Wales Online : Allegations about dead spy’s private life ‘a decoy’

Allegations about dead spy’s private life ‘a decoy’

by Carys Jones, Western Mail | January 24, 2011

A FORMER tutor of MI6 spy Gareth Williams yesterday claimed allegations about his sexuality and his private life were leaked as a decoy.

The 31-year-old from Anglesey was found dead in a padlocked sports bag in his central London flat last August.

Cheryl Eastap, who taught the GCHQ code-breaker on a part-time clothing design course in London, said suggestions from anonymous police and security sources that he was gay and a cross-dresser may have been made to make his death appear to be an accident rather than something more sinister.

Around £15,000 worth of designer women’s clothing was also found at his home, but Ms Eastap told a Sunday newspaper he may well have collected the outfits as many other fashions students do.

She said: “The police should not have leaked all these things about him.

“It was hurtful to his family and it was a decoy.”

Although the tutor said it was quite normal for fashion students to collect such items, she said Williams had not needed them for her course.

Despite a high-profile investigation into Mr Williams’s death, no one has yet been arrested or questioned as a suspect.

An inquest is due to take place next month.

Daily Mail : Body-in-bag spy's teacher says lurid police claims about his private life were a 'decoy'

Body-in-bag spy's teacher says lurid police claims about his private life were a 'decoy'

By Abul Taher | January 23, 2011

A former tutor of the MI6 spy found dead in a padlocked sports bag has claimed that lurid allegations about his private life were a ‘decoy’.

Cheryl Eastap said suggestions from anonymous police and security sources that Gareth Williams was gay and a cross-dresser – denied by his family and friends – were ‘hurtful’.

And she hinted that the leaks may have been made to make it appear that his death was an accident rather than something more sinister.

Ms Eastap taught the 31-year-old GCHQ code-breaker at Central St Martin’s College in London, where he completed a part-time course in clothing design weeks before his body was found at his flat.

‘The police should not have leaked all these things about him. It was hurtful to his family and it was a decoy. I don’t think he was gay or a cross-dresser. Maybe he collected dresses – fashion students do,’ she said, referring to the fact that £15,000 of designer costumes were found in Williams’s Central London flat.

Ms Eastap said Williams did not need the outfits for her course. ‘Students have to buy their own materials, but the dresses they found in his flat had nothing to do with my course. He did not need them.’

Although Williams’s body was found five months ago, no one has been arrested over his death or questioned as a suspect, despite a high-profile investigation by Scotland Yard, with the assistance of MI5 and MI6.

In the days after Williams’s body was discovered, lurid reports appeared quoting unnamed sources which alleged he was a secret homosexual who visited the capital’s gay bars.

The sources said bondage equipment was found in his Pimlico flat as well as telephone numbers for gay escorts. The claims were later officially denied by the Metropolitan Police.

But last month police revealed that they had found women’s clothing and wigs at his flat. They added that Williams visited bondage websites and had a ticket for a drag comedy night.

Last month The Mail on Sunday interviewed Williams’s childhood sweetheart Sian Lloyd-Jones, 33, who said Williams usually bought expensive dresses for her and his younger sister, Ceri.

Miss Lloyd-Jones said the dresses could not have been for Williams as they were too small for him, and that he would have told her or his sister if he was gay.

Ms Eastap also dismissed news¬paper reports last week that Williams might have locked himself in the North Face holdall as some kind of ‘homework’ for her course, which was exploring confined spaces.

A Scotland Yard spokesman declined to comment on whether the leaks came from police, MI5 or MI6. He added: ‘The investigation is ongoing.’

MSN [UK] : Did spy Gareth Williams die in bizarre art accident?

Did spy Gareth Williams die in bizarre art accident?

Eliot Sefton, thefirstpost.co.uk, January 16, 2011

In a theory which seems so totally bizarre it might just be true, police now believe MI6 officer Gareth Williams zipped himself into a holdall in the bath in his flat as research for an art project - but suffocated before he could get out again.

A GCHQ codebreaker on secondment to MI6, where his work made him privy to highly classified anti-terrorism material, Williams was found dead on August 23 last year in a government safe house where he had been living.

At least a week after he had last been seen alive, his body was discovered in a North Face holdall in the bath at his top-floor apartment in Pimlico, a short walk from MI6 headquarters.

Problematically for investigators, no cause of death could be determined. Theories about Williams's death have since ranged from polonium poisoning by foreign agents to bizarre sex games gone wrong.

Now, the Sunday Mirror says, police have come up with the strangest theory yet.

Investigation of Williams's laptop revealed he had paid £695 to join a 10-week part-time course at Central St Martin's College in London titled Fashion Design for Beginners.

St Martin's is an illustrious place to study fashion, with alumi among the world's top designers, including Alexander McQueen, John Galliano and Stella McCartney - so it is evident that the thorough codebreaker had done his research and was serious about the course.

The fashion course also explains the presence of £15,000-worth of designer dresses, including some by Stella McCartney, and pairs of shoes in Williams's flat. It had earlier been claimed he was a cross-dresser - though the clothes were still wrapped.

Police also discovered Williams had visited bondage websites on his laptop. The new theory suggests there may have been no sexual motive for this.

