SMH : A very bizarre death gives an insight into a very secret service

A very bizarre death gives an insight into a very secret service

Nigel West | April 30, 2012

The death of MI6 officer Gareth Williams has shown that the reality of British espionage is stranger than any fiction. Spy writer Nigel West was at the inquest.

To hear shrieks, and then sobbing, at any inquest is harrowing. Such high emotion seems particularly at odds with the detached image many of us have of the world of spying. Yet last week during evidence into the death of the intelligence officer Gareth Williams, a female family member dramatically broke down in tears, and the hearing had to be adjourned.

Last week, the outside world had a rare glimpse into the shadowy world of MI6. At the coroner's court in Westminster, London, the focus of attention was Gareth Williams, a 31-year-old GCHQ technician on a three-year secondment to MI6, whose naked body was found in a padlocked holdall at his Pimlico flat in August 2010.

At the opening on Monday, the coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox promised she would oversee "a full, fair and fearless inquest into this highly controversial death", with more than 30 witnesses questioned. And indeed, this was the first time that many of us could learn some of the details of the circumstances surrounding Williams's bizarre death.

I was one of the spectators in the court. Having spent more than 30 years studying and recording the history of the British intelligence community, I can honestly say it was one of the strangest events I have witnessed. Because of the presence of Williams's parents and sister, it was agonising and troubling, too.

The family has long been convinced that "dark arts" were involved with his death, and that a third party was present, either at his death or who later destroyed evidence. There have also been blunders.

At an interim hearing ahead of last week's inquest, it was revealed that DNA evidence found on Williams's body came from a forensic scientist at the scene, a fact it took the forensic team more than a year to realise. And a Mediterranean couple who had visited the flat in the weeks before Williams's death, and who the police were keen to track down, turned out to be insignificant to the case. These mistakes have only helped fuel the conspiracy theories surrounding Williams's death.

Since we were dealing with British intelligence, security in the court was paramount. Members of MI6 were referred to by a letter rather than their names. Large blue screens were used to protect their identities (the family was allowed behind the screens, the rest of us were outside). The atmosphere was subdued; a rare moment of levity only when someone's mobile phone went off, and the coroner joked she had done the same herself some weeks before.

Yet if the entire episode were not so tragic, it could have been an exercise in absurdity. Even by the end of the week, the coroner had yet to grasp some of the basics of the espionage world, such as the difference between MI6 "officers" and their "agents".

So who was Gareth Williams? He was a tech wizard, regarded as a "world-class" expert in his field, who had joined GCHQ at the age of 21 and had then taken a postgraduate course at Cambridge in advanced mathematics. His precise skills - or their application by MI6 - cannot be discussed in public. We do know, however, that in 2007 he applied for a transfer to MI6, only to flunk the aptitude test administered by GCHQ, which suggested he lacked the requisite self-confidence. A year later he re-sat the exam and passed, which resulted in him moving in 2009 into an office - shared with Witness G (a member of MI6 who gave evidence) and three others - in "Legoland", as MI6's embarrassingly ostentatious headquarters at Vauxhall Cross are known.

Williams was a geek: private, shy and, reportedly, with a slight stammer. He did not socialise with colleagues, and none are known to have visited his top-floor flat. His sister had said in court last Monday that he "disliked office culture, post-work drinks, flash car competitions and the rat race".

Instead, he enjoyed cycling and running, and was fiercely competitive, but declined to join his fellow officers who shared the same pastimes, and exercised alone.

His private life was just that, and it came as a shock to those who thought they knew him that he had attended a six-week course in fashion design at the Central St Martin's College, and had accumulated a collection of women's designer clothes, shoes and boots - valued at £20,000 - lipstick and an orange wig.

Such interests, according to MI6, were of no concern to the organisation, although an audit of his office computer revealed some database searches that did not appear to be connected with his work. Under the terms of a Public Interest Immunity Certificate signed by the Foreign Secretary, we are not allowed to know the precise nature of this unauthorised activity. According to a senior MI6 officer - identified only as F - Williams might have been able to provide a satisfactory explanation for his apparently illicit access.

On Thursday, a particularly upsetting detail of Williams's death was revealed. The officer known as F had said the secret service was "profoundly sorry" that his absence went unreported for five days after Williams, a meticulous time-keeper, had failed to show up for work. She blamed his line manager - Witness G - for a breakdown in communication, but said G should not face any disciplinary action. This confession greatly distressed Williams's mother, Ellen, sitting with her family inside the partition screening witnesses from the public area.

Later, it was revealed that when MI6 realised that Williams was missing, F had telephoned the police. In the conversation, taped by the police and played to the court, F said that Williams had been missing for the whole of the previous week and - after a question about his state of mind - she said he had been recalled from a job he had wanted to do, and was uncertain about how he had taken the news. The implication was obvious.

