSE in a couple of months and got an A. It was a problem for us – what could we do with him? We got him to follow A-levels and he did A-level maths and computer science in the third-form. He achieved As in them.

‘That was a big problem because he was still only 13, so we contacted Bangor University and he followed the first year of maths degree course.’

The teacher added: ‘He was the best logician and the pupil with the fastest brain I have ever met. You only had to say things once, that’s why he was so successful. He could understand things immediately. He was also extremely good with computer science.

‘Gareth was also a very nice lad, quiet and unassuming. It’s very sad.’

After leaving Bangor University at 17, Mr Williams went on to study for a PhD at Manchester University before enrolling in postgraduate certificate at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge, in 2000.

He dropped out a year later, but last night friends speculated that he left after being taken on by the Secret Services, which traditionally recruit from Oxbridge.

They said it was an open secret that Mr Williams worked at GCHQ, but added that any notion that the quiet, unassuming boy lead a James Bond spy lifestyle was laughable.

One close friend, who attended primary school with Mr Williams, said: ‘Gareth was a super, super brain. Beyond intelligent, a very, very clever guy.

‘He was hand-picked while at Cambridge by the services, they want the cream of the crop and he certainly was that.

‘It was common knowledge that he worked at GCHQ, but any notion that he led a James Bond style lifestyle is rubbish.

‘Those kind of people have to be able to blend in, but Gareth wasn’t like that, he was very different.

‘He was introverted and found it difficult to make friends, but he was a lovely, lovely bloke. It is such a tragic waste of such a talented life.’

The dead man’s parents, Ian, an engineer at Wylfa power station, and mother Ellen, who worked in education, were on holiday in America celebrating their joint 50th birthdays when news of their son’s death broke.Last night they were said to be ‘devastated’.

Another former school friend, Dylan Parry, 34, said he was ‘dumfounded’ by the murder.

‘Gareth was the last person I would have believed would be involved in the murkier elements of life,’ said Mr Parry, of Holyhead. ‘He really was about as far from a James Bond figure as it’s possible to imagine.

‘Gareth was introverted and socially awkward. He wasn’t dashing or cavalier or a charmer, although he was extremely nice in a quiet way.

‘There has been a lot of speculation about his sexuality, but he was so introverted as to be asexual.‘

He wasn’t able to form relationships because he was so obsessed with his maths studies.

‘We nicknamed him the maths genius because he was so clever. He was so naive, he was someone people could easily take advantage of.

‘I wouldn’t have thought he was a very good judge of character and it’s possible he got to know someone who wasn’t very safe. He was so innocent.’

Wales Online : Police believe spy knew his killer

Police believe spy knew his killer

Western Mail | August 27, 2010

THE family of a Welsh spy, whose murder at his London flat remains shrouded in mystery, hit out last night at allegations about his private life.

Detectives investigating the murder of 30-year-old Gareth Williams were picking over details of his life last night for clues that could identify his killer.

The code expert’s decomposing body was found stuffed into a bag in the bath of his government flat.

He was days from completing a one-year secondment to the headquarters of MI6 from his job at national “listening post” GCHQ in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. Further tests were taking place to determine how the cycling and fitness fanatic met his death after a post-mortem examination was inconclusive.

A pathologist found Mr Williams had not been stabbed or shot and there were no obvious signs of strangulation.

Police are refusing to categorise the case as a murder inquiry, despite the bizarre circumstances, as they insist he may have died innocently.

One line of inquiry is reportedly that he is the victim of a sex game that went wrong and questions remain over why he was not discovered sooner.

Police believe Mr Williams’ body could have lain undiscovered for up to a fortnight and it is thought he was on holiday at the time of his death.

They believe the key to the case could lie in his private life.

But his uncle, William Hughes, said suggestions reported in London newspapers that the GCHQ and MI6 officer was gay and a transvestite had deeply upset his parents, Ian and Elen, from Valley on Anglesey.

The couple were still too upset to speak of their son’s death yesterday.

But 62-year-old Mr Hughes said: “They’re devastated. That is the worst part of it [the allegations about his private life].

“Terrible accusations have been made and there’s no truth whatsoever in them. They just need to be left alone and given space.”

Mr Hughes said Mr Williams’ parents remained in the dark as to whether his death was linked to his security services work or his personal life. Mr Williams has been described as an extremely private person.

Investigators suspect he might have known his killer as there was no sign of forced entry at his top-floor flat in smart Alderney Street, Pimlico.

Police have begun examining his mobile phone and financial records as well as CCTV cameras from streets and businesses surrounding his home.

His home has been the subject of a fingertip search amid fears that top-secret work material could have gone missing.

Mr Williams’ parents travelled to London with his sister Ceri, who lives near Wrexham, yesterday to speak to police and formally identify his body.

Mr Hughes said they were deeply shocked and flew back from a holiday in North America after learning of his death.

He said: “The last time I saw Gareth was just a few months ago at a family party and he was fine.

“He was always a quiet person, he was from a young age. But this is a close family and we all see each other quite regularly at family occasions.”

He said he never knew Mr Williams to bring home a girlfriend or a partner, describing him as a “very, very private person”.

“It’s a long way from Anglesey to Cheltenham and London. When he came home, he brought his bicycle. He enjoyed cycling around the island,” he said.

“I knew he worked at GCHQ and he had been working in London but I didn’t know what he did. It wasn’t said that we shouldn’t talk about it, I simply never asked and he never told me.

“He was a bright boy from a young age and his parents were very proud of him.”

Officers broke down the door of Mr Williams’ home on Monday afternoon when attempts by government officials to locate him via his former landlady failed.

Investigators from the Metropolitan Police’s homicide and serious crime command labelled the death as “suspicious and unexplained”.

Former landlady Jenny Elliott said the victim lived in a flat attached to her Cheltenham property for 10 years and was preparing to return on September 3.

“He phoned me a few weeks ago to say he was coming back,” she said.

She described him as “a lovely guy, very friendly, very well-mannered and polite and no trouble at all”.

She added: “He was often away. He went to America to work a lot and often combined it with holiday because he hated flying.”

Mr Williams’ London neighbours described him as “extremely friendly”, athletic and a keen cyclist.

He joined Cambridge University’s St Catharine’s College to undertake a postgraduate certificate in mathematics in 2000, but dropped out a year later.

Sources close to the inquiry said it was not clear how he died and played down speculation that the murder was linked to his secretive line of work.

One source said: “The suggestion there is terrorism or national security links to this case is pretty low down the list of probabilities.”

The Alderney Street flat is about half-a-mile from the riverside headquarters of MI6, the Secret Intelligence Service.

A childhood friend of Mr Williams described him as academically gifted but socially naive.

Dylan Parry, 34, said the GCHQ codes and cyphers expert was an isolated child fascinated by mathematics and computers.

Mr Parry, a volunteer at Westminster Cathedral, went to school with Mr Williams at Uwchradd Bodedern secondary.

He said Mr Williams travelled to Bangor University every week aged 16 to study for a mathematics degree part time. He graduated with a first class mathematics degree from Bangor aged 19.

He said: “It was clear he was going to go far, but we all assumed he would end up in academia.