A police source told the newspaper: "He had also visited websites linked to bondage although he may have simply been looking up ways to lock himself up and then unlock himself."

Why? Because, police believe, he had been given a project by his St Martin's tutor titled 'Living Spaces'.

They now think the holdall may have been an attempt by Williams to research a project on exactly how little living space it is possible to exist in - research that went horribly wrong when the fit 31-year-old found himself trapped and suffocated in the August heat.

The theory is so bizarre it's tempting to believe it: and it certainly should provide comfort for Williams's family, who have made public their dismay at the suggestion he was leading secret double life as a cross-dressing, gay, bondage enthusiast.

Williams's close friend Sian Lloyd-Jones said last month: "It would have been fine [by us] if he was [gay] but he had too much ­interest in women.

"He was really open with his friends and family about his ­personal life and I truly believe if he had any interest in homosexuality he would have spoken to his sister and to me as well."

But at least one person close to story seems to find the new theory less than convincing: Williams's fashion tutor, Cheryl Eastap. She told the newspaper: "The police did come to see me.

"The idea that his death and his work on the course was linked is a crazy idea that the police dreamed up. They said it might relate to it but I can’t see how it relates at all."

And security analysts reacted with extreme scepticism to the suggestion that Williams could have zipped himself into the holdall when it was first mooted in September. At the time it was thought he had zipped himself in for sexual reasons.

But if the theory is bunk, where did it come from? Could it be a clumsy attempt to atone to Williams's family and friends for the earlier slurs - while the truth of his death remains an espionage-shrouded mystery?

Mirror : MI6 spy death could be bizarre art course accident

MI6 spy death could be bizarre art course accident

By Susie Boniface, Sunday Mirror | January 16, 2011

MI6 spy Gareth Williams – whose body was found naked in a padlocked bag – may have died while taking part in a bizarre experiment for an art project.

Police now believe the codebreaker could have accidentally killed himself while doing research for a part-time art and fashion course after being set an assignment entitled Living Spaces.

In the weeks before his death it is feared he was trying to push the ­boundaries by existing in a confined space.

The development would come as a comfort to Gareth’s family, who have endured months of speculation that he was secretly gay, indulged in bizarre sex games and was a cross-dresser.

The superfit maths genius, 31, had joined a weekend class at prestigious Central St Martin’s College in London to learn about clothes design.

Gareth’s body lay undiscovered for more than a week in a padlocked North Face holdall in the bath of an MI6 safe house in Pimlico, central London, where he was living.

It has now emerged that, in marked contrast to his work in the staid world of the secret services, he paid £695 to enrol on a part-time course run by ­lecturer and designer Cheryl Eastap called Fashion Design for Beginners.

Every Saturday he cycled or took the Tube three stops to join 17 other students from 10am to 4pm on the intensive 10-week course.

The college’s list of illustrious ­graduates reads like a Who’s Who of British art and fashion including punk maverick Malcolm McLaren, designers ­Alexander McQueen, John Galliano and Stella McCartney, whose clothes Gareth collected.

Gareth also enrolled on an arts evening class as part of a secret life away from ­being a spy.

The macabre discovery of his body prompted a massive police inquiry in which murder or ­manslaughter were two prominent theories.

But officers are now working on the basis that the death was a bizarre ­accident NOT related to a sex game – and was not foul play.

A source close to the investigation said: “Gareth was exceptionally ­talented at what he did and took it very ­seriously. Alongside cycling, fashion and art was a big obsession of his.

“It was typical of Gareth to throw everything he had into a project so certainly one avenue we are now ­looking at is whether he was experimenting with his art work. It would make a lot of sense.

“We’re still looking at whether anyone else was there at the time of his death and continue to appeal for more ­information, but it is looking more like a tragic, freak accident than a ­murder.”

The spy’s death posed awkward ­problems for police because his body had no sign of injury and post-mortems found no cause of death.

His blood was checked for poisons and he was even checked for exposure to radioactive elements such as ­Polonium-210, which was used to ­assassinate former Russian spy ­Alexander Litvinenko.

Gareth, from Holyhead, Anglesey, had been living at the £1million flat while on secondment to MI6.

He was working on encrypted ­computer systems used to analyse ­international intelligence on suspects ranging from al-Qaeda to cyber-terrorists attacking the banking system. As they investigated his death, ­detectives searched his belongings and found £15,000 of untouched women’s ­designer clothes and shoes, still in their wrapping, from high-end labels including Diane von Fürstenberg, Christian Louboutin and Stella McCartney.

His laptop computer had been used to access websites linked to bondage ­practices and there were unfounded reports that £18,000 had gone missing.

A man and woman of “Mediterranean appearance” were also hunted after being seen entering the building but have never been found, causing some to suggest they were either agents of a foreign power sent to kill Gareth or involved in sex games with him.

It was discovered that it was possible for someone of Gareth’s size and trim build to climb into the bag and padlock the zip shut from inside.

The source said the laptop, on which Gareth stored his coursework, led them to quiz his college tutor Cheryl Eastap about the module she was teaching and whether her pupil might have gone beyond the boundaries of what was expected. It hasn’t been suggested Ms Eastap instructed her students to take part in any dangerous experiments.