Key to the inquest was whether Williams - whose naked, decomposing body was found inside a padlocked holdall placed in his bath - could have locked himself in the bag. Given his apparent interest in bondage, fetish clothing and claustrophilia - as demonstrated by his web-surfing - could he have fastened the brass padlock himself, the keys to which were found in the bag, under his body? And if so, where did the other unidentified DNA traces, found on the lock and the zipper, come from? Put simply, was Williams alone when he died in the early hours of that summer morning, or, though there was no sign of a break-in, was someone else involved?

On Friday we heard from Peter Faulding, a former Parachute Regiment reservist and an expert in confined spaces, who said he was convinced another person was involved in putting Williams into the holdall and locking it. The court was shown a video of an attempt to climb into and lock a holdall of the same size. Mr Faulding said he had tried it 300 times and had failed every time. "My belief is that he was placed in there by a third party," he said.

The other question, then, is whether Williams's death was linked to his job. A police investigation concluded that he had died from unknown causes, but most likely asphyxiation and dehydration. Detective Superintendent Michael Broster of Counter-Terrorism Command - who has spent 31 years in the police and acted as the liaison between MI6 and the detectives - opined that there was nothing to link the death to Williams's professional occupation, and no sign of a cover-up. Mind you, there was not much need for any covering up: for motives unknown, Williams had been quite successful in deleting the internet browsing history of his laptops, and completely reset one of his mobile phones, thereby emptying its memory.

According to MI6, in May 2009 Williams had filled a GCHQ slot at Vauxhall Cross, but had recently been granted a transfer back to Cheltenham. He had found his work boring, constrained by too much administration. Instead, he longed to resume his technical research and live in the countryside. Although he had undergone five training courses, and had passed an operational deployment course in February 2010 with flying colours, he had been determined to return to Gloucestershire. Once his request had been approved, he appeared much more relaxed.

The conspiracy theories - that Williams was living in an MI6 safe-house and had been engaged in dangerous missions overseas; or had been categorised as a high-security risk, or should have been - have all been scotched. His flat was rented by GCHQ, and he had never been sent on any foreign operations. He only ever met two MI6 agents, defined with bureaucratic accuracy by MI6 as "covert human intelligence sources", and the operations he participated in had been undertaken in England.

In short, he was a loner who failed to fit in at Legoland. As for his private life, MI6 is now very broadminded about individual lifestyles, and anything legal is considered acceptable. Kinky sex is fine; the days when the wretched former MI6 Chief Maurice Oldfield had felt obliged to lie for decades on his enhanced vetting questionnaire about his homosexuality are long gone.

Still, the delay in reporting him AWOL is reminiscent of MI6's past culture, when officers were encouraged to show initiative, be self-starters, think laterally and exercise some independence. Now the organisation is wholly risk-averse, awash with lawyers, and resembles a particularly staid branch of the Department of Work and Pensions.

Although in theory G should have followed the protocol and started to suspect a problem when Williams failed to show up for a meeting scheduled for Monday, August 16 - the very day he died - there is a straightforward explanation. MI6 personnel are often called at short notice to work on a particular, compartmentalised project or operation, and not everyone is likely to be indoctrinated into some of these activities. Raising the alarm because a team member has slipped away for a secret assignation is de rigueur. It is equally probable that a line-manager would be reluctant to acknowledge that he or she had been left out of the loop.

Another problem for today's MI6 is its dependency on personnel seconded from other organisations where there is not a clearly defined chain of command and responsibility. As Williams was due to leave London permanently, the assumption was that he was already preparing for his move.

Significantly, his apparent lack of office friendships may be part of the reason why he was not missed by any of his colleagues. Although an earlier intervention would have allowed the forensic scientists to be more precise about what had happened, his life could not have been saved by battering down his door on that Monday afternoon.

* Nigel West is the pen name of Rupert Allason, a military historian and author specialising in intelligence and security issues. His new book, Historical Dictionary of Chinese Intelligence, will be published in July.

The Sunday Telegraph, London

Telegraph : Profile: Gareth Williams, the MI6 spy who led a secret double life

Profile: Gareth Williams, the MI6 spy who led a secret double life

Gareth Williams, the MI6 spy who was found dead in a bag in his bath, was a child prodigy.

By Victoria Ward and Matthew Holehouse | April 23, 2012

He took a maths GCSE at primary school and A-levels at 13, graduating with a first from Bangor University by the age of 17.

He went on to study advanced mathematics at Cambridge, eventually leaving because he felt he had learned all he could.

Williams grew up in Anglesey, north Wales. He was a quiet child from a tight-knit family, whose great passion was cycling.

Friends said that despite his extraordinary mathematical mind, he was "very naive about people". He was a loner, with few social contacts, even among his work colleagues. He struggled to make friends after being catapulted into the company of older people at an early age.

Dylan Parry, 34, from Anglesey, said he was an isolated child. "He never really made friends, either his own age or from those younger than him,” he said.

“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."

By the time he left Cambridge, Williams’ potential had already been spotted by GCHQ scouts.