“Finding out he became a spy was a shock.”

He graduated with a first class mathematics degree from Bangor University aged 19.

He continued his studies with an elite course at St Catharine’s College but dropped out.

The university is one of the traditional hunting grounds for recruiters looking for bright young things to join the intelligence community.

Ronald Jones, 86, who lives with his wife Eileen, a few doors away from the Williams family on Anglesey, said: “The whole family keep to themselves very much.

“We’ve never had a discussion with them.

“I don’t remember ever seeing Gareth’s mother but the father runs every day.

“They’ve lived here for about 18 years.”

Mrs Jones, 85, said: “They were polite and always greeted you but further than that I don’t think they bothered with anyone.”

One neighbour, who asked not to be named, described the family as “really lovely people”.

Keith Thompson, of Holyhead Cycling Club, said he had known Mr Williams since he joined the club at the age of 17.

He said: “I heard the news in a text message yesterday morning and it was a shock.

“We are a small club, only 20 members, and all of us knew Gareth.

“We are totally devastated. He was a really lovely young man.

“Of course, once he moved to Cheltenham, he joined the club there and we didn’t see much of him.

“I last saw him on our Boxing Day meeting last year.

“He was his usual self really.

“It’s true that he was very quiet. He wasn’t a great conversationalist.

“We were club mates but Gareth wasn’t the sort to go the pub after a race so he didn’t have any close friends in the group.

“I never spoke to him about his job or his private life. Nobody did with Gareth.

“It was his cycling that we knew about. He was known for being very good on hill races but a couple of times he won the club’s best all-rounder award.

“He was also a good runner but that was to be expected, his whole family is very sporty.

“His father was a member of this club and Ceri was an athlete. We’ll be getting in touch to offer our condolences when they are home.

“We have also cancelled a club event we had planned for tonight. Nobody feels up to it now.”

Daily Mail : CIA probes British spy murder as it emerges he was sent on frequent missions to Pentagon's high-security listening post

CIA probes British spy murder as it emerges he was sent on frequent missions to Pentagon's high-security listening post

By Charlotte Gill, Emily Andrews and Liz Hull | August 27, 2010

The CIA was called in to help investigate the murder of an MI6 spy last night as it emerged he was sent on frequent secret missions to the United States.

American intelligence officers are poring over every detail of Gareth Williams's work and personal life to see if the circumstances of his death endangered U.S. national security.

The Daily Mail can reveal that the 31-year-old codebreaker flew to the National Security Agency, the Pentagon's listening post and the largest intelligence agency in the world, up to four times a year. He returned from his last trip to America only a few weeks before he was found dead.

Questions also remain over why his body lay undiscovered for up to a fortnight at his £400,000 flat in a Victorian townhouse in Pimlico, central London, half a mile from MI6 headquarters.

Mr Williams worked at the Government's listening post, GCHQ in Cheltenham, but had been on secondment to MI6 for the past year and was due to return to GCHQ next Friday.

The body of the keen cyclist was found in a sports holdall in the bath on Monday afternoon.

But yesterday his former landlady in Cheltenham insisted he had not been off work, intensifying the mystery surrounding his death.

Security sources could not explain why some one holding such a sensitive post was able to go 'missing' for such a long time before police were called.

Officers were last night examining the hard drive of a laptop computer found in the flat.

Landlady Jenny Elliott said: 'He definitely wasn't on annual leave as the security services woman who came to see me after they found his body told me that he wasn't on holiday.

'Why did no one notice? It's disgraceful the police weren't alerted earlier that he was missing. His murder is devastating and I just hope the person who did it is caught.

Mrs Elliott, 71, who rented Mr Williams a self-contained flat attached to her home in Cheltenham, said he would often travel to America for weeks at a time three or four times a year either with a male colleague or on his own.

His uncle, who lives in Anglesey, North Wales, where Mr Williams grew up, said: 'He'd been making the trips for a couple of years.

'I only found this out very recently and I do not know where in America he was staying or who he was working for out there, but I do know it was in relation to his job.

'His last trip was this summer. He returned from the States just a couple of weeks or so before he died.'

A U.S. intelligence source said there was 'no panic' yet within the National Security Agency and people who knew Mr Williams were still to be questioned.

The source said: 'The strong implication is that his death is not connected to his intelligence work, though this could change at any time. They are understandably concerned about what has happened and are keeping a close eye on developments.'

Mr Williams's devastated parents Ian and Ellen have faced speculation over their son's private life.

It has been reported that Mr Williams, who lived alone and did not have a partner, was a gay cross dresser and may have been killed by a gay lover.

Police sources believe another theory is the spy's killer may have planted a trail of clues to make it seem as though he was murdered by a gay lover.

They said gay magazines and the phone numbers of gay escort men were found in the apartment near the agent's body.

Police have also asked a pathologist to check whether Mr Williams's neck was broken, which would suggest a professional hit, the sources said.

Those who know him say there is nothing to suggest that he may have been homosexual.

Mrs Elliott, who rented her flat to him for ten years during his time at GCHQ, never saw him bring anyone – male or female – back to his home.

Detectives are still trying to ascertainhow Mr Williams died. A postmortem examination proved inconclusive and now they must wait for toxicology results to find out whether drugs, alcohol, poisoning or suffocation were the cause of death.

Sources say he was not stabbed, shot, strangled or beaten. Scotland Yard is describing the death as 'suspicious and unexplained'.

A former MI6 officer said that intelligence chiefs are furious that details of Mr Williams's work as a spy had been leaked.

Harry Ferguson said senior officials at the Secret Intelligence Service wanted to suppress any information about his work and to simply refer to him as a 'civil servant' when news of the murder was made public.

'They hoped details of his role could all be kept covered up. It is a standard process. Blurting it out has caused a lot of unnecessary embarrassment, risk and upheaval to the SIS.

'If it had been managed properly it could have been kept quiet. He could simply have been described as a government worker or civil servant.

'They are especially frustrated that it has emerged that not only was he was working in GCHQ, but also on secondment to MI6.'

Mr Ferguson said secret service bosses feared that the 'nightmare scenario' had come true when the body was discovered.

'One of the concerns about having such a high profile building as the SIS does is that, while staff can be protected when inside the building, there a significant risk that they could be followed home,' he said.

'It is the sort of thing that a small group of Islamists or other terror network would clearly be capable of doing.'

He said the apparent 'ritualistic' scene at Mr Williams' flat, with his mobile phone and SIM cards carefully laid out, also suggested it could have been carried out by a foreign agency to send a message.

The reclusive maths genius and rumours of cross-dressing and blackmail

FROM a tender age, it was clear to his teachers at Morswyn primary school on Anglesey that there was something special about Gareth Williams.

A talented pupil, he was fast-tracked through education, earning his maths GCSE aged nine while most of his contemporaries were still grappling with basic arithmetic.

By 13 he had secured his A-levels and had a degree in maths by 17.

He was known as ‘the maths genius’ by fellow pupils and possessed the ‘fastest brain’ his teachers had encountered. But his academic excellence came at a price.

Forced to study with children several years older than himself, he found it hard to make friends and was last night described by former school mates as ‘socially naive’ and ‘introverted’.