The police source added: “It’s most likely he was using the dresses as part of his studies, rather than being a cross-dresser. He had also visited websites linked to bondage although he may have simply been looking up ways to lock himself up and then unlock himself.”

One of the fellow pupils on Gareth’s course said the spy was not known to be gay and had a series of girlfriends.The student added: “Gareth was ­passionate about clothes and everyone assumed this is what he wanted to do as a career.

“No-one knew he was a spy or ­working for MI6 but he was very polite and quiet. He was extremely clever, good at what he was doing and had clearly ­researched his subject.

“The police came to the college and took all the work he had produced for the course and any projects he was involved in.”

The brochure for the course says: “We will cover the basics of fashion design including inspiration, ­research, developing your ideas, figure illustration and portfolio preparation.”

Ms Eastap confirmed she had been questioned by police over the ­possible links between his death and a project called Living Spaces.

However, she insisted the death must have been caused by ­something, or someone, else.

She said: “The police did come to see me. The idea that his death and his work on the course was linked is a crazy idea that the police dreamed up. They said it might relate to it but I can’t see how it relates at all.”

Last month Sian Lloyd-Jones, Gareth’s childhood sweetheart and best friend, said he often bought her designer clothes and that all those found in his flat were a size 6 or 8. They would not have fitted him but may have been intended for her or his ­sister.

She added: “He was really open with his friends and family about his ­personal life and I truly believe if he had any interest in homosexuality he would have spoken to his sister and to me as well.

“I’m not in denial and nor are ­Gareth’s mum, dad or sister. It would have been fine if he was but he had too much ­interest in women.”

s.boniface@sundaymirror.co.uk

Montreal Gazette : Dead male, British spy owned wardrobe of women's clothes

Dead male, British spy owned wardrobe of women's clothes

By Duncan Gardham, Daily Telegraph | December 23, 2010

A British spy whose naked body was found padlocked in a sports bag had been visiting bondage websites and drag clubs and had $25,000 collection of women's clothing, police have disclosed.

Officers investigating the death of Gareth Williams, a code-breaker who was on secondment to MI6, have released details of his unusual private life and explained the extraordinary riddle that surrounds his death.

While the death is officially described as "suspicious" rather than murder, officers also released photos of a Mediterranean couple who visited the apartment a few weeks later and let themselves in with a key.

Detective Chief Superintendent Hamish Campbell, the head of Scotland Yard's murder squad, said he was aware that the details would be "embarrassing, hurtful and distressing" for Williams's family but said they supported the appeal for anyone who had encountered him in the nightclubs, online or at women's clothing shops to come forward.

"We are very sure that someone else was in that flat.

"We want to know the circumstances when you would leave somebody in that position, by accident or design," he said.

Detective Chief Inspector Jacqueline Sebire, who is leading the inquiry, described Williams, 31, from Anglesey in Wales, as an "intensely private person" who kept his way of life hidden from friends and family.

His body was found in a red North Face bag on Aug. 23 after he failed to turn up to work at MI6's headquarters in London.

Inside his flat in central London, police found half a dozen boxes with neatly folded, apparently unused women's designer clothing and shoes, along with a number of wigs.

The clothing had been bought online and in London's West End, starting in 2008 and up until a few weeks before Williams died.

They were in small sizes that would have fit Williams, who was five-foot-eight and weighed around 126 pounds.

The labels included Stella McCartney, Christopher Kane and Christian Louboutin shoes, and the collection came to around $25,000.

Williams was not in debt, police said, and there were no signs that unaccounted for sums of money had been paid in to or left his bank account.

Unknown to his family and colleagues, Williams had attended two short courses in fashion design, one in 2010 and one in 2009.

Examination of his personal laptop and personal mobile phone showed that he had visited five separate bondage websites, beginning with a search on the online encyclopedia site Wikipedia and followed up with specialist bondage websites.

Keys to the padlock on the sports bag in which Williams was discovered were lying underneath the spy's naked body, police say.

An expert on rescuing people from confined spaces told investigators it would be impossible to lock the North Face bag from the inside.

© Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal

Express : BONDAGE GAMES CLUE TO SPY GARETH WILLIAMS DEATH

BONDAGE GAMES CLUE TO SPY GARETH WILLIAMS DEATH

by John Twomey | December 23, 2010

SPY Gareth Williams led a secret double life as a women’s fashion designer and visited bondage websites shortly before he died, police revealed yesterday.

The MI6 codebreaker passed two courses in fashion design at a prestige college and had a collection of women’s designer clothes and shoes worth £15,000.

Much of the clothing was still in boxes and none had been worn, Scotland Yard said. He had also bought women’s wigs.

Mr Williams, 31, was found dead inside a zipped and padlocked sports holdall in his top floor flat in Pimlico, London, on August 23. He is believed to have died on August 16.

Despite the female clothing and the occasional visits to gay bars, police have found no evidence that he was homosexual.

But they have discovered Mr Williams had an interest in bondage.

Checks on his personal laptop computer and his four mobile phones have revealed he occasionally logged on to bondage websites.

Mr Williams was found naked. The padlock keys were inside the red North Face bag, which was in the bath.