In 2001, he took at job as a code expert at the GCHQ "doughnut" building in Cheltenham, working alongside hundreds of mathematicians, cryptologists and analysts going on to develop techniques to speed up data encryption.

For the first time, it is likely Williams felt challenged and comfortable in his surroundings, working with like-minded people in a top-secret environment that suited his personality.

His sparse bedsit was immaculate and devoid of personal belongings and clutter. His former landlady, Jenny Elliot, 71, said that “his life was his work”.

In 2003, Williams spent six months at Menwith Hill, the RAF station in Yorkshire and in 2006 he spent time at Fort Meade in Maryland, home of the United States’ National Security Agency, GCHQ’s partner in global surveillance.

He is also reported to have made a number of visits to Afghanistan.

Last year, he was seconded to the London headquarters of MI6, a sign of his steady progress up the hierarchy at GCHQ.

The 31-year-old was assigned to live at 36 Alderney Street, in Pimlico, central London, an MI6 safe house.

Williams died before he could take up his next post in the Cyber Security Operations Centre at GCHQ.

Three months after his death, police revealed he had been pursuing a double life. Unknown to his family he had been visiting bondage websites and drag clubs and owned a £15,000 collection of women's designer clothing.

He had also attended two six to eight week courses in fashion design for beginners at Central St Martin's College in London during evenings and weekends.

He is also known to have visited Barcode, a gay bar in Vauxhall. However police have been unable to visit any sexual partners of Mr Williams, either male or female.

His family said before the police announcement that they were "very, very angry" at "completely false" rumours about the nature of Mr Williams' private life.

Mirror : The spy who hated his job at MI6: 'Body-in-the-bag' victim didn't like the London "rat race"

The spy who hated his job at MI6: 'Body-in-the-bag' victim didn't like the London "rat race"

Sister explains to inquest that job was not what Williams expected

By Tom Pettifor | April 23, 2012

The plot thickened today in the real-life spy mystery of the top MI6 codebreaker found dead in a holdall.

Amid accusations of dirty tricks in the shadowy world of espionage, the first day of the inquest was told victim Gareth Williams had complained of “friction” with other spooks and was about to quit the job.

His family believe secret service agents may have been involved in his baffling death.

He was so unhappy with his work he had cut short his secondment with MI6 and had been due to leave days after his body was found in the locked bag in his bath, his sister Ceri Subbe told the hearing.

Ms Subbe said he did not feel comfortable with the job, which was “not quite what he expected”.

She said: “He disliked office culture, post-work drinks, flash car competitions and the rat race. He even spoke of friction in the office.”

The maths whizkid and ace codebreaker, 31, was on secondment to the Secret Intelligence Service from communications surveillance agency GCHQ in Cheltenham, Glos.

Police believe he died in the early hours of August 16, 2010 - a week before an officer discovered the rotting corpse in the spy’s locked apartment in Pimlico, London.

A postmortem and further tests found no trace of drugs, alcohol or poison and the police probe also failed to establish a cause of death.

Two “bag experts“ are due to give evidence to the inquest on whether it would have been possible for him to have padlocked himself inside.

And to add to the mystery, police say a woman’s wig and lady’s clothes were found in the single man’s flat.

Ms Subbe, who was accompanied by her parents, engineer Ian Williams and his wife Ellen, told the hearing her brother was on a three-year secondment in London but “as time went by his enthusiasm began to fade”.

He had already packed his bags and had spent an increasing number of weekends at his parents’ house in Anglesey, North Wales.

But MI6 had “dragged their feet” in approving his request to leave.

Ceri said in her statement: “I think the job was not quite what he had expected. There was a lot more red tape than he was comfortable with.”

She admitted he had not told her that he had completed two courses in fashion design at St Martin’s College in London.

Asked about £20,000 of women’s clothes found in his flat, she said it was “not particularly” surprising, adding that they were “possibly as a gift”.

She said he would not have let anyone into his flat unvetted and he had never told her he was being followed or felt threatened, adding: “I cannot think as to why anybody would want to harm him.”

His family want to know why the alarm was not raised when Mr Williams initially failed to turn up to work by colleagues, who described him as being as reliable as a “Swiss clock”.

By the time a police officer was sent to at the flat and the body was discovered, it was so decomposed that evidence had been lost.

Ms Subbe said he was a private man who was “very selective” in choosing friends, naming three as Sian Jones, her mother and a work colleague whose identity coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox ordered not to be revealed.

In his last conversation with her on August 13, he said he was that night going to see a transvestite comedian with his friend Sian.

His body was discovered 10 days later after Ceri raised the alarm.

PC John Gallagher said he had been on patrol on August 23 when he was told to carry out a “welfare check” on Mr Williams, who had not been seen for many days.

The front door was double-locked and he was let in by a property agent.

In the living room, PC Gallagher found a mobile phone and two SIM cards on a table and a laptop on the floor.

And he told the inquest: “My attention was drawn to a lady’s wig hanging on one of the corners of a chair.”