Detectives were last night investigating whether this shy, private side to his nature made him vulnerable to blackmail amid lurid claims that he was a secret cross-dresser.

Geraint Williams, his maths teacher at secondary school, recalled how young Gareth was so clever that he sat his intermediate maths GCSE, gaining a grade B, while still at primary school, before being moved up to Bodedern Secondary School, Holyhead, a year ahead of his peers.

Within months of his arrival he took his advanced GCSE, scoring an A grade, and received top marks in A-level maths and computer studies two years later, when he was 13.

His teachers were initially at a loss at how best to educate him. Their solution was to move him up two years and enrol the youngster, then aged 15, on a three-year maths degree course at his local university at Bangor, which he attained in just two years with first class honours.

Teacher Mr Williams said: ‘I’d heard about this amazing pupil who had done his GCSE at primary school and got a B at intermediate level.

‘He took the higher level GCSE in a couple of months and got an A. It was a problem for us – what could we do with him? We got him to follow A-levels and he did A-level maths and computer science in the third-form. He achieved As in them.

‘That was a big problem because he was still only 13, so we contacted Bangor University and he followed the first year of maths degree course.’

The teacher added: ‘He was the best logician and the pupil with the fastest brain I have ever met. You only had to say things once, that’s why he was so successful. He could understand things immediately. He was also extremely good with computer science.

‘Gareth was also a very nice lad, quiet and unassuming. It’s very sad.’

After leaving Bangor University at 17, Mr Williams went on to study for a PhD at Manchester University before enrolling in postgraduate certificate at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge, in 2000.

He dropped out a year later, but last night friends speculated that he left after being taken on by the Secret Services, which traditionally recruit from Oxbridge.

They said it was an open secret that Mr Williams worked at GCHQ, but added that any notion that the quiet, unassuming boy lead a James Bond spy lifestyle was laughable.

One close friend, who attended primary school with Mr Williams, said: ‘Gareth was a super, super brain. Beyond intelligent, a very, very clever guy.

‘He was hand-picked while at Cambridge by the services, they want the cream of the crop and he certainly was that.

‘It was common knowledge that he worked at GCHQ, but any notion that he led a James Bond style lifestyle is rubbish.

‘Those kind of people have to be able to blend in, but Gareth wasn’t like that, he was very different.

‘He was introverted and found it difficult to make friends, but he was a lovely, lovely bloke. It is such a tragic waste of such a talented life.’

The dead man’s parents, Ian, an engineer at Wylfa power station, and mother Ellen, who worked in education, were on holiday in America celebrating their joint 50th birthdays when news of their son’s death broke.Last night they were said to be ‘devastated’.

Another former school friend, Dylan Parry, 34, said he was ‘dumfounded’ by the murder.

‘Gareth was the last person I would have believed would be involved in the murkier elements of life,’ said Mr Parry, of Holyhead. ‘He really was about as far from a James Bond figure as it’s possible to imagine.

‘Gareth was introverted and socially awkward. He wasn’t dashing or cavalier or a charmer, although he was extremely nice in a quiet way.

‘There has been a lot of speculation about his sexuality, but he was so introverted as to be asexual.‘

He wasn’t able to form relationships because he was so obsessed with his maths studies.

‘We nicknamed him the maths genius because he was so clever. He was so naive, he was someone people could easily take advantage of.

‘I wouldn’t have thought he was a very good judge of character and it’s possible he got to know someone who wasn’t very safe. He was so innocent.’

The Australian : Slain spy Gareth Williams linked to bondage, male escort

Slain spy Gareth Williams linked to bondage, male escort

Staff writers | From: The Times | August 27, 2010

POLICE investigating the murder of a British spy found bondage equipment in his flat and evidence linking him to a male escort.

The find has raised questions over how Gareth Williams's private life slipped through the vetting procedures of the security services. Senior security personnel are said to be "extremely concerned" that an employee with high clearance had a lifestyle that put him in danger of being compromised.

A source close to the investigation said that evidence discovered in the London flat included bondage items, porn films and paraphernalia associated with sado-masochism. It is also understood that Mr Williams, who was on secondment to M16 from GCHQ, the Government's top secret listening post, has been linked to a male escort.

Detectives have focused their investigations on the private life of Mr Williams, 30, since he was found on Monday murdered and stuffed into a holdall in his flat in Pimlico, a short walk from M16 headquarters.

It also emerged that Mr Williams travelled regularly to the United States on official business, raising further concerns about potential national security breaches because of the information he had access to. He went to Washington several times a year, stayed for a few weeks each time and went shortly before he died.

Last night the National Security Agency refused to confirm or deny that Mr Williams, who is believed to be an expert in codes and ciphers, had worked for them. It is not unusual for members of the security services to spend time working for government security departments in America.

Jenny Elliott, the spy's former landlady in Cheltenham, said Mr Williams regularly travelled to America. "He would go to Washington about three times a year. It was always Washington. That was part of his job." She said that Mr Williams would usually combine the trip with a holiday.

Detectives from the Homicide and Serious Crime Command may have to wait for up to a week to find out how Mr Williams died. The initial postmortem examination proved inconclusive and several tests, thought to include toxicology tests, are now being conducted.

A picture of Mr Williams as a genius who led a solitary existence began to emerge yesterday. Friends described him as athletic, kind and intelligent, but above all extremely private. Dylan Parry, a schoolfriend, described him as academically gifted but socially naive. Mr Parry, 34, said Mr Williams was an isolated child fascinated by mathematics and computers.

The pair attended Uwchradd Bodedern secondary in Anglesey, where Mr Williams was "the kind of person who found it difficult to engage with people on a normal level".

"It was clear he was going to go far, but we all assumed he would end up in academia. Finding out he became a spy was a shock," Mr Parry said.

Geraint Williams, the spy's maths teacher at Bodedern, said he had "definitely the best brain" he had known. "If you explained something once to Gareth he remembered it. You didn't have to explain a second time. It all stuck there. It didn't surprise me at all that he was very interested in codes and ciphers and it didn't surprise me that he was recruited by GCHQ."

Online tributes mainly referred to his shy and quiet nature. One fellow Cambridge student, said: "He seemed a shy and quiet chap, but had a peculiarly memorable laugh and smile that are haunting me somewhat today. I knew that Gareth had gone on to work at Cheltenham but would never have imagined his life culminating in this."

Keith Thompson, of Holyhead Cycling Club, said he had known Mr Williams since he joined the club at the age of 17. "It's true that he was very quiet. He wasn't a great conversationalist. We were clubmates but Gareth wasn't the sort to go the pub after a race so he didn't have any close friends in the group. I never spoke to him about his job or his private life. Nobody did with Gareth. It was his cycling that we knew about. A couple of times he won the club's 'best all-rounder' award."

Mirror : THE U.S. CONNECTION -- EXCLUSIVE: Chiefs mourn loss of 'genius'

THE U.S. CONNECTION -- EXCLUSIVE: Chiefs mourn loss of 'genius'

By Jon Clements | August 27, 2010

The full extent of murdered spy Gareth Williams' role in the world of espionage slowly began to emerge last night.