Detectives are certain that someone else was with Mr Williams when he got into the bag.

It is impossible to zip up and lock the holdall from the inside, or to escape without help.

Detective Chief Inspector Jacqueline Sebire said: “We want that person to come forward and talk to us.”

Police are still trying to trace a young Mediterranean couple who called at Mr Williams’s flat in the weeks before his death and yesterday they released e-fits of the pair.

The pair were let into the communal hallway and said they had a key to the spy’s flat.

It is not known whether Mr Williams was in at the time – or even if they went inside.

The couple, said to be in their 20s, spoke to a neighbour and said they had got the key from someone called “Pier Paulo.”

Neither Mr Williams’s fashion design studies or his fetish for bondage was known to his MI6 spymasters or his family.

The exact cause of death is still unknown, although suffocation is the most likely explanation.

An expert in confined spaces, who was locked inside a similar bag, found the temperature soared to 30C in three minutes.

After half-an-hour, the oxygen level in the bag, which is made of thick, weatherproof material, became dangerously low. DCI Sebire said: “Expert evidence is that it is not possible to lock yourself inside without assistance, or unlock yourself once you’re in the bag.”

Speaking about the website visits, DCI Sebire said: “It was very limited sections of time. It is not like continual browsing.

“It was not every evening or weekend. The sites primarily feature women.”

Mr Williams, who worked for the government listening post GCHQ and was on secondment to MI6, studied fashion design at Central St Martins College in London.

He was awarded diplomas after passing beginners’ courses this year and last year.

Police have spoken to fellow students, but want to hear from anyone who knew him at college or through his interest in fashion. They also want to speak to anyone who met Williams when he visited a drag queen cabaret at the Bistrotheque in Bethnal Green, east London, on August 13.

He had tickets for similar shows at a gay pub in Vauxhall, south London, for dates after his death.

DCI Sebire said: “We do not have any evidence to suggest that he was gay.

“We have not spoken to any past or present sexual partner, whether male or female.

“We know he was intensely private, and however difficult this might be for someone who has had any interaction with Gareth, it would really help us if they came forward so we know if that side of his life had any relevance to his death.”

Anyone with information should call the incident room on 020 8358 0200.

Callers who wish to remain anonymous can ring Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Edmonton Journal : Dead male, British spy owned wardrobe of women's clothes

Dead male, British spy owned wardrobe of women's clothes

By Duncan Gardham, Daily Telegraph | December 23, 2010

A British spy whose naked body was found padlocked in a sports bag had been visiting bondage websites and drag clubs and had $25,000 collection of women's clothing, police have disclosed.

Officers investigating the death of Gareth Williams, a code-breaker who was on secondment to MI6, have released details of his unusual private life and explained the extraordinary riddle that surrounds his death.

While the death is officially described as "suspicious" rather than murder, officers also released photos of a Mediterranean couple who visited the apartment a few weeks later and let themselves in with a key.

Detective Chief Superintendent Hamish Campbell, the head of Scotland Yard's murder squad, said he was aware that the details would be "embarrassing, hurtful and distressing" for Williams's family but said they supported the appeal for anyone who had encountered him in the nightclubs, online or at women's clothing shops to come forward.

"We are very sure that someone else was in that flat.

"We want to know the circumstances when you would leave somebody in that position, by accident or design," he said.

Detective Chief Inspector Jacqueline Sebire, who is leading the inquiry, described Williams, 31, from Anglesey in Wales, as an "intensely private person" who kept his way of life hidden from friends and family.

His body was found in a red North Face bag on Aug. 23 after he failed to turn up to work at MI6's headquarters in London.

Inside his flat in central London, police found half a dozen boxes with neatly folded, apparently unused women's designer clothing and shoes, along with a number of wigs.

The clothing had been bought online and in London's West End, starting in 2008 and up until a few weeks before Williams died.

They were in small sizes that would have fit Williams, who was five-foot-eight and weighed around 126 pounds.

The labels included Stella McCartney, Christopher Kane and Christian Louboutin shoes, and the collection came to around $25,000.

Williams was not in debt, police said, and there were no signs that unaccounted for sums of money had been paid in to or left his bank account.

Unknown to his family and colleagues, Williams had attended two short courses in fashion design, one in 2010 and one in 2009.

Examination of his personal laptop and personal mobile phone showed that he had visited five separate bondage websites, beginning with a search on the online encyclopedia site Wikipedia and followed up with specialist bondage websites.

Keys to the padlock on the sports bag in which Williams was discovered were lying underneath the spy's naked body, police say.

An expert on rescuing people from confined spaces told investigators it would be impossible to lock the North Face bag from the inside.

© Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal

Daily Mail : Did MI6 spy found dead in zipped-up bag die in sex game with this couple? Police reveal agent liked drag clubs and bondage websites

Did MI6 spy found dead in zipped-up bag die in sex game with this couple? Police reveal agent liked drag clubs and bondage websites

By Daily Mail Reporter | December 23, 2010

* Lead detective convinced someone else was involved
* Police reveal e-fits of mystery couple who visited his flat
* £15,000 of designer women's clothes in wardrobe

Murder detectives investigating the death of an MI6 spy found naked in a padlocked bag have released e-fits of a couple they wish to question.