There were some full yellow sports holdalls in the bedroom – and then in the en-suite bathroom he noticed a bulging red North Face holdall in the bath with the zips padlocked together.

PC Gallagher said he only noticed the “particular smell” of a body when he tried to lift the bag up.

“It is unusual because normally you would expect to smell it earlier,” he said.

“I looked at the bag to try to get a picture. I noticed that the side nearest the door had a round bulge.

“I noticed there was a padlock with the two zips joined together.

“At this point I am realising it is something serious and my concern was to not damage anything in a crime scene.”

He lifted the bag up slightly and could see red fluid seeping out.

“Then there was the smell,” he told the hearing. “Probably as a result of moving the bag.”

Mr Williams’s death immediately prompted top-level discussions between murder and counter terrorism officers and MI6 were kept off the scene, it was said.

But Detective Chief Superintendent Hamish Campbell, from the Met’s homicide and serious crime command, stressed that MI6 co-operated fully.

Mr Williams’s family have claimed that “agents specialising in the dark arts of the secret service” had possibly cleaned the flat after his death to hide clues.

Det Chief Supt Campbell said: “I don’t think anyone was aware of Gareth and his death until he was found in the bath.”

Four intelligence agents will give evidence at the Westminster inquest from behind a screen to avoid the “real risk” of harm to national security.

Coroner Dr Wilcox today promised she would mount a “full, fair, and fearless inquiry into the evidence of this highly controversial death”.

The inquest continues.

Guardian : MI6 spy Gareth Williams complained of friction at work, inquest told

MI6 spy Gareth Williams complained of friction at work, inquest told

Sister says Williams disliked office culture and had been due to return to GCHQ one week after his body was found in holdall

Caroline Davies | April 23, 2012

Gareth Williams, the intelligence worker found dead in a padlocked holdall at his London flat, had requested a transfer from MI6 because he was unhappy and he had been due to move a week after his body was found, an inquest heard.

He had wanted to return to the intelligence agency GCHQ in Cheltenham after complaining of "friction" at work and his dislike of the "rat race", his sister, Ceri Subbe, told the Westminster coroner's court on the opening day of the inquest.

Williams, 31, a cipher and codes expert, was so secretive about his work that his parents and sister did not know the nature of his job. He was on a three-year secondment to MI6 when he was found in the locked bag in his bath on 25 August 2010.

Describing her brother as a cycling enthusiast and someone who was happiest "in the mountains" and engaged in outdoor pursuits, Subbe said: "He disliked office culture, post-work drinks, flash car competitions and the rat race. He even spoke of friction in the office."

PC John Gallagher was first on the scene at 5pm after Williams's family reported him missing. He said he searched the "extremely tidy" top-floor flat in Pimlico before noticing a red holdall in the bath in a bathroom that was devoid of toiletries.

"I noticed a bulge," he said, describing the bag as having the two zips padlocked together. He lifted the bag six or seven inches. "That's when I noticed some red fluid. It was seeping out of the bag," he said.

Williams's body was found in the bag, naked and decomposing.

Detective chief superintendent Hamish Campbell said he had been made aware later that evening of the nature of Williams's job with MI6, and that this had prompted senior level talks between homicide and counter-terrorism about the chain of the command in the investigation.

It was decided that homicide officers would conduct the investigation, with participation at senior level from the security intelligence services, and Campbell said Scotland Yard had full cooperation.

He added that he was not aware of MI5, MI6 or SO15 carrying out their own independent investigations into the death.

Inside Williams's rented flat, police found a woman's wig hanging on a chair, two sim cards, a mobile phone and a laptop. Designer women's clothing worth £20,000 was also discovered.

The flat was owned by a company called New Rodina, registered in the British Virgin Islands, but the tenancy had been taken over by the secretary of state in 2003, the inquest heard.

Williams had been in the process of packing up in preparation for his transfer.

The coroner, Fiona Wilcox, described Williams's death as highly controversial and said that four intelligence officers giving evidence would be given anonymity in the public interest. There would be "a real risk of harm to national security" and international relations, she said, if some of those giving evidence were identified.

Scotland Yard said it might have problems with allowing some exhibits to be released to the media.

A 21-month investigation into Williams's death has left detectives baffled, but Vincent Williams, a lawyer for the Metropolitan police, said the inquiry was ongoing and, though "not straightforward, it may at some stage result in criminal proceedings".

Asked whether she was surprised that £20,000 worth of women's clothing had been found at the flat, Williams's sister said she was not, as her brother had been generous and it was "possibly a gift".

In a statement, Subbe said: "In terms of a big brother figure, Gareth was perfect."

They were incredibly close as a family, she said, and he would visit his parents often. "It was impossible to do justice to Gareth's impressive character without meeting him."

The inquest heard that Williams had taken his O-levels aged 10 and had begun a degree course at Bangor University aged 16. He loved cycling and fell walking, said Subbe. "His passion was undoubtedly the mountains."