He was rated as one of the best codebreakers in the business - an elite agent who fought in secret to thwart al-Qaeda terror attacks at home and abroad.

And the 31-year-old maths genius's unique skills were also recognised by spy chiefs across the Atlantic.

Despite a dislike of flying, he regularly travelled from London to Baltimore to meet US National Security Agency officials at their Fort Meade HQ - dubbed the Puzzle Palace.

He made the trip up to four times a year "on business" for the Government's GCHQ listening post.

Last night his uncle told how he would mysteriously disappear for up to three or four weeks at a time.

Speaking at his farmhouse at Anglesey, North Wales, Michael Hughes said: "The trips were very hush-hush. They were so secret that I only recently found out about them - and we're a very close family. It had become part of his job in the past few years. His last trip out there was a few weeks ago, but he was regularly back and forth."

Mr Williams' mysterious death has shocked and dismayed officials at the NSA, which has an agreement with GCHQ to pool their signal intelligence - known as SigInt.

Fort Meade officials have been updated on the police investigation into how the keen cyclist, who was on attachment to MI6, was found dead in a sports holdall in his bathtub.

They are anxious to know if there has been any breach of global security as a result of the murder at Mr Williams' Government-owned flat in Pimlico, Central London.

Britain now relies heavily on the NSA to help monitor phone calls, emails, texts and other communications of UK terror suspects.

When MI5 discovered the plot in 2006 by British Muslims to bomb transatlantic jets, GCHQ called in the NSA to help - and Williams worked closely alongside them.

Spy satellites tracked and secretly copied emails from mastermind Rashid Rauf in Pakistan to the two ringleaders in Walthamstow, East London. The messages were vital to the 2008 convictions of Abdullah Ahmed Ali, Assad Sarwar and Tanvir Hussain.

Mr Williams, who won a first class honours degree in maths at just 17, used to spend an average 19 days on each US trip before taking a fortnight's holiday.

One Western intelligence source told the Mirror: "He will have had crucial high-level meetings with American intelligence officers. His job would have been crucial to the security of the UK and our interests abroad - and also to America and Europe.

"Although not particularly high up the GCHQ ladder, the importance of his role should not be underestimated. The man was a mathematical genius."

It is thought Mr Williams may have had input into the monitoring of communications between Taliban commanders in Afghanistan - and even the tracking of serious organised crime suspects.

His death is being seen as a major blow to the security services because of his unusual and rare talents. A spokesman for Bangor University, where he completed his degree in just two years, described the fitness fanatic as "extremely gifted".

And a former classmate at Uwchradd Bodedern secondary in Anglesey said: "Nobody ever needed a calculator when Gareth was around."

Police investigating his death continue to focus on his personal life as they try to establish a motive.

Relatives are baffled by claims his body lay undiscovered for up to two weeks as his sister Ceri, from Chester, says she spoke to him last Wednesday.

Mirror : Security chiefs mourn loss of ‘genius’ spy Gareth Williams

Security chiefs mourn loss of ‘genius’ spy Gareth Williams

By Jon Clements | August 27, 2010

The full extent of murdered spy Gareth Williams’ role in the world of espionage slowly began to emerge last night.

He was rated as one of the best code-breakers in the business – an elite agent who fought in secret to thwart al-Qaeda terror attacks at home and abroad.

And the 31-year-old maths genius’s unique skills were also recognised by spy chiefs across the Atlantic.

Despite a dislike of flying, he regularly travelled from London to Baltimore to meet US National Security Agency officials at their Fort Meade HQ – dubbed the Puzzle Palace.

He made the trip up to four times a year “on business” for the Government’s GCHQ listening post.

Last night his uncle told how he would mysteriously disappear for up to three or four weeks at a time.

Speaking at his farmhouse at Anglesey, North Wales, Michael Hughes said: “The trips were very hush-hush. They were so secret that I only recently found out about them – and we’re a very close family. It had become part of his job in the past few years. His last trip out there was a few weeks ago, but he was regularly back and forth.”

Mr Williams’ mysterious death has shocked and dismayed officials at the NSA, which has an agreement with GCHQ to pool their signal intelligence – known as SigInt.

Fort Meade officials have been updated on the police investigation into how the cyclist, who was on attachment to MI6, was found dead in a sports holdall in his bathtub.

They are anxious to know if there has been any breach of global security as a result of the murder at Mr Williams’ Government-owned flat in Pimlico, Central London.

Britain now relies heavily on the NSA to help monitor phone calls, emails, texts and other communications of UK terror suspects.

When MI5 discovered the plot in 2006 by British Muslims to bomb transatlantic jets, GCHQ called in the NSA to help – and Williams worked closely alongside them.

Spy satellites tracked and secretly copied emails from mastermind Rashid Rauf in Pakistan to the two ringleaders in Walthamstow, East London. The messages were vital to the 2008 convictions of Abdullah Ahmed Ali, Assad Sarwar and Tanvir Hussain. Mr Williams, who won a first class honours degree in maths at just 17, used to spend an average 19 days on each US trip before taking a fortnight’s holiday.

One Western intelligence source told the Mirror: “He will have had crucial high-level meetings with American intelligence officers. His job would have been crucial to the security of the UK and our interests abroad – and also to America and Europe.

“Although not particularly high up the GCHQ ladder, the importance of his role should not be underestimated. The man was a mathematical genius.”

It is thought Mr Williams may have had input into the monitoring of communications between Taliban commanders in Afghanistan – and even the tracking of serious organised crime suspects.

His death is being seen as a major blow to the security services because of his unusual and rare talents. A spokesman for Bangor University, where he completed his degree in just two years, described the fitness fanatic as “extremely gifted”.

And a former classmate at Uwchradd Bodedern secondary in Anglesey said: “Nobody ever needed a calculator when Gareth was around.”

Police investigating his death continue to focus on his personal life as they try to establish a motive.

Relatives are baffled by claims his body lay undiscovered for up to two weeks as his sister Ceri, from Chester, says she spoke to him last Wednesday.

THE PUZZLE PALACE

The National Security Agency HQ - the Puzzle Palace - is "the largest espionage organisation the world has known".

Author James Bamford, who was given access to the organisation in Fort Meade, Maryland, in the US, said it intercepts millions of emails and calls an hour.

Bamford, author of The Puzzle Palace, said: "It is capable of eavesdropping on conversations virtually anywhere on the planet." The CIA and British partner, MI6, are better known, but the NSA and GCHQ gather most intelligence. The NSA also has a far bigger budget than the CIA and was known to have bugged six swing UN nations over Iraq. And while most intercepts are pulled from the ether, some are gathered the old-fashioned way - bugs planted in offices by "cleaners".

Windsor Star : Murdered spy may have mixed with bad crowd

Murdered spy may have mixed with bad crowd

By Richard Edwards and John Bingham, The Daily Telegraph | August 27, 2010

London -- The British spy found murdered in London this week was "one of life's innocents" who could have fallen in with "unsafe" company, friends have claimed.

As police continued to draw a blank over the mysterious death of Gareth Williams, friends said he had an extraordinary mathematical mind but was "very naive about people."

There was no sign of forced entry at the flat in central London where the 31 year-old was found stuffed into a sports bag on Monday afternoon, suggesting the killer was someone Williams knew.

