Courier Mail : Forensic experts question MI6 body-in-bag theories five years after mystery death

Forensic experts question MI6 body-in-bag theories five years after mystery death

ROHAN SMITH | news.com.au | September 21, 2015

WHEN nobody had heard from Gareth Williams for seven days, alarm bells rang.

The maths genius, who graduated from university at just 17, had secrets — plenty of them — but no one was prepared for what they found. Five years on, experts still have trouble explaining it.

The MI6 spy’s life was a mystery covered up by the British government because his work was so secretive. But his death may end up being the greatest mystery of all, throwing up salacious theories involving sex games, cross-dressing and a hit planned and executed to perfection by the UK’s best trained spooks.

On August 23, 2010, colleagues told police they hadn’t seen 31-year-old Williams for a week. A welfare check led Scotland Yard to a disturbing scene at his immaculately-kept apartment in Pimlico, a small area of central London bound by the Thames.

In his home was a woman's wig, lipstick and makeup and a cutting from The Observer newspaper headlined "Top five regrets of the dying”.

In the bathroom they found his body, zipped inside a red and black duffel bag that had been padlocked from the outside and placed in the bath. Without a mark on him and no sign of a struggle, was it possible he got into the bag himself?

‘EVEN HOUDINI WOULD HAVE STRUGGLED’

Williams was a smart guy, no doubts about it.

Always ahead of the curve, he graduated with a first-class degree as a teen, completed his PhD at one of England’s top universities and scored a job he couldn’t talk about in the murky world of espionage — as a codebreaker for the British Secret Service.

But forensic investigator Peter Faulding says Williams would have had “to be Houdini” to have locked himself in a duffel bag the size of the one he was found in.

To prove the point, Mr Faulding tried to lock himself in the same bag, in the same bath, 300 times without success.

“I couldn’t say it’s impossible, but I think even Houdini would have struggled with this one,” Mr Faulding told UK newspaperThe Sun.

“The only way I could get myself into the bag was to lie on my back, put my shoulders and head in first, and bending my body at my stomach, pulling my knees up and pulling the bag over my body.

“I am used to confined spaces, and once I’m in that bag, it is a very unpleasant place to be.”

He said a person could only survive for 30 minutes inside the bag and is convinced Williams met with foul play. Others agree.

But if Williams was overpowered, his killers did not leave a scratch on his body. Coroner Fiona Wilcox said in 2010 that Williams showed no signs of injury or struggle and he was neither under the influence of drugs or alcohol in the week that he died.

The New York Times wrote in 2012 that Britain was “riveted” by the country’s “strangest real-life spy mystery”. Three years later the mystery endures. Without conclusive evidence, the theories continue to multiply, including fresh claims that the discovery of $43,000 worth of women’s designer clothes found in William’s wardrobe were not a personal peccadillo but all part of his work as a spy.

THE THEORIES

On the street, Gareth Williams was a keen cyclist with a clean-cut look and a good job. Inside his apartment, some say he was a different person altogether.

Among his collection of high-priced women’s clothes were wigs and underwear.

On his computer they found information that led some to the conclusion that his death was the result of a sex fetish.

According to police, Williams visited websites for people interested in bondage and claustophilia — a fetish whereby one derives sexual pleasure from being locked in tight spaces.

Detective Constable Simon Warren, investigating the case, said the websites were an “isolated incident among a sea of other data”.

Williams shaved his legs and kept a trim figure, leading some to believe he was a cross-dresser.

Mr Faulding, still on the case after all these years, said this week he was convinced Williams kept the clothes not for pleasure but for work: “The key question never asked was: ‘Were these clothes used for his job?’” he told The Sun.

“I am certain they were.”

The Sun in August broke news that Williams had, in the weeks before his death, hacked into US President Bill Clinton’s computer “as a favour to a friend”.

In doing so, Williams breached his security clearance and reportedly provoked the ire of his bosses at MI6.

The information gave weight to theories from early in the investigation suggesting Williams was killed by agents who not only did the deed but returned to cover their tracks.

The Daily Mail reported that forensic equipment placed at the crime scene was moved despite the building being under armed police guard. Scotland Yard concluded someone “must have scaled the building’s walls and broken in through the skylight to cover their tracks”.

CHILDHOOD SWEETHEART TELLS ALL

Williams’ life was a closely guarded secret but he did let one person in. Her name was Sian Lloyd-Jones and she was Williams’ childhood sweetheart and confidante.