He was a scrupulous risk assessor, she said. He adored music, the theatre, the arts and fashion. He had undertaken two six-week design courses at Central St Martin's College in London.

His sister said he was secretive about his job. "Gareth didn't tell us what specifically he did as a job – of course we knew where he worked, but he didn't speak about it in any great detail," she said.

He was very strict about only allowing people who had been security vetted to visit his flat, she said, and would not have lent his keys to anyone.

Subbe said the family had not heard from Williams, who was originally from Anglesey, for 10 days before his body was found.

Subbe said her brother's job with MI6 had not been "not quite what he expected".

"He encountered more red tape than he was comfortable with," she said. In April 2010 he had applied to return to GCHQ earlier than had been planned, but MI6 "dragged their feet", eventually approving that he would return to the Cheltenham listening post on September 1 2010.

She said her brother had failed to turn up for a meeting he was supposed to chair on 16 August.

"He is very conscientious," she said, and MI6 had agreed he was like "a Swiss clock – very punctual, very efficient".

She added that the family wanted to know why the alarm was not raised when he initially failed to turn up at work. She also said her brother had never told her he was being followed, or felt threatened in any way.

"I cannot think as to why anybody would want to harm him," she said.

Williams's family urged the coroner not to release to the media video footage of a reconstruction – made for the purposes of the inquest – to establish if someone could lock themselves into a holdall.

Anthony O'Toole, a lawyer for Subbe and her parents, Ian and Ellen, who were at the inquest, said it would be "upsetting" for the family if the "speculative film were released".

At a pre-inquest hearing, the coroner heard that a battery of post-mortem tests had failed to determine how Williams died and that police had originally decided it would have been impossible for him to lock himself in the bag.

His family believe that by the time the officers arrived at his flat, his body was so decomposed that possible vital evidence was lost.

The hearing continues.

This Is Gloucestershire : Claims about GCHQ spy 'are just a decoy'

Claims about GCHQ spy 'are just a decoy'

January 24, 2011

A FORMER tutor of murdered GCHQ spy Dr Gareth Williams has claimed allegations about his private life are a 'decoy', according to reports.

The 31-year-old's body was found in a padlocked bag in his London flat last year.

He had been on secondment with MI6 in London following 10 years working at GCHQ in Cheltenham, during which time he rented a room in Prestbury.

Media reports have linked Dr Williams with an interest in women's clothing after designer dresses were found in his wardrobe.

It has also been suggested the expert codebreaker was homosexual.

However, Cheryl Eastap, who taught Dr Williams at Central St Martin's College in London, told the Mail on Sunday the claims and leaked suggestions were 'hurtful'.

She said: "It was hurtful to his family and it was a decoy.

"I don't think he was gay or a crossdresser. Maybe he collected dresses."

Ms Eastap dismissed newspaper reports last week that Dr 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 say if any leaked information had come from police, MI5 or MI6.

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

The First Post : Did spy Gareth Williams die in bizarre art accident?

Did spy Gareth Williams die in bizarre art accident?
[or here]

Police now believe MI6 man zipped himself in holdall as art project

By Eliot Sefton | 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?

Express: BAG SPY VISITED DRAG SHOW JUST BEFORE HE DIED

BAG SPY VISITED DRAG SHOW JUST BEFORE HE DIED

By James Murray | January 2, 2011

POLICE piecing together the last hours of spy Gareth Williams’s life have revealed he visited a drag cabaret show just days before his bizarre death.

Scotland Yard murder detectives said the 31-year-old MI6 codebreaker visited the Bistrotheque in London’s Bethnal Green on August 13 last year, a few days after flying back from a holiday in the US.

He vanished two days later and his naked body was discovered in a holdall in his bath on August 23.

The club he visited has an upstairs restaurant and bar and a downstairs cabaret stage.

The Sunday Express has established that Cambridge-educated Mr Williams booked the ticket for the cabaret before going there and decided not to eat at the restaurant or hang around in the bar when he arrived in the evening.

Instead, he went straight to the downstairs cabaret room and sat to watch the one-hour show featuring Jonny Woo, pictured above left, often described as the queen of the ­capital’s drag scene.

Woo, a popular entertainer at the venue, performed a short skit from Les Miserables and dressed in several outrageous costumes during the show. As soon as it ended, Mr Williams got up and left.

His family and friends vehemently deny accusations he was living a secret life as a gay man in central London. The club’s co-owner, Pablo Flack, said Mr Williams was not known to staff and no one could recall seeing him before.

Despite the drag cabaret, he said the venue was popular with straight couples and none of the regular gay customers could recall speaking to him.

Mr Flack, a flamboyant figure in the fashion world, said: “I think the public may have got the wrong impression from the reports about this man.

“He did not spend long here and he is not someone people remember.

“We think he just came along to see the show. Jonny Woo does have a good reputation as an entertainer, especially in the fashion and artistic world.”

Mr Williams obviously enjoyed the performance because he bought tickets to see two other shows but there is no suggestion he knew Mr Woo.