Detectives have been unable to find any regular friends, male or female, linked to the cipher and codes expert, who worked for MI6 and the GCHQ listening station in Cheltenham. They are investigating whether he had recently met his killer and are analyzing mobile phone sim cards found in the flat in Pimlico, central London.

Detectives are also investigating whether he lived a double life unknown to his superiors and are studying his recent movements, including a trip to Las Vegas he had described as a "real eye opener." School friends said that Williams was nicknamed "child genius." but added that he was "not a good judge of character."

Williams took a math General Certificate of Education at primary school and A Levels at 13. He graduated with a first from Bangor University by the age of 17 and earned a masters at Cambridge University. Like many prodigies, however, he struggled to make friends after being catapulted into the company of older people at an early age.

Dylan Parry, 34, a friend from his home in Anglesey, said he was an isolated child only interested in maths and computers. "He never really made friends, either his own age or from those younger than him. He didn't have any of the normal childhood interests or pursuits of teenagers.

"His only real interest was maths. He was obsessed with his subject. Socially he was very awkward but very nice."

Parry added that the spy was someone "people could easily take advantage of" and suggested the murder may have been nothing to do with his work for MI6. "Back then (in his teens) he wasn't the kind to have a girlfriend -- or a boyfriend for that matter. He was very naive about people.

"I wouldn't have thought he was a very good judge of character and it's possible he got to know someone who wasn't very safe. He was so innocent."

Geraint Williams, a math teacher at Bodedern High School, said the "exceptional" pupil had "the best brain I have ever seen."

"He was the best logician. It didn't surprise me at all that he was very interested in codes and ciphers and it didn't surprise me that he was recruited by GCHQ. He was definitely going to go into something like that with his brain."

Keith Thompson, who knew Williams through Holyhead Cycling Club, said: "I never spoke to him about his job or his private life. Nobody did with Gareth."

© Copyright (c) The Windsor Star

Independent : MI6 inquiry will ask why it took two weeks to find murdered officer

MI6 inquiry will ask why it took two weeks to find murdered officer

By Terri Judd | August 27, 2010

MI6 is investigating why it took two weeks to discover that a GCHQ officer on secondment to the agency had been murdered.

Gareth Williams's body was found stuffed into a sports bag in the bath at his home in central London by Metropolitan Police officers. They forced their way into the flat on Monday afternoon after colleagues reported he had not been seen for some time.

While police and MI6 officers do not believe the 31-year-old's murder had anything to do with his work as a codes and ciphers expert, they are concerned that any agent could go missing for such a long time without checks being made on their whereabouts.

Investigators suspect Mr Williams may have known his killer as there was no sign of forced entry at his top-floor flat in a smart street in Pimlico where his neighbours included wealthy bankers and politicians, including former home secretaries Michael Howard and Lord Brittan.

Scotland Yard's Homicide and Serious Crime Command was investigating whether the victim's private life or relationships offered any clues that could identify his murderer. As a fingertip search was conducted on the property, police have been examining his telephone and financial records, as well as CCTV footage from the area. A post-mortem examination proved inconclusive and detectives are now awaiting the result of toxicology tests.

Before gaining his post at the national "listening post" Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), Mr Williams would have undergone strict vetting including a nine-month process of interviews, background checks and a medical. As well as examining his family history and personal circumstances, it would assess whether he had the character for the secret world of intelligence work.

However, there were questions raised last night as to whether he may have held something back from his employers. Family and friends painted a picture of an athletic young man, a keen cyclist and runner, who was deeply private and rarely socialised.

His mother's cousin, William Hughes, said: "I knew he worked at GCHQ and he had been working in London but I didn't know what he did. It wasn't said that we shouldn't talk about it, I simply never asked and he never told me. He was a bright boy from a young age and his parents were very proud of him."

Mr Hughes added that his parents, Ian and Ellen, as well as his younger sister, Ceri, were deeply shocked and devastated by the news. His mother and father, from Wales, were picked up by police upon their return from a holiday in America on Tuesday and taken to identify his body in London.

A childhood friend, Dylan Parry, 34, described Mr Williams as academically gifted but socially naive, an isolated boy fascinated by mathematics and computers. Mr Parry, who went to school with Mr Williams at Uwchradd Bodedern secondary in Anglesey, said that he travelled to Bangor University every week aged 16 to study for a mathematics degree part-time. He later graduated from the university with a first class degree.

"It was clear he was going to go far, but we all assumed he would end up in academia. Finding out he became a spy was a shock," he added.

Keith Thompson, of Holyhead Cycling Club, said he had known Mr Williams since he joined the club at the age of 17. He said: "It's true that he was very quiet. He wasn't a great conversationalist. We were club mates but Gareth wasn't the sort to go to the pub after a race so he didn't have any close friends in the group. I never spoke to him about his job or his private life. Nobody did with Gareth."

Charles Cumming, author of A Spy by Nature, who was approached himself for recruitment by the SIS after university, said the secretive nature of the work and the long hours could prove a real burden on relationships and many chose to mix within the services.

But he added: "I think the pressure that spies are put under has been exaggerated by programmes like Spooks. People who go into the work are highly intelligent, highly motivated and well aware of the sacrifices they are making. To a man or woman they don't find the restrictions all that difficult."

While MI6 remained an "alpha male" culture, he added, GCHQ was a very different environment.

This Is London : 'He was naive at school, people could take advantage'

'He was naive at school, people could take advantage'

Peter Dominiczak | August 26, 2010

A close childhood friend of murdered spy Gareth Williams today described him as "socially awkward and naive" and told how he was nicknamed "the maths genius" at school.

Dylan Parry, 34, a volunteer at Westminster Cathedral who went to school with Mr Williams at Bodedern secondary in Anglesey, described him as an isolated child only interested in maths and computers.

He told the Standard how his friend travelled by train each week from his home in Anglesey to Bangor University aged just 16 to study for a mathematics degree part-time because he was so gifted. Mr Williams, a Welsh speaker, was raised in Holyhead by his father Ian, who worked at the local nuclear power plant, and mother Ellen. Aged 19, Mr Williams graduated from Bangor and in 2000 went to St Catharine's College, Cambridge, to undertake a postgraduate certificate in maths but dropped out a year later after failing an exam. He then moved to Cheltenham, where he began his career at GCHQ.

Mr Parry said: "His death has been a huge shock for anyone who knew him. He was such a quiet young man. He came to secondary school a couple of years early because he was so good. He was the kind of person who found it difficult to engage with people on a normal level."

Mr Parry added: "It was clear he was going to go far, but we all assumed he would end up in academia. Finding out he became a spy was a shock."

Mr Parry said that his mother saw Mr Williams cycling in Anglesey two weeks ago and that "nothing seemed out of the ordinary".

He added that his friend was someone "people could easily take advantage of" and speculated that the murder was nothing to do with his work for MI6.

"Back then he wasn't the kind of person to have a girlfriend - or a boyfriend for that matter. He was very naive about people. I wouldn't have thought he was a very good judge of character and it's possible he got to know someone who wasn't very safe. He was so innocent."