The life-like pictures show a man and woman, possibly of Mediterranean appearance, who were seen calling at the flat of 31-year-old codes expert Gareth Williams before his death on August 23.

Officers also released further intimate details about the dead man’s bizarre and secretive private life in the hope it will prompt someone who knew him to come forward.

Examination of his laptop computers and four mobile phones have revealed that Mr Williams had visited five bondage websites.

The sites – including one called Art of Constriction – were not pornographic but would give readers advice on how to get into confined spaces and escaping from them.

Mr Williams, who grew up in Holyhead on the Isle of Anglesey, had worked for government listening post GCHQ in Cheltenham for ten years but was on a year’s secondment to MI6 in London when he died.

He loved film, music and theatre and went to see a comedy drag act show a few nights before his death.

Officers also found tickets for more drag shows, at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern, a gay venue in Vauxhall close to MI6 headquarters, for the following weekend.

Intriguingly, he had also bought £15,000 worth of women’s designer clothes and shoes, including labels such as Stella McCartney and Christian Louboutin.

All were stored unopened in their bags and boxes in his flat. A number of women’s wigs were also found.

Who are they? Police released e-fits of a couple seen visiting Mr Williams' flat

Unbeknown to his family or work colleagues, Mr Williams – a child maths prodigy who had completed his A-levels by 13 and degree by 17 – had attended several fashion design courses for beginners.

The evening and weekend courses lasted six to eight weeks and the spy had earned diplomas from respected Central St Martin’s College of Art, London.

Officers have found no evidence to suggest Mr Williams was gay and have yet to discover any sexual partners, either male or female.

Detective Chief Superintendent Hamish Campbell, deputy head of Scotland Yard’s murder squad, said it had been a ‘difficult decision’ to disclose the private details and he was concerned about upsetting Mr Williams’s parents Ian and Ellen and his sister, Ceri.

He said: ‘This is not intended to add salacious detail or tittle-tattle. We feel there is some small sub-group of the community or individuals who may know something about the nature of Gareth’s death.’

Mr Campbell added that investigators were sure that someone else involved with the bondage or gay scene had ‘linked in’ with Mr ­Williams but police could not ‘find that trace’.

He said: ‘We are very sure that someone else was in that flat. We want to know the circumstances when you would leave somebody in that position, by accident or design.’

Police continue to describe the death as ‘suspicious and unexplained’.

One theory is that Mr Williams died in a sex game which went wrong, but so far officers have unearthed no other cases of people being locked in bags for sexual gratification.

They believe Mr Williams’s death is likely to be connected to his ­private life but cannot rule out that he might have been assassinated in connection with his work.

Detectives confirmed that the spy must have been padlocked in the large North Face holdall by one or more people and could not have locked himself in.

His naked body was found curled up on his back with his knees bent and hands on his chest. A set of keys for the Yale travel padlock were at the bottom of the bag, which was in his empty bath.

Police believe the bag belonged to Mr Williams, a cycling fanatic and keen mountain climber.

The couple in the e-fit pictures called at his flat in Alderney Street, Pimlico, London, at about 10pm one Friday or Saturday in late June or July.

They were let into the communal entrance by a neighbour. It is not known if Mr Williams was in at the time.

A post-mortem examination has been inconclusive and one possibility is that Mr Williams suffocated.

A police ‘confined spaces’ expert said the temperature inside the waterproof bag would have reached 86f (30c) within three minutes, making Mr Williams very woozy.

There would have been enough oxygen in the bag to sustain him for around half an hour, the expert said.

The inquest is due to be held on February 15.

Mirror : MI6 spy Gareth Williams visited bondage websites and owned £15k women's designer clothes collection

MI6 spy Gareth Williams visited bondage websites and owned £15k women's designer clothes collection

December 22, 2010

Mystery death spy Gareth Williams visited a series of bondage websites in the months before his death, police revealed today.

The 31-year-old MI6 codebreaker viewed sites showing people bound and tied, which included do-it-yourself guides.

Detectives also found a £15,000 collection of unworn women's designer clothing, including tops, dresses and shoes in his wardrobe.

They revealed he visited a drag cabaret in east London four days before his death and held tickets to two more.

One witness has also come forward to say he was at a popular gay bar in Vauxhall several months before his death.

Mr Williams's decomposing body was found in a padlocked holdall in the bath of his Pimlico flat on August 23. The keys were inside.

Detective Chief Inspector Jackie Sebire, who is leading the inquiry, said she is convinced someone else helped put him in there.

She said police believe they will get to the bottom of the intensely private spy's death by studying his private life.

Speaking at New Scotland Yard today, she said: "We remain completely open-minded about how he died.

"We are appealing today to someone who is out there to come forward and tell us more."

The GCHQ code-breaker, who had been on secondment to the spy agency, was found dead by police after concerns were raised for his welfare.

The mysterious circumstances of Mr Williams's death sparked an international frenzy of speculation.

No evidence of drugs, alcohol or poisons were found during a battery of tests conducted by toxicologists.

Mrs Sebire revealed that police have forensic evidence that other people were in the flat, whom they have not been able to trace.

She added that an expert, brought in to examine the red North Face holdall Mr Williams was found in, concluded he could not have locked it.