Detectives have revealed that Mr ­Williams had £15,000-worth of women’s designer clothes, including dresses, shoes and wigs, at his flat in Alderney Street, ­Pimlico, London.

Shortly before Christmas they also revealed he was studying fashion for beginners at the Central St Martins ­College in Clerkenwell and had visited bondage websites.

One theory that police are ­considering now is that he had visited the Bistrotheque as part of his interest in fashion. Shortly after his body was found in his flat in a zipped-up and padlocked ­holdall, detectives went to Bistrotheque when they discovered he had bought the drag cabaret tickets. Mr Flack said: “They asked to see some CCTV on the relevant date and we burned off a disc for them but the footage was only showing the outside.

“It is pretty dark in the cabaret area so if there were pictures you wouldn’t be able to see much anyway.”

Detectives are trying to discover if Mr ­Williams went to the venue to meet a mysterious Mediterranean-looking man and woman who had called at his home in the ­summer but there is nothing to suggest at this stage that they were there.

Last week Sian Lloyd-Jones, 33, a ­childhood friend of Mr Williams, said he showed no inclinations of being gay and thought he would have given his designer clothes to her and his ­sister, Ceri, because he was so generous with gifts. However, questions remain about why Mr Williams would spend so much of his ­salary on women’s clothes.

Ms Lloyd-Jones, who was given £760 Stella McCartney PVC ­trousers from Mr Williams, claimed he was learning a new identity for an assignment with the intelligence service before his death but did not know what his ­undercover ­operation would be.

Express : WAS MI6 GENIUS KILLED BY COUPLE SPYING ON HIM?

WAS MI6 GENIUS KILLED BY COUPLE SPYING ON HIM?

Detectives believe Gareth Williams was not alone in his flat when he died.

By James Murray | December 26, 2010

MI6 codebreaker Gareth Williams may have been murdered because he was becoming suspicious of a ­mystery couple befriending him.

Spy chiefs have been forced to ­consider the theory that the young, Mediterranean-looking couple seen at his home weeks before he died could have been foreign agents targeting him because of his superb encryption skills.

They are considering the possibility that Williams, whose naked body was found locked in a bag in his bath, was under surveillance because he was living at an address known to be used by security ­service staff in Alderney Street, Pimlico, central London.

Experienced foreign agents would have quickly built up a ­profile of the 31-year-old keen club cyclist’s double life and then worked on a plan to get close to him by exploiting his weaknesses: drag cabaret, gay bars and expensive women’s clothing and wigs. They could have befriended him by striking up conversation in one of his regular haunts.

Their approach would have been ­tailored to appeal to his fantasies. Once they had gained his confidence, they would have tried to see what secrets they could get from him.

If the couple were foreign agents trying to unearth secrets, they would have kept the relationship going for as long as ­possible. Williams may have been murdered because he started to question his new friends and they, in turn, feared being unmasked as spies.

A security source said: “With more details emerging it is obvious to see why his bosses at MI6 and GCHQ are asking more and more questions about this couple.

“If they had an innocent relationship with him and perhaps shared some of his private interests then you think they would have come forward by now just to clear themselves.

“Experienced spies would not leave a trail, which could explain why the police are seemingly banging their heads against the wall.”

Police are trying to find out who ­Williams was socialising with and want to hear from ­anyone who was at the ­Bistrotheque in London’s East End on August 13, 10 days before he died. He bought two ­tickets for two other shows at the same venue, which suggests he may have struck up friendships there.

They also want to speak to anyone who saw him at the Barcode gay bar in Vauxhall, south London, in May, when there was an unconfirmed sighting of him. Inquiries are also ­continuing at the Central St Martins College in Clerkenwell, where he had enrolled on a fashion course.

Williams’s wardrobe contained £15,000 worth of women’s designer clothes, including shoes by Christian Louboutin and items by Stella McCartney and Christopher Kane. Police want to know where he bought the clothes and why.

The mystery woman who went to his flat with a man one evening in June or July could have bought or worn some of the clothes.

Detectives believe Mr Williams was not alone in his flat when he died.

On August 23 he was found naked in a zipped and padlocked red North Face holdall which was in an empty bath in the en‑suite bathroom. The keys to the bag were under his body inside the bag.

Detective Chief Superintendent ­Hamish Campbell said: “We are very sure someone else was in the flat so we need to know the circumstances where you leave someone in that ­position by accident or design. It is unexplained and suspicious.”

There were no traces of drugs, ­alcohol or poisons in his body. An inquest will be held at Westminister Coroner’s Court in February.

Daily Mail : The secret double identity of murdered spy: Friend insists Gareth Williams was not gay - and was being trained by MI6 for undercover role

The secret double identity of murdered spy: Friend insists Gareth Williams was not gay - and was being trained by MI6 for undercover role

The spy found dead in a sports bag had been given a new identity by his MI6 bosses in the months leading up to his mysterious death.