Scotsman : Spotlight on private life as spy murder mystery deepens

Spotlight on private life as spy murder mystery deepens

By John Fahey | August 27, 2010

Detectives investigating the murder of a British code-breaker were last night examining whether he lived a double life.

The spotlight was on the private life of GCHQ mathematics prodigy Gareth Williams, as investigators hunted for clues to identify his killer.

The 30-year-old's body was found stuffed into a bag in the bath of his central London government flat on Monday.

But the mystery over his final hours has since deepened after a post-mortem examination failed to identify a cause of death.

Further tests will determine if the cycling fanatic was asphyxiated or poisoned, as well as if drugs or alcohol were present in his system.

A pathologist found that Mr Williams had not been stabbed or shot and there were no obvious signs of strangulation.

Police have refused to categorise the case as a murder inquiry, despite the bizarre circumstances, as they insist he may have died innocently. One line of inquiry is that he is the victim of sex game that went wrong, and questions remain over why he was not discovered sooner.

Mr Williams was days from completing a one-year secondment to the headquarters of MI6 from his job at the national "listening post", GCHQ in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.

Police believe Mr Williams's body could have lain undiscovered for up to a fortnight, and it is thought he was on holiday at the time of his death. They suspect the key to the case could lie in his private life and are examining his mobile phone and financial records, as well as CCTV cameras around his home.

Investigators suspect that Mr Williams might have known his killer as there was no sign of forced entry at his top-floor flat in smart Alderney Street, Pimlico.

His home has been the subject of a fingertip search, amid fears that top-secret work material could have gone missing.

Mr Williams's parents, Ian and Ellen, travelled to London with his sister Ceri today from their home in Anglesey to speak to police and formally identify his body.

A man who answered the door of their home said: "As you can imagine, it is hard enough at the moment, and we have nothing to say."

Further details of Mr Williams continued to emerge yesterday, as friends described him as an extremely bright, quiet and determined man.

Childhood friend Dylan Parry, 34, said Mr Williams was academically gifted but socially naive and could be easily led.

Mr Parry, a volunteer at Westminster Cathedral, went to school with Mr Williams at Uwchradd Bodedern secondary in Anglesey, North Wales.

He said: "He was the kind of person who found it difficult to engage with people on a normal level.

Mr Parry added that his friend was someone "people could easily take advantage of", that he was "naive" and a poor judge of character.

Fellow cyclists, including members of clubs in Cheltenham and Holyhead, paid tribute to Mr Williams for his skills after he clocked up a series of records.

One said: "People sometimes thought he was dense because he spoke rather slowly and sometimes seemed distracted. How wrong can you get?"

Keith Thompson, of Holyhead Cycling Club, said:: "I never spoke to him about his job or his private life. It was his cycling that we knew about."

BBC : MI6 worker Gareth Williams was an 'exceptional' pupil

MI6 worker Gareth Williams was an 'exceptional' pupil

August 26, 2010

More tributes have been paid to Gareth Williams, the MI6 worker whose body was discovered in a holdall in his London flat.

More tests are being carried out on the body of the 30-year-old from Holyhead on Anglesey after a post mortem proved inconclusive.

Metropolitan Police are treating his death as "suspicious and unexplained".

His maths teacher Geraint Williams said Mr Williams was an "exceptional" pupil.

"He was probably not the best mathematician I have seen, but the best logician.

"If you explained something once to Gareth he remembered it, you didn't have to explain it again," said Mr Williams, a teacher at Bodedern secondary school.

"It didn't surprise me at all that he was very interested in codes and ciphers and it didn't really surprise me that he was recruited by GCHQ.

"He was definitely going to go into something like that with his brain."

Mr Williams graduated with a first class degree in maths from Bangor University at just 17 after beginning his university studies while at secondary school.

The university said in a statement it "was saddened to hear of his death and we extend our condolences to his family and friends at this very difficult time".

In 2000, he took a postgraduate certificate in mathematics at St Catharine's College, Cambridge.

Mr Williams was on a secondment to the secret intelligence service.

His body was discovered in his top floor flat in Pimlico, London on Monday.

Mr Williams' uncle, William Hughes, said his nephew never spoke about his work but he said he was "very, very talented".

Mr Hughes said: "He would never talk about his work and the family knew not to ask, really."

His father Ian, who works at Wylfa nuclear power station and lives in Valley, Anglesey, went to London after being told of the death, with his wife and daughter Ceri, who lives near Wrexham.

The police are understood to be looking into aspects of Mr Williams' personal life.

Keith Thompson, of Holyhead Cycling Club, said Mr Williams joined the club when he was 17.

He said: "I heard the news in a text message yesterday morning and it was a shock.

"We are totally devastated. He was a really lovely young man.

"Of course, once he moved to Cheltenham he joined the club there and we didn't see much of him."

Mr Thompson said he last saw Mr Williams at their meeting on Boxing Day.

Private life

"We were club mates but Gareth wasn't the sort to go the pub after a race so he didn't have any close friends in the group.

"I never spoke to him about his job or his private life. Nobody did with Gareth.

"It was his cycling that we knew about. He was known for being very good on hill races but a couple of times he won the club's 'best all-rounder' award."

He added they had cancelled a club event on Thursday and would be getting in touch with his family to offer their condolences.

Scotsman : Inside the secret life of British spook

Inside the secret life of British spook

By TOM PETERKIN AND MARK SMITH | August 26, 2010

THE Victorian splendour of the Pimlico flat where Gareth Williams' body was found in the most gruesome circumstances is in stark contrast to the spartan digs he inhabited while working in Cheltenham.

The sparse decor and modest kitchen of that Gloucestershire home is far removed from the two-storey flat within a five-storey townhouse in one of the most expensive parts of London.

Alderney Street, Pimlico, is also the home of two former home secretaries Michael Howard and Lord Brittan.

In Cheltenham, Mr Williams' flat with its single bed and small gas fire adjoins a property lived in by his landlady, Jenny Elliott. His bedsit is above the garage of Mrs Elliott's home and is conveniently close to the GCHQ complex.

Bereft of fancy furnishings, family portraits or homely touches, his digs give little clue about Mr Williams' background. Although the flat appears unsophisticated, it looks as if it has been tidied in anticipation of Mr Williams' return.

Yesterday Mrs Elliott said he had lived in a flat for 10 years and was preparing to return on 3 September.

"He phoned me a few weeks ago to say he was coming back," she said.

She described him as "a lovely guy, very friendly, very well-mannered and polite, and no trouble at all".

Mrs Elliott added: "He was often away. He went to America to work a lot and often combined it with a holiday because he hated flying."

Although a former Cambridge student, there was little in his background to suggest that Mr Williams would be a natural entrant into the world of spying.

He was brought up on Anglesey, attending Bodedern secondary school.

A talented pupil, he had extra tuition at both primary and secondary school before studying at Cambridge University.

He went to St Catharine's College to undertake a postgraduate certificate in mathematics in 2000 but dropped out a year later. His parents still live on Anglesey but it is understood they have been taken by police to London.

There have been a number of questions raised over the flat in Pimlico. The property was rented from a company called New Rodina, but details of the company ownership are hidden because it is registered in the British Virgin Islands and not listed with Companies House.