The zip was held shut by a common travel-style Yale padlock through holes in two zip fasteners.

Tests found the temperature inside the bag would have risen to 30C within three minutes.

An expert on survivability in confined spaces from the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) said he would have suffocated in 30 minutes. Mrs Sebire said Mr Williams probably died in the early hours of August 16, one week before he was found.

She said there was no sign of injury, apart from bruising to his elbows, which might have taken place some time before his death.

Police also released two e-fits of a couple who said they were visiting Mr Williams's Alderney Street home in late June or July.

The casually-dressed Mediterranean couple, in their twenties, were buzzed through the communal entrance by another resident.

They suggested they had been given a key by "Pierre Palo" and were on their way to flat four.

Mr Williams, of Anglesey, North Wales, was last seen alive on August 15, eight days before he was found dead in the £400,000 property.

Speaking about his private life, Mrs Sebire said a collection of six boxes of unworn designer clothing were found in a wardrobe.

She said items by Stella McCartney, Christopher Kane, and Louboutin had been bought at London boutiques and online.

The senior detective said the clothing was in various sizes, all small, and a number of women's wigs were also found.

Mrs Sebire said Mr Williams attended two fashion design courses at Central St Martins College, in Clerkenwell, in 2009 and 2010.

She revealed that GCHQ did not know Mr Williams had undertaken the courses or that he had an interest in fashion.

The detectives said it was possible the clothing was linked to the diploma courses for beginners, which Mr Williams had passed.

They were evening or weekend classes which lasted between six and eight weeks.

None of the clothing had been worn or hung up. Buttons were done up and items were still wrapped in paper.

Mrs Sebire said analysis of Mr Williams's phones and laptops revealed he visited no more than five bondage websites.

Speaking about his private life, Mrs Sebire said a collection of six boxes of unworn designer clothing were found in a wardrobe.

She said items by Stella McCartney, Christopher Kane, and Louboutin had been bought at London boutiques and online.

The senior detective said the clothing was in various sizes, all small, and a number of women's wigs were also found.

Mrs Sebire said Mr Williams attended two fashion design courses at Central St Martins College, in Clerkenwell, in 2009 and 2010.

She revealed that GCHQ did not know Mr Williams had undertaken the courses or that he had an interest in fashion.

The detectives said it was possible the clothing was linked to the diploma courses for beginners, which Mr Williams had passed.

They were evening or weekend classes which lasted between six and eight weeks.

None of the clothing had been worn or hung up. Buttons were done up and items were still wrapped in paper.

Mrs Sebire said analysis of Mr Williams's phones and laptops revealed he visited no more than five bondage websites.

The detective said there was evidence that Mr Williams viewed the sites occasionally from the end of last year onwards.

But she added there was no evidence that he was "obsessed" with bondage and no other pornography was found.

Mrs Sebire also said no bondage paraphernalia or equipment was found in the flat.

Describing his online bondage habits, she said Mr Williams spent between 30 minutes and an hour on the sites.

Mrs Sebire said: "It was very limited sections of time. It is not like continual browsing. It was not every evening or weekend."

She added: "The sites primarily feature women and there are guides on how to do certain things."

He last visited an online bondage website in July.

Mrs Sebire said that despite the women's clothing, possible visit to the gay bar and drag act tickets, police do not know for certain that Mr Williams was gay.

She said: "We do not have any evidence to suggest that he was gay. We have not spoken to any past or present sexual partner, whether male or female.

"We know he was intensely private, and however difficult this might be for someone who has has any interaction with Gareth, it would really help us if they came forward so we know if that side of his life had any relevance to his death."

Speaking about how Mr Williams ended up in the bag, Mrs Sebire said an expert found it is "quite easy" to fit someone inside.

She said: "If he was alive, he got into it voluntarily or, if not, he was unconscious and placed in the bag."

Speaking about the flat, she added: "There is forensic evidence that indicates the presence of other people that we have not been able to eliminate yet."

Mrs Sebire said there was no evidence Mr Williams was suicidal and he had recently returned from a fly-drive holiday to America's west coast.

Police said there were no signs of forced entry or a struggle at the top-floor flat, which was rented through a letting agency.

None of his possessions were laid out in a "ritualistic" manner, contrary to reports.

Mr Williams had a laptop and four mobile phones, including at least one pay-as-you go handset.

The death remains suspicious and unexplained and no conclusive cause of death has been found.

An inquest will be held at Westminster Coroner's Court on February 15.

Mr Williams returned from the United States on August 11 and attended Bistroteque, in Bethnal Green, on Friday August 13.

Police said the restaurant, bar and theatre venue hosted Jimmy Woo, a drag cabaret act that night and the spy went alone.

Others who were at the event have told police Mr Williams chatted amicably with members of the audience.

Mr Williams also held two tickets for drag shows at the Vauxhall Tavern, a landmark pub in the gay nightlife area, that took place after his death.

A witness has also come forward to say he saw Mr Williams at Barcode, a gay bar in Vauxhall, in May.

Detective Chief Superintendent Hamish Campbell said police hope that revealing some details of Mr Williams' private life may encourage people to come forward.