By Daniel Boffey | December 25, 2010

Gareth Williams, a GCHQ codebreaker on secondment to MI6, had two passports and told his best friend that he was preparing for an undercover operation.

Details of the 31-year-old’s role within the secret services are disclosed today in an interview with his confidante and childhood sweetheart, Sian Lloyd-Jones.

In an interview with The Mail on Sunday, she said: ‘I find it difficult to see anything in his personal life which could lie behind this.’

She reveals:

* He was training to take on a new identity eight months before he was found dead.
* He often purchased designer women’s clothes, but she insists they were gifts for her and his sister.
* The maths genius was found dead two days before he was due to visit Paris with his sister.

The revelations shed new light on Mr Williams’s work which, until now, had been regarded as highly technical and carrying little risk.

His body was found inside a zipped and padlocked North Face holdall in the bathroom of his MI6 flat on August 23. A post-mortem was inconclusive.

Last week police released e-fits of a couple they wish to question and provided intimate details about Mr Williams’s life, including his interest in bondage websites and his extraordinary collection of women’s designer clothes and shoes, worth about £15,000.

But Ms Lloyd-Jones, 33, claims Mr Williams would have confided in her and his sister, Ceri, if he had any homosexual urges. Ms Lloyd-Jones, a fashion stylist, said: ‘I’m not in denial and nor is his mum, dad or sister. It would have been fine if he was [gay].

‘I have seen every item of clothing that was there. I truly believe that Ceri and I were going to receive the clothing. He was so generous you wouldn’t believe.’

She finds it difficult to see anything in his private life which could have led to his killing.

But she reveals his work was more complex than previously believed.

‘He said he was learning his new identity,’ she said. ‘In February he said he’d be unavailable for nine days because he was on a training exercise. He’d often go away, so I didn’t think any more about it.’

Ms Lloyd-Jones added that she last heard from Mr Williams on the day he was last seen alive when he was ‘happy and warm and the same as he always was’.

But it was Mr Williams’s sister – who was due to accompany him on a trip to Paris later that week – who alerted her that something may be wrong when she couldn’t get hold of him on the phone. She said that was when she became worried ‘because he’s like clockwork, he’s so predictable’.

There's no mystery about those women's clothes. He bought them for me and his sister

To Sian Lloyd-Jones, it was just another ordinary evening. A fashion stylist, she was pottering around the sitting room of her Knightsbridge flat organising outfits for the following day’s photoshoot.

Meanwhile her friend, Gareth Williams, was sitting on the sofa leafing through the contents of a black box file. Inside there were documents and notes and two passports.

‘He said he was learning his new identity,’ says Sian now. ‘It was all so relaxed. I was taping up shoes and co-ordinating outfits and he was going through his papers.

‘He often came round with his work. That night he came over with his box file and started going through it. He had two passports. He probably fell asleep on the sofa that night and stayed overnight with all the documents.’

At the time, Sian thought nothing of it. Nor did she think it significant when Gareth said he’d be ‘unavailable’ for nine days the following month as he would be away on a training exercise.

Sian knew her friend was a spy and that his job would often take him away for weeks at a time. She also knew there was a necessary element of secrecy to his life. What she couldn’t know was that eight months later, Gareth would be found dead, and in the most horrific circumstances.

It was on August 23 that police were called to Gareth’s flat in Pimlico, Central London, an MI6-owned safe house. He had been missing for more than a week. They found his decomposed body locked in a large red North Face sports bag.

In the months since, his friends and family have not only had to try to come to terms with their loss, they have had to endure a stream of unsavoury leaks from mysterious sources.

It was rumoured that Gareth, 31, was gay after bondage equipment was allegedly found in his apartment along with phone numbers for gay escorts. This was denied by the police, but by then the damage had already been done. Then there were reported irregularities in his finances, also denied.

And last week there were further lurid allegations after police said they wanted to question a Mediterranean couple who were seen calling at Gareth’s flat before he died. But as well as releasing e-fits of the unknown man and woman, they revealed that Gareth had bought £15,000 of designer clothes and shoes, including labels such as Stella McCartney and Christian Louboutin. They were all stored unopened in their bags and boxes alongside a number of women’s wigs.

Police disclosed that Gareth had visited five bondage websites, which were not pornographic but would give readers advice on how to get in and out of confined spaces. They also said they had found tickets for a number of drag shows.

Gareth devoted his life to serving his country. He was already acknowledged as a talented codebreaker and had worked for the Government listening post GCHQ for ten years before being seconded for a year to MI6. Now, it appears he was rather more than that and was involved in the type of tradecraft more commonly found in a John le Carre novel. There is even a plaque to him at GCHQ in Cheltenham in honour of his work.

'The person everyone talks about .  .  . I don’t recognise him at all. He was the complete opposite of everything that has been said about him.'

Yet the constant drip-feed of sordid allegations has not only destroyed his reputation, it suggests that he is somehow to blame for his own demise. For Sian, and for Gareth’s parents, Ian and Ellen, and sister Ceri, this has caused untold pain at an already heart-wrenching time.