In an interview in 2010, Lloyd-Jones said the man she knew was not the same person she was seeing portrayed in the media. She said the womens’ clothes he bought were for her and his sister.

“The person everyone talks about I don’t recognise him at all,” she told Mail on Sunday. “He was the complete opposite of everything that has been said about him. It’s been awful for everyone but particularly his family. They’re at breaking point, to be honest.”

She said Williams was a “lovely guy, a true, old school gentleman”.

“He had an excellent sense of humour and, from the bottom of my heart, he was the most charming, sensitive, gorgeous man. Truly, he was one in a million. He was somebody who really had a sound judgment for life.”

She said he was a workaholic but he was happy and content.

“He wasn’t a loner and he wasn’t lonely.”

Originally published as ‘Even Houdini would’ve struggled’

Scotsman : Gareth Williams inquest: The seven unanswered questions

Gareth Williams inquest: The seven unanswered questions

May 3, 2012

Scotland Yard has vowed to pursue all new evidence which has emerged. But a source close to the inquiry said officers were still “some way off a breakthrough”.

Here is how the inquest has tried but failed to solve the riddle.

Q: Were secret agents specialising in the “dark arts” responsible for Mr Williams’s death in his Pimlico home?

A: Detectives have said from the start that third-party involvement was likely.

The fact there were no fingerprints at all in the flat suggested it had been professionally cleaned up. There were also nine computer memory sticks and a bag withheld by MI6.

Det Supt Michael Broster said: “I am not saying that a member of SIS [MI6] is not involved. I don’t know.”

Q: How was Williams able to get inside a holdall in his bathtub before padlocking himself in?

A: Bag expert Peter Faulding said even world-famous escapologist Harry Houdini would have struggled to squeeze himself in.

Mr Faulding tried and failed to carry out the task more than 300 times. But William MacKay, who made more than 100 attempts with a yoga-practising assistant, said: “I would not like to say that it could not be done.”

Q: Could a third party have been present when he died, despite no trace of DNA or fingerprints?

A: Forensic experts said it was entirely possible that someone could break in and kill Mr Williams without leaving any evidence.

Det Insp Sebire says she remains convinced someone was there. Forensic expert Ros Hammond said there were hopes of a breakthrough “within a matter of weeks” from DNA tests on a towel discovered in his kitchen.

Q: Why was there no sign of a struggle on his body? Could he have been drugged?

A: Poisoning and asphyxiation are the “foremost contenders” in causing Mr Williams’ death, pathologists said. But experts believe there would have been signs of damage to his fingers and hands if he had struggled to get out of the bag within the three minutes it would have taken to suffocate.

The fact that Mr Williams was dead for up to ten days before his post-mortem examination meant many poisons and/or bruise marks could have disappeared.

Q: Why did it take colleagues at MI6 more than a week to realise he was missing?

A: MI6 offered a range of excuses including his recent return from a trip to Las Vegas, delays on the trains and his imminent return to GCHQ.

Colleagues apologised to the family for the potential damage the mistakes did to the police inquiry.

Q: Has information been withheld because it could jeopardise secret security operations?

A: Family lawyer Anthony O’Toole was blocked on several occasions from asking detectives and MI6 about the use of an apparently unvetted estate agent to let Mr Williams’s flat. Relatives suspect the decision may have compromised the safety of the property. In addition, more than ten employees linked to GCHQ and MI6 were allowed to give evidence behind a screen to protect their identities.

Q: Could Mr Williams’s private life have had any significance in his death?

A: He had shown an interest in escapology and self-bondage. He once tied himself to his bed and had to be cut free.

But Det Con Simon Warren said Williams’s interest in bondage footage on his computer was “an isolated [incident] among other data”.

Sky : Spy Death: The Evidence Behind The Theories

Spy Death: The Evidence Behind The Theories

May 2, 2012

Three general theories have been put forward to explain the death of MI6 spy Gareth Williams, with evidence to support each one.

:: Suicide

The theory that Mr Williams' chose to take his own life is perhaps the most prosaic explanation for his death and the inquest has heard evidence that suggested he was unhappy with his work.

He had passed an exam to become fully operational with MI6 just months before his death but his sister said he disliked office culture and the rat race - and had spoken of friction among colleagues.