He said: "This is not intended to add salacious detail or tittle-tattle.

"We feel there is some small sub-group of the community or individuals who may know something about this matter and the nature of Gareth's death.

"They are naturally embarrassing, hurtful and distressing for the family but they are aware of the matters we are raising."

Mr Campbell added that investigators are sure someone else involved with the bondage or gay scene has "linked in" with Mr Williams but police "cannot find that trace".

He said: "We are very sure that someone else was in that flat. We want to know the circumstances when you would leave somebody in that position, by accident or design."

He added: "Maybe, by explaining to the public, someone will think: 'I get it and I can explain."'

This Is London : Spy in bag: Police seek mystery couple, MI6 man used bondage websites

Spy in bag: Police seek mystery couple, MI6 man used bondage websites

Justin Davenport, Crime Editor | December 22, 2010

Police revealed dramatic details today about the bizarre death of an MI6 spy found in a sports bag - and appealed for help to find a mystery couple who may hold vital clues.

Scotland Yard issued the first images of a man and woman who could make clear how Gareth Williams died.

The couple visited the spy's Pimlico flat several weeks before his decomposing body was found, on August 23, in the bath inside a zipped and padlocked North Face bag. Detectives also revealed:

* The 31-year-old codebreaker had a collection of designer dresses and shoes worth £15,000 in his flat. The clothes by Stella McCartney and Christopher Kane, and Louboutin shoes, appeared unworn, with many still in wrappings.

* He was almost certainly not alone when he died and had bruised elbows, possibly as he tried to escape from the bag. A pair of keys to the padlock were inside under his body.

* He had visited five bondage websites since last year. No pornography was found in the flat. He visited a comedy drag night at a club called Bistrotheque in Mile End on August 13.

* He had passed two fashion design courses at Central Saint Martins.

* He had four mobile phones including some that were pay-as-you-go.

Tests have been unable to explain how Mr Williams died. One theory is that he may have been the victim of a sex game that went wrong.

Police told how they employed a specialist to climb into the North Face holdall and re-enact events that might have led to his death. He found it was impossible to shut the bag and padlock it from inside without help. It was also impossible to unlock the bag from inside on his own.

The mystery couple called at the flat in Alderney Street in June or July. They buzzed the outside door and were let in by a woman on the ground floor. They told her they were visiting flat 4 — Mr Williams's — and had their own key, given to them by someone called “Pier Paulo”, or a similar name.

The couple went upstairs and did not come down, suggesting they entered the flat. They were aged in their twenties or thirties, possibly of Mediterranean or east European appearance.

Despite a number of previous appeals the pair have not come forward and detectives increasingly believe they could hold vital clues.

Detective Chief Inspector Jacqueline Sebire, leading the inquiry, said: “Gareth was a very private individual. We know he would not have given his keys to anyone other than close family. I am asking this man or woman or anyone who recognises them to encourage them to come forward and assist us.”

In a statement, Mr Williams's family said: “We are still struggling to come to terms with the loss of their son and brother, we urge anybody to come forward with any information that can assist the police investigation.”

At the time of the visit, Mr Williams is believed to have been away and detectives say it is highly unlikely he gave his keys to anyone. Tests on his body show he was not poisoned, drugged or under the influence of alcohol at the time of his death. There were no injuries to suggest a struggle and an examination of his computers showed he had a secret fetish for bondage and being confined in enclosed spaces.

There was no evidence of anything missing from his flat and no signs of a disturbance. Detectives have discounted one rumour that the flat was locked from the outside.

Mr Williams, a keen cyclist, was in London on a year's secondment and was due to return to the GCHQ government listening post in Cheltenham. He is known to have made trips on business to the US but he was not a field agent and his spy bosses can find no reason for him to have been killed.

He was last seen eight days before his body was found. CCTV showed him at Harrods and Holland Park Tube.

Anyone with information can call 020 8358 0200 or ring Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.

The unanswered questions

How did he die?

A post mortem has proved inconclusive. But experts can say he was not stabbed or shot, there are no obvious injuries to his body and tests found no trace of alcohol, drugs or poison. It is possible he suffocated inside the North Face bag. Experts say that because of the heat in the flat he could have died within minutes if he could not escape.

Was he alone and why did he not escape from the bag?

Police now believe he was almost certainly not alone. Intriguingly, there is no sign of anyone else being in the flat, but tests have shown that Mr Williams could not have locked himself into the bag on his own. He must have had help and either climbed into the bag as part of a sex game — or, in some way, was forced in. The real question is why he was unable to escape and why the second party did not help him. One possibility is the second man — or woman — left the scene planning to return but when they did the spy was already dead. The second person then panicked and fled. The puzzle is why he or she did not leave any clues. And why, if the explanation was innocent, they have not come forward.

What about his private life?

This remains a mystery. Inquiries have found the spy to be an intensely private individual. He was spotted in a gay bar near the MI6 HQ in Vauxhall and visited a transvestite bar in the weeks before he died but there is no other obvious reference to his sexuality. His computers revealed a interest in bondage and a colourful wig was found in his flat along with £15,000 of high fashion women's dresses and shoes, all of which seem to be still in their wrappers. But there were few, if any, friends who knew him personally.