Land registry documents show only that the property was bought in 2000 with a mortgage from RBS.

Daily Post : Murdered MI6 spy Gareth Williams was from Anglesey

Murdered MI6 spy Gareth Williams was from Anglesey

by Eryl Crump, Daily Post | August 26, 2010

AN MI6 worker, whose body was found in a holdall at his central London flat, was born and raised on Anglesey.

Gareth Williams, 30, was discovered in the bath of the property in Pimlico, a short distance from the Secret Intelligence Service's headquarters.

Scotland Yard detectives immediately launched a murder investigation.

His parents, Ian and Ellen, who live in Valley near Holyhead, returned from holiday on Tuesday and were taken by police from Manchester Airport to London to identify their son’s body. His younger sister Ceri, who lives in the Wrexham area, is believed to have joined them.

They were still in London last night and other family members were comforting Mr Williams’ elderly grandparents.

Mr Williams’ uncle, Anglesey councillor William Hughes of Trefor near Bodedern, said he had a phone call on Tuesday morning to say the body had been found.

He said: “It was an enormous shock. I have been to see his grandparents and they cannot believe what has happened. We are all devastated.”

A former pupil at Ysgol Morswyn, Holyhead and Ysgol Uwchradd Bodedern, Mr Williams later studied Maths at Cambridge University.

“He was very, very talented but very quiet with it and didn’t mix a lot. He was very fond of cycling and always had his bike with him when he visited the island,” he said.

A former schoolfriend at Ysgol Uwchradd Bodedern said: “He was a really decent honest person, he was such a nice lad, quiet and hard working.

“You knew he was going places. He stood out because at every level at school he was so far ahead of everyone else in the class.”

Last night it emerged Mr Williams’ body may have been undiscovered for up to a fortnight before his colleagues raised the alarm.

Police broke down the door after attempts by the Foreign Office to locate him failed.

Mr Williams, who was employed as a communications officer at the GCHQ “listening post” in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, was on secondment to the MI6 Secret Intelligence Service.

He was due to return to Cheltenham next week after working in London for about a year.

Mr Hughes added: “We knew he worked for GCHQ.. He would never talk about his work and it felt rude to ask really.”

His Cheltenham landlady Jenny Elliott said he was preparing to return on September 3.

She described him as “a lovely guy, very friendly, very well-mannered”. She added: “He was often away. He went to America to work a lot and often combined it with holiday because he hated flying.”

Mr Williams’s London neighbours described him as “extremely friendly, athletic, with a strong Welsh accent.

A post-mortem examination carried out by a Home Office pathologist last night found he had not been stabbed as earlier thought. Further tests, including toxicological analysis of his blood for evidence of drugs and alcohol, will now take place.

Telegraph : Murdered British spy: a mathematical 'genius'

Murdered British spy: a mathematical 'genius'

August 26, 2010

A childhood friend of murdered spy Gareth Williams described him as academically gifted but socially naive today.


Dylan Parry, 34, said the GCHQ codes and cyphers expert was an isolated child fascinated by mathematics and computers.

Mr Parry, a volunteer at Westminster Cathedral, went to school with Mr Williams at Bodedern high school in Anglesey, North Wales.

He told the London Evening Standard that Mr Williams travelled to Bangor University every week aged 16 to study for a mathematics degree part-time.

He said: ''He was the kind of person who found it difficult to engage with people on a normal level.

''It was clear he was going to go far, but we all assumed he would end up in academia. Finding out he became a spy was a shock.''

Mr Parry added that his friend was someone ''people could easily take advantage of'', that he was ''naive'' and a poor judge of character.

A detailed picture of an athletic, intelligent and extremely private man was emerging today as police continue to hunt for Mr Williams' killer.

The spy died while on secondment to the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) from his work at Government Communications HQ (GCHQ) in Cheltenham.

Mr Williams attended Bodedern high school on Anglesey, before graduating with a first class mathematics degree from Bangor University aged 17.

He continued his studies with an elite course at St Catharine's College, Cambridge, but dropped out after apparently failing an exam.

The university is one of the traditional hunting grounds for recruiters looking for bright young things to join the intelligence community.

Mr William's father, Ian, works at Wylfa nuclear power station and only returned from holiday in Canada and America with his wife Ellen yesterday.

The couple, who live in Valley, Anglesey, went straight to London with their daughter, Ceri, who lives near Wrexham.

His mother's cousin William Hughes, an Anglesey councillor, said the victim worked for GCHQ, the government's so-called listening post, for ''many years''.

But he keep quiet regarding the actual nature of his work. ''He would never talk about it and it felt rude to ask,'' Mr Hughes said.

Jenny Elliott, his former landlady in Cheltenham, described Mr Williams as ''a lovely guy''.

She added that he was often sent overseas, spending much of this time in America, even though he disliked flying.

Residents close to his London address said Mr Williams was ''extremely friendly'' and was often seen on his racing bicycle.

They said his curtains were always drawn and it was difficult to tell if anyone was in his smart two-storey Pimlico flat.

Fellow members of the Cheltenham & Country Cycle Club said he turned up to race at events, often very successfully, but did not join in socially.

They described him as a quiet man who did not go to the pub, but was extremely polite and amiable.

UK Wired : MI6 worker Gareth Williams was an 'exceptional' pupil

MI6 worker Gareth Williams was an 'exceptional' pupil

August 26, 2010

More tributes have been paid to Gareth Williams, the MI6 worker whose body was discovered in a holdall in his London flat.

More tests are being carried out on the body of the 30-year-old from Anglesey after a post mortem proved inconclusive.

Metroplitan Police are treating his death as "suspicious and unexplained".

His maths teacher Geraint Williams said Mr Williams was an "exceptional" pupil

"He was probably not the best mathemitician I have seen, but the best logician.

"If you explained something once to Gareth he remembered it, you didn't have to explain it again," said Mr Williams, a teacher at Bodedern secondary school.

"It didn't surprise me at all that he was very interested in codes and cyphers and it didn't really surprise me that he was recruited by GCHQ.

"He was definitely going to go into something like that with his brain."

Mr Williams graduated with a first class degree in maths from Bangor University at just 17 after beginning his university studies while at secondary school.

The university said in a statement it "was saddened to hear of his death and we extend our condolences to his family and friends at this very difficult time".

"He would never talk about his work and the family knew not to ask, really”

He went to St Catharine's College Cambridge to undertake a postgraduate certificate in mathematics in 2000 but dropped out a year later.

Mr Williams was on a secondment to the secret intelligence service.

His body was discovered in his top floor flat in Pimlico, London on Monday.

Mr Williams' uncle, William Hughes, said his nephew never spoke about his work but he said he was "very, very talented".

Mr Hughes said: "He would never talk about his work and the family knew not to ask, really."

His father Ian, who works at Wylfa nuclear power station and lives in Valley, Anglesey, went to London after being told of the death, with his wife and daughter Ceri, who lives near Wrexham.

The police are understood to be looking into aspects of Mr Williams' personal life.

Keith Thompson, of Holyhead Cycling Club, said Mr Williams joined the club when he was 17.

He said: "I heard the news in a text message yesterday morning and it was a shock.