One common theme throughout the inquest has been Mr Williams' prodigious intelligence, which saw him secure a first-class mathematics degree at the age of 17 before his eventual fast-tracking through the ranks at GCHQ.

Correlations have often been drawn between depression and the high levels of perfectionism evident in Mr Williams - an impression his intense fitness regime and pristinely tidy flat did little to dispel.

Irrespective of his state of mind, however, no-one has been able to fully explain how he would have been able to lock the bag his body was found in from the outside.

Stephen Gale, his boss at GCHQ's Cheltenham base, said Mr Williams stunned fellow intelligence specialists with his codebreaking talents when he landed his first job at 21.

"He was considered something of a prodigy and it was quite remarkable that he had achieved those levels of qualifications at such a young age," he said.

It could be argued that such outstanding achievement at such an early age could lead to the kind of listlessness later in life that can eventually develop into suicidal thoughts.

But Mr Williams' reputation as a "world-class" codebreaker may also give rise to the more outlandish theory that he took his own life while deliberately leaving an apparently inextricable riddle.

:: Accident

Mr Williams' interest in women's clothing - on which receipts showed he spent around £20,000 during 2008 and 2009 - has been among the most prominently-reported details of the case.

His curiosity with drag queen culture has also been a focus for the media, as has his apparent interest in bondage footage.

The inquest heard that in 2007, Mr Williams' landlord and landlady had to rescue him in the middle of the night after he apparently tied his wrists to the headboard of his bed to see if he could "get free".

Such revelations could contribute to a theory that Mr Williams' death was an accident, even the result of a sex game gone-wrong.

However, close friends say he never mentioned cross-dressing and he is only known to have been to see a drag act once.

Detective Constable Simon Warren also moved to quell speculation around the 31-year-old's private life, saying his interest in bondage footage on his computer was "an isolated (incident) among a sea of other data".

And it is not entirely inconceivable that a third party may have manufactured an image of someone with flamboyant personal habits in order to distract from a more sinister truth.

Indeed, this possibility was acknowledged by the coroner in her summing up, when she questioned whether leaks to the media about Mr Williams' cross dressing were attempts to manipulate evidence.

She pointed out that most of the women's clothes found would have been too small for him and said the lack of female underwear was "inconsistent".

Mr Williams was described as a cautious risk assessor by his sister, which the coroner said did not "square" with the suggestion of an interest in bondage.

:: Murder

Despite having no suspects, the police have said from the outset that they believe a third party was involved in Mr Williams' death.

Found naked, curled up in a padlocked North Face holdall in the bath of his flat in Pimlico, central London, bag experts have said that even renowned escapologist Harry Houdini would have struggled to lock himself in the bag.

One even tried and failed to carry out the task more than 300 times before saying they were "unbelievable scenarios".

Lawyers for his family have suggested "dark arts" of the secret services were responsible.

The recent emergence of the news that MI6 failed to hand over nine computer memory sticks from Mr Williams' office to Scotland Yard has done little to confound such claims.

Conspiracy theories are fuelled by the fact that the force's counter-terror SO15 branch, which has specialist security clearance and acted as a conduit between MI6 and the investigation team, only took three items from Mr Williams' office - his phone, some notes and a copy of his birth certificate.

Detective Superintendent Michael Broster, who was the main liaison from SO15, said: "I have seen no information or evidence that someone is involved. I am not saying that a member of SIS is not involved. I don't know."

Poisoning and asphyxiation are the "foremost contenders" in causing Mr Williams' death, pathologists said.

But experts believe there would have been signs of damage to his fingers and hands if he had struggled to get out of the bag within the three minutes it would have taken to suffocate.

The fact that Mr Williams was dead for up to 10 days before his post-mortem examination meant many poisons and/or bruise marks could have disappeared from his body.

Another matter to have attracted suspicion is MI6's failure to report his absence for more than a week after his disappearance.

Forensic experts hope ongoing DNA tests on a green towel discovered in his kitchen may still yield a breakthrough.

But given the assumed capabilities of MI6, the fact that no physical evidence has yet been found to establish the involvement of a third party is unlikely to halt speculation that secret service agents were to blame.

Sun : ‘Spy in bag' would need 'to be Houdini' to lock himself in holdall

‘Spy in bag' would need 'to be Houdini' to lock himself in holdall

By ALEX WEST | May 1, 2012

'SPY in the bag' Gareth Williams would have needed the skill of Harry Houdini to lock himself into the holdall in his flat, an inquest heard today.