What was he doing before he died?

His body was found on August 23. It is known he returned from a trip to the US on August 11 and was last seen alive at Holland Park Tube station on August 14 and shopping in Harrods the following day. The post mortem results suggest he died soon afterwards but his body was not found until eight days later.

Who are the mystery couple? 

This is one of the most tantalising questions in the inquiry. No one — including MI6 or his family — can explain why Mr Williams would have given his keys to anyone. They were specific about visiting Flat 4 though they are not thought to have mentioned the spy by name. The codebreaker is not believed to have been in the flat at the time — and the possibility remains the couple could be a red herring.

Guardian : Couple sought as police say bondage websites could hold key to spy's death

Couple sought as police say bondage websites could hold key to spy's death

• Gareth Williams's death not linked to job say detectives
• Women's designer clothes found in dead man's flat

Vikram Dodd, crime correspondent | December 22, 2010

Senior detectives believe the mystery death of the spy Gareth Williams will be solved by getting an insight into his private life after they revealed he had visited bondage websites and a drag club and had £15,000-worth of unworn designer womenswear in his wardrobe.

Williams's decomposed body was discovered in a padlocked holdall in his flat, less than a mile from MI6 headquarters in London where he was a senior analyst.

Police believe he died a week earlier, in the early hours of 16 August, and that someone else was present. For months they have struggled to answer basic questions about the death. Tests have shown no signs of a struggle or forced entry into the flat, and no sign that he was drugged.

Yesterday, Scotland Yard's detectives gave their best account of Williams's death. They revealed:

• He used his iPhone to visit websites on bondage and escape from bondage in the months before his death.

• He must have been padlocked into the red North Face holdall by someone else as it was impossible for him to have locked himself inside.

• Once padlocked in the bag, with the keys inside, he could only have survived for 30 minutes before suffocating.

• Police are desperate to talk to a couple of Mediterranean appearance who visited his block and claimed to have a key to his flat weeks before Williams's death.

• Four days before his death, he went to a club called Bistrotheque in Bethnal Green, east London, to see an act called Jonny Woo, and had tickets for two similar performances at a pub in Vauxhall, close to MI6 headquarters.

• A witness told police that Williams had been seen at a well-known gay bar in Vauxhall months before his death.

When Williams's decomposing body was found by police on 23 August, they also discovered £15,000 of unworn women's clothing, wigs and shoes in his wardrobe. The labels included Stella McCartney, Christopher Kane, and Louboutin and were in their original boxes or wrapping paper. Williams had enrolled in two fashion design courses at Central Saint Martins College, in Clerkenwell, London, in 2009 and 2010.

Speculation has been rife that Williams' highly secretive work might explain his death. He worked as an expert on codes at the government's GCHQ eavesdropping centre in Cheltenham before moving to MI6 on a secondment.

But Detective Chief Superintendent Hamish Campbell, head of Scotland Yard's homicide command, said: "This is not linked to his work – it's his private life."

He said police had been reluctant to make public details of Williams's private life, knowing it could prove distressing to his family, but were doing so now because his lifestyle could be key to solving whether his death was a sex game gone wrong, manslaughter or murder.

Police needed information from "a small subset of people" who were into alternative lifestyles and pursuits. "We want to speak to individuals who use these websites about bondage, tying up, linking into the drag world."

Police called in an expert in surviving in confined spaces, who concluded there was no way Williams could have padlocked himself into the bag. That means that someone must have been present to lock him in. The keys to the ordinary Yale padlock were found inside the holdall.

Campbell said: "Somebody must have been there to secure him in the bag on a voluntary or involuntary basis. If someone was there and it was a voluntary activity gone wrong, why not cut him free or call an ambulance?

"The alternative scenario is there is maybe something more sinister to it. We just don't know."

The dead man's body showed only two small bruises on his elbows, probably from him struggling and rubbing against the inside of the bag as he began to run out of oxygen.

Toxicology tests show no signs of drugs, although Campbell said it remained possible he had been stunned by something like a karate chop, which could have left no visible trace by the time the corpse was found. Otherwise any blow heavy enough to render Williams unconscious would have been picked up by tests.

"There is no sign of a struggle, no outward signs of anyone inflicting physical violence, no poisoning," said Campbell, who added: "The absence of violence to the body suggests he placed himself in the bag, unless he was stunned or unconscious. If that was done, it was not through drugs or super-secret injections."

The official cause of death is still inconclusive, but Campbell said: "It is most likely suffocation, but we can't be certain."

He said that Williams was a deeply private man and neither his employers nor his family knew he had enrolled into a course at a fashion college. There was no evidence that he was gay.

Police yesterday released efit images of a man and woman who visited the flats where Williams lived weeks before his death. The Mediterranean couple, who were in their 20s and dressed casually, were buzzed through the communal entrance at the flats in Alderney Street by another resident in late June or July. They said they had been given a key and were on their way to flat four, the property Williams lived in.

Williams, from Anglesey, north Wales, was last seen alive on 15 August, eight days before he was found dead.

An inquest will be held at Westminster coroner's court on 15 February.

• This article was amended on 23 December 2010. The original referred to Jimmy Woo, and Bistrotheque as a drag club. This has been corrected.