"We are totally devastated. He was a really lovely young man.

"Of course, once he moved to Cheltenham he joined the club there and we didn't see much of him.

Mr Thompson said he last saw Mr Williams at their meeting on Boxing Day.

Private life

"We were club mates but Gareth wasn't the sort to go the pub after a race so he didn't have any close friends in the group.

"I never spoke to him about his job or his private life. Nobody did with Gareth.

"It was his cycling that we knew about. He was known for being very good on hill races but a couple of times he won the club's 'best all-rounder' award."

He added they had cancelled a club event on Thursday and would be getting in touch with his family to offer their condolences.

Independent : Murdered spy 'gifted but socially naive'

Murdered spy 'gifted but socially naive'

By Chris Greenwood, PA | August 26, 2010

A childhood friend of murdered spy Gareth Williams described him as academically gifted by socially naive today.

Dylan Parry, 34, said the GCHQ codes and cyphers expert was an isolated child fascinated by mathematics and computers.

Mr Parry, a volunteer at Westminster Cathedral, went to school with Mr Williams at Uwchradd Bodedern secondary in Anglesey, North Wales.

He told the London Evening Standard that Mr Williams travelled to Bangor University every week aged 16 to study for a mathematics degree part-time.

He said: "He was the kind of person who found it difficult to engage with people on a normal level.

"It was clear he was going to go far, but we all assumed he would end up in academia. Finding out he became a spy was a shock."

Mr Parry added that his friend was someone "people could easily take advantage of", that he was "naive" and a poor judge of character.

A detailed picture of an athletic, intelligent and extremely private man was emerging today as police continue to hunt for Mr Williams' killer.

The spy died while on secondment to the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) from his work at Government Communications HQ (GCHQ) in Cheltenham.

Mr Williams attended Uwchradd Bodedern high school on Anglesey, before graduating with a first class mathematics degree from Bangor University aged 19.

He continued his studies with an elite course at St Catharine's College, Cambridge, but dropped out after apparently failing an exam.

The university is one of the traditional hunting grounds for recruiters looking for bright young things to join the intelligence community.

Mr William's father, Ian, works at Wylfa nuclear power station and only returned from holiday in Canada and America with his wife Ellen yesterday.

The couple, who live in Valley, Anglesey, went straight to London with their daughter, Ceri, who lives near Wrexham.

His mother's cousin William Hughes, an Anglesey councillor, said the victim worked for GCHQ, the government's so-called listening post, for "many years".

But he keep quiet regarding the actual nature of his work. "He would never talk about it and it felt rude to ask," Mr Hughes said.

Jenny Elliott, his former landlady in Cheltenham, described Mr Williams as "a lovely guy".

She added that he was often sent overseas, spending much of this time in America, even though he disliked flying.

Residents close to his London address said Mr Williams was "extremely friendly" and was often seen on his racing bicycle.

They said his curtains were always drawn and it was difficult to tell if anyone was in his smart two-storey Pimlico flat.

Fellow members of the Cheltenham & Country Cycle Club said he turned up to race at events, often very successfully, but did not join in socially.

They described him as a quiet man who did not go to the pub, but was extremely polite and amiable.

BBC : MI6 worker Gareth Williams' family 'devastated'

MI6 worker Gareth Williams' family 'devastated'

August 25, 2010

The family of an MI6 worker from Anglesey whose body was found in a holdall at his central London flat say they are devastated by the discovery.

Gareth Williams, 30, from Holyhead, may have been murdered up to two weeks ago.

A communication officer at GCHQ in Cheltenham, Mr Williams had been been living in London after a secondment to the secret intelligence service.

His uncle, William Hughes said: "He would never talk about his work and the family knew not to ask, really."

Mr Williams was brought up on Anglesey, attending Bodedern secondary school.

A talented pupil, he had extra tuition at both primary and secondary school before studying at Cambridge University.

He went to St Catharine's College to undertake a postgraduate certificate in mathematics in 2000 but dropped out a year later.

His parents still live on the island. It is understood they have been taken by police to London after returning from holiday.

William Hughes, who is an Anglesey councillor, said he had had a phone call on Tuesday morning to say that Mr Williams' body had been found.

He said: "It was a terrible shock. I could not believe it, that such a thing had happened."

Mr Hughes said his "very talented" nephew did not talk about his employment.

He added: "He had worked for GCHQ for many years and I knew he was working in London doing something but he would never talk about his work and the family knew not to ask really.

"He was very talented in his work. He must have been. We don't know what he was doing. He never spoke about it."

The alarm was raised by Mr Williams' colleagues on Monday after they had not seen him for some time.

When officers broke into his flat on Monday afternoon, they found Mr Williams' body in a sports bag, as well as his mobile phone and several SIM cards.

The authorities are playing down any speculation that Mr Williams' death was linked to his line of work at MI6.

A post mortem examination was unable to provide a cause of death and further tests are to take place.

A Metropolitan Police statement said: "Officers from the Homicide and Serious Crime Command (HSCC) are investigating, and are treating this as a suspicious and unexplained death."

Anyone with information is asked to call the incident room in Hendon on 020 8358 0200 or, anonymously, the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

UK Wired : MI6 worker Gareth Williams' family 'devastated'

MI6 worker Gareth Williams' family 'devastated'

August 25, 2010

The family of an MI6 worker from Anglesey whose body was found in a holdall at his central London flat say they are devastated by the discovery.

Gareth Williams, 30, from Holyhead, may have been murdered up to two weeks ago.

A communication officer at GCHQ in Cheltenham, Mr Williams had been been living in London after a secondment to the secret intelligence service.

His uncle, William Hughes said: "He would never talk about his work and the family knew not to ask, really."

Mr Williams was brought up on Anglesey, attending Bodedern secondary school.

A talented pupil, he had extra tuition at both primary and secondary school before studying at Cambridge University.

He went to St Catharine's College to undertake a postgraduate certificate in mathematics in 2000 but dropped out a year later.

His parents still live on the island. It is understood they have been taken by police to London after returning from holiday.

William Hughes, who is an Anglesey councillor, said he had had a phone call on Tuesday morning to say that Mr Williams' body had been found.

He said: "It was a terrible shock. I could not believe it, that such a thing had happened."

Mr Hughes said his "very talented" nephew did not talk about his employment.

Mr Williams' uncle said the MI6 worker never spoke about his work

He added: "He had worked for GCHQ for many years and I knew he was working in London doing something but he would never talk about his work and the family knew not to ask really.

"He was very talented in his work. He must have been. We don't know what he was doing. He never spoke about it."

The alarm was raised by Mr Williams' colleagues on Monday after they had not seen him for some time.

When officers broke into his flat on Monday afternoon, they found Mr Williams' body in a sports bag, as well as his mobile phone and several SIM cards.

The authorities are playing down any speculation that Mr Williams' death was linked to his line of work at MI6.

A post mortem examination was unable to provide a cause of death and further tests are to take place.

A Metropolitan Police statement said: "Officers from the Homicide and Serious Crime Command (HSCC) are investigating, and are treating this as a suspicious and unexplained death."

Anyone with information is asked to call the incident room in Hendon on 020 8358 0200 or, anonymously, the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.