The MI6 agent was either dead or unconscious when he was placed inside, experts believe.

Ex-para Peter Faulding said even world famous escapologist Houdini "would have struggled" to squeeze into the bag.

Cops discovered the naked decomposing body of the 31-year-old spy padlocked inside a red North Face holdall in the bath of his flat in Pimlico, London, on August 23, 2010.

Mr Faulding, a former Parachute Regiment reservist who specialises in rescuing people from confined spaces, made 300 unsuccessful attempts to lock himself inside an identical 81cm x 48cm bag.

He said: "I couldn't say it's impossible, but I think even Houdini would have struggled with this one."

The expert added: "My conclusion is that Mr Williams was either placed in the bag unconscious, or he was dead before he was in the bag."

He suggested it would have been "very easy" to fold the dead spy's arms and place him in the holdall as long as rigor mortis had not set in.

The inquest was shown a video of Mr Faulding trying to squeeze himself into the bag while it was in a bath of the same size as the one in Mr Williams' flat.

He flayed around, starting with his torso, then tucking his head in, and finally pulling his legs in one by one.

He said: "The only way I could get myself into the bag was to lie on my back, put my shoulders and head in first, and bending my body at my stomach, pulling my knees up and pulling the bag over my body."

Mr Faulding told the hearing it would have been "extremely hot" in the holdall and Mr Williams would only have been able to survive for a maximum of 30 minutes once he was inside.

He added: "I am used to confined spaces, and once I'm in that bag, it is a very unpleasant place to be."

But a second expert refused to rule out Mr Williams could not lock himself in the bag.

William MacKay and a yoga expert assistant tried more than 100 times to recreate the feat without success.

But he said it was possible that Mr Williams, a fitness-loving maths genius, died without a third party being present.

He told Westminster Coroner's Court: "I would not like to say that it could not be done.

"There are people around who can do amazing things and Mr Williams may well have been one of those persons."

Mr MacKay, who has previously worked with the military, suggested the spy would have needed extensive training to have pulled off the act in the middle of summer and in pitch darkness.

He said: "I think you could continue to work on this for a long period of time."

Video reconstructions played to the hearing showed Mr MacKay's assistant, of similar height and build to Mr Williams, curling his body inside the bag but then struggling to pull the zip shut.

Mr Williams' mountaineering experience would have given him an advantage as it would have strengthened his fingers, the inquest heard.

But Mr MacKay said: "It was very painful to do it. You tend to move the zip with your finger nails, straggling about.

"It was very frustrating, fiddly, you just can't get the thing together."

The expert said it was possible for someone locked inside the bag who wanted to get out to poke a small hole through the zip with their fingers.

This would give them more oxygen and allow them to unlock the padlock as long as they had the key.

He said: "There was an option of saving oneself."

Mr MacKay said the holdall was not airtight, and as long as the person inside did not panic they would be able to breathe for some time.

He said: "If the person was in the bag willingly, then I am tending more towards the heat side being a problem than the oxygen side.

"It depends on how calm you are in terms of oxygen intake."

The inquest heard that one way of getting into the holdall would be to use the "baggage handler's technique" employed by thieves to steal from locked luggage.

This involves breaking the zip apart with a pen, opening it as wide as possible, and then crawling inside and closing it again.

But in tests the zip did not close neatly, leaving a gap between the two ends, and became damaged.

Mr MacKay said it was "probably unlikely" that Mr Williams would have been able to do this successfully on his first attempt.

He said: "There are so many intricate things to do.

"If he hadn't been trained, he wouldn't have had lots of knowledge, it probably wouldn't have happened."

The inquest also heard today that video recovered from Mr Williams’ flat appears to show him dressed in nothing but black leather boots.

He “wiggles and gyrates” with his back to the camera in the footage found on a mobile phone by detectives.

The spy also kept pictures of drag queens on his computer and browsed self-bondage websites on his computers and phone.

He spent 50 per cent of his time online looking at “couture” women’s fashion and was looking at fetish websites days before his death.

Detective Constable Robert Burrows said some images showed “a model enclosed in plastic and using a vacuum cleaner to suck the air out”.

Det Con Burrows said film also “appears to show him being filmed from the back naked apart from a pair of leather boots”.

Describing the footage, Det Con Burrows said: “He walks up to the chair and stands directly behind the back of the chair.”

He appears to reach down and touch his boots before he “wiggles and gyrates his posture”.

He then turns towards the camera before walking out of view.

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.

Detective Constable Simon Warren said: “I would say that Gareth was keenly interested in ladies’ fashion but the very high end couture fashion.”

He said the bondage footage on his computer was “an isolated (incident) among a sea of other data”.

NZ Herald : Spy dead when locked inside bag: report

Spy dead when locked inside bag: report

April 28, 2012

The spy in the bag must have been dead or unconscious when he was locked into the holdall in which his body was found, an inquest heard yesterday.

An escapology expert tried and failed 300 times to lock himself into an identical bag after being hired to try to crack the mystery of Gareth Williams' death.

Peter Faulding said 'Harry Houdini would have struggled' to use the small brass travel padlock to seal himself inside, and someone else must have done it.

Mr Faulding, a former Parachute Regiment reservist, described theories that the reclusive MI6 codebreaker got into the North Face holdall by himself as 'unbelievable scenarios'.

His experiments appeared to be a key breakthrough in the riddle which has baffled Scotland Yard's most senior detectives. How Mr Williams died remains unknown. Mr Faulding's evidence came as details of material discovered on Mr Williams' laptops and mobile phones were revealed for the first time.

A short film on his work iPhone showed the 31-year-old wearing nothing but calf high leather boots, 'wriggling and gyrating' around a chair before bending over with his back to the camera.

Mr Williams had used other laptops to view fetish clothing websites and bondage and sadomasochism videos, as well as spending half his time on women's fashion sites and blogs.

Images he viewed on a French website showed a model enclosed in plastic using a vacuum cleaner to suck air out. Others were of people tied up with ropes.

Mr Faulding, a mine rescue specialist, was hired by police a month after the naked and decomposing body of Mr Williams was discovered in the bath in his flat in Pimlico, Central London, in August 2010.

The case sparked a blizzard of conspiracy theories, including claims Mr Williams was murdered by foreign spies or died in a sex game that went wrong.

Mr Faulding filmed himself attempting to get inside an identical heavy-duty holdall and lock himself in by threading a padlock through the eyelets of the zip.

Asked by coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox how many times he had tried, he replied 'probably 300'.

He said: 'I just cannot do it. This case, I just cannot get it off my mind. It is very difficult. I am an escapologist, I am thinking outside the box here and trying everything I can to find a way.'

Dr Wilcox added: 'With all your trials and failures do you think it would be impossible to padlock this bag from the inside?'

Mr Faulding replied: 'I cannot say it was impossible, but even Houdini would struggle.'

He said Mr Williams could not have survived for more than 30 minutes as the temperature quickly rose and oxygen levels dropped. Mr Faulding said he only lasted five minutes before becoming 'delirious' after zipping himself inside with emergency oxygen and a paramedic outside.

He said other evidence reinforced his belief that someone else was involved.

No fingerprints or DNA were found where Mr Williams would have placed his hands on the bath and it would have been difficult to put the key where it was found under his right buttock.

But Mr Faulding said it would have been 'easy' for one person to lift the sturdy bag carrying the body, into the bath.

This may have been done to catch leaking body fluids, while the bathroom door could have been closed to contain the smell of decomposition, he said.

'My conclusion is Mr Williams was placed in the bag unconscious or he was dead when he was put in the bag,' he added.

A second expert, William MacKay, said he and a yoga-practising assistant made more than 100 attempts to recreate the feat without success.

But he refused to rule out the possibility that Mr Williams locked himself inside, highlighting that the rock climbing, fell running spy was extremely fit and dextrous. Mr Williams' former landlady has already revealed she once found him tied to the posts of his bed after he shouted for help one night.

DC Simon Warren said the spy spent half of his time viewing haute couture fashion websites.

But a small amount of material revealed he also viewed websites about famous drag queens and niche sexual fetishes, including bondage.

The inquest has also heard how Mr Williams may have been at risk from blackmail after making illicit searches on the top secret MI6 database. But a senior official, known only as SIS F, said there was no evidence that he had been identified by hostile foreign agents, let along targeted.

The inquest continues next week.

- Daily Mail

BBC : MI6 officer inquest hears claim of third party role

MI6 officer inquest hears claim of third party role

April 27, 2012

A third party must have been involved in putting MI6 officer Gareth Williams in the padlocked bag in which his body was found, an expert witness believes.

Peter Faulding told Mr Williams's inquest he would have been dead within 30 minutes of being put in the holdall.

The body of Mr Williams, from Anglesey, was found in his London flat in 2010.

The inquest was shown footage of two experts' attempts in which they struggled to lock themselves in a bag - but neither ruled it out completely.

These tests have addressed the crucial question of whether Mr Williams, 31, could have locked himself in the holdall in his bath or if another person must have been involved.

Footage played at Westminster Coroner's Court showed Mr Faulding trying to get into the bag in an empty bath.

Mr Faulding said that he had tried and failed to lock the bag from inside 300 times.

"I couldn't say it's impossible, but I think even Houdini would have struggled with this one," he said.

"My conclusion is that Mr Williams was either placed in the bag unconscious, or he was dead before he was in the bag."

Mr Faulding added that he had really struggled to get himself in the bag in the first place, and had had his feet resting on the bath and tiles, and his hands on the side.

He told the court that Mr Williams could not have got into the bag unaided without leaving marks and footprints, none of which were found at the scene in the flat in Pimlico.

But William MacKay, who said his military career made him adept at working in confined spaces, told the inquest that locking the bag was a skill that would have required training but that once a person had done it, they could not get out.

Mr MacKay and an assistant failed in 100 attempts to lock the bag from inside, and caused damage to the zip.

But he would not rule out that it was possible, adding: "There are people around who can do amazing things and Mr Williams may well have been one of those persons."

BBC security correspondent Gorden Corera, at the inquest, said: "This leaves the likelihood, which the police say they have believed since the beginning, that someone else was involved."

Computers examined

Later on Friday the inquest heard from Det Con Simon Warren, the police officer who had examined Mr Williams's laptop computers, memory sticks, CDs and DVDs.

He said that no security-sensitive information had been found, and also that there was no evidence files had been amended since Mr Williams's death.

Det Con Warren went on to say that about half of the internet use on the computers had been in the area of women's high fashion, including handbags, cosmetics, belts and gloves.

In December 2010, police revealed that they had found £15,000-worth of unworn women's designer clothing in six boxes at Mr Williams's flat.

Officers also revealed at that time that Mr Williams had visited a drag cabaret in east London four days before his death and had tickets to two more.

Det Con Warren told the inquest that the computers had been used to visit bondage websites, but he said this browsing was isolated and did not suggest an ongoing, active interest.

Det Con Robert Burrows said that Mr Williams's phones also had bondage websites in their browsing history, while a smartphone found on a table contained no data because the factory settings had been restored.

Following the conclusion of evidence for the day, coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox indicated that she might deliver her verdict next Wednesday.

Mr Williams has previously been described as a "world class intelligence officer" by his former boss at the government listening agency GCHQ.

At the time he was found dead he had been on a three-year secondment with MI6 in London and wanted to return to his role at GCHQ, the inquest has heard.

UKPA : Video shows spy wearing only boots

Video shows spy wearing only boots

April 27, 2012

A video recovered from Gareth Williams's flat appears to show him dressed in nothing but black leather boots, the inquest into his death has heard.

He "wiggles and gyrates" with his back to the camera in the footage found on a mobile phone by detectives.

The MI6 spy also kept pictures of drag queens on his computer and browsed self-bondage websites on his computers and phone. He spent 50% of his time online looking at "couture" women's fashion and was looking at fetish websites days before his death.

In one record of him viewing self-bondage websites, images showed "a model enclosed in plastic and using a vacuum cleaner to suck the air out", Detective Constable Robert Burrows said.

Det Con Burrows said film also "appears to show him being filmed from the back naked apart from a pair of leather boots".

Describing the footage, Dec Con Burrows said: "He walks up to the chair and stands directly behind the back of the chair."

He appears to reach down and touch his boots before he "wiggles and gyrates his posture". He then turns towards the camera before walking out of view.

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.

Drag queen images saved on his computer include those of Jay Clarke and Jeffrey Star.

Detective Constable Simon Warren said: "I would say that Gareth was keenly interested in ladies' fashion but the very high end couture fashion." He said the bondage footage on his computer was "an isolated (incident) among a sea of other data".

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