Until now, those close to Gareth have kept their counsel. Yet now Sian, 33, has agreed to speak about the man she has known since she was eight; a man who is very different from the one she keeps hearing about in the media.

A bubbly, garrulous young woman, who also comes from Gareth’s home town of Holyhead, she’s not the sort of girl who would be friends with a ‘strange loner’, as Gareth has so often been painted.

She says: ‘The person everyone talks about .  .  . I don’t recognise him at all. 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. They’re not celebrating Christmas. They weren’t going to anyway but the latest revelations have just made it even worse for them.

‘They’re completely broken by this because it’s not the true Gareth at all. He 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.

‘He was very effortless as a person. Nothing was a bother to him; whether you asked him to call you a cab or do a big deed, he was always the same. He wasn’t a loner and he wasn’t lonely. He had close chums in Cheltenham whom he was very friendly with and whom he spoke highly of, but because of the line of work they do they naturally keep in the background. He loved what he did and he thrived on it. He was a workaholic. That kept him very happy and content.

‘When Gareth was not at work, I was the person he spent more time with than anyone else. I have thought about this every day since he died. I find it difficult to see anything in his personal life which could lie behind this. But I know this is a murder investigation so we must remain open to every possibility.

‘His family respect, 100 per cent, that he worked for MI6. I and the family respect the role he was
in. But personally, I don’t think we’ll ever get an answer as to what happened.’

As for the latest allegations, Sian rejects them absolutely. While most men might not keep thousands of pounds of designer clothes, she says it was merely a sign of his generosity. She told police in the summer that Gareth would often buy her and his sister, Ceri, expensive gifts and she believes the clothes were meant for them.

As if to prove it, she points to her £760 Stella McCartney PVC trousers which were a present from Gareth.

She says: ‘I’ve seen every item of clothing that was there in the flat. There was Diana von Furstenberg, Stella McCartney, all in a size 6 or 8 which he wouldn’t even fit an arm or a leg into. He was small but not that small. And the shoes they found in his apartment were not in his size, but his sister’s. He was so generous you wouldn’t believe.

'I truly believe if he had any interest in homosexuality, he would have spoken to his sister and to me as well.'

‘The list is endless. He bought me a high-end Balenciaga top, a Gucci bag, a Mulberry bag, an Armani fur. He did the same for his sister. I truly believe that Ceri and I were going to receive the clothing. We received so many things from him, that wouldn’t have been strange.’

As for the women’s wigs, Sian says there is an entirely innocent explanation. ‘He and an American friend were going to a fancy-dress party in October,’ she says. One of his hobbies was Japanese superhero cartoons and they were going to go as two of the characters. They were pink and yellow and those are the only wigs that were found.

‘I didn’t know he went to the drag clubs but I think that was quite a new thing. He spoke in depth to his sister about everything. He mentioned he’d been to the transvestite comedy club so it’s not something he was trying to hide.’

The constant implication throughout all the rumour and counter-rumour is that Gareth was gay. This is something Sian also denies. She says: ‘They said last week that he had been training in fashion, doing night school at Central St Martin’s. I didn’t know about that but I knew he liked fashion. He saw it as art.

‘He had lots of magazines at his flat, Italian Vogue and all sorts, but he was open with his family, and if he was gay and had any temptations he would have spoken about them, especially to his sister. Hand on heart, there were no “innuendoes” about him.

‘His father was his best friend and he adored his mother and his sister. 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. He wanted a girlfriend and he wanted a wife and family. The truth is he wished he was better with women. He had a mild stutter, which was a big barrier as it would get worse when he was nervous.

I don’t know if he ever had a girlfriend. There weren’t any I was aware of but to be honest, we never mentioned it. I know it was my next big project to get him a girlfriend. He felt he lacked confidence with women. He cherished the time he had with his sister and with me and he wanted that with other girls. I know because Gareth had a bit of a soft spot for me.’

Sian and Gareth first met at Ysgol Gynradd Morswyn primary school where her mother, Eleri, was a dinner lady. Her father Alwyn was a BT engineer.

Gareth was two years younger than her, the brilliant child prodigy of Ian, an engineer at Wylfa power station, and Ellen, who worked in education. Sian says: ‘He was moved up two years because he was so clever. He used to read encyclo-pedias at six. Even in primary school, he was doing his GCSEs during lunchtime.

'I was quite naughty at school. I used to sell his homework. He used to have a big list. People used to come, all those who couldn’t do their maths, and he would do it for them.'

‘We were childhood sweethearts at school. Then when we went to Bodedern, our secondary school, he moved on leaps and bounds with his intellect. He really was a genius. I would say a date, say May 15, 1974, and he would count back and then say, yes it was a Wednesday. He could work it out. But if he was here today, he’d hang out and enjoy a chat and a catch up. He was so approachable.

‘I was quite naughty at school. I used to sell his homework. He used to have a big list. People used to come, all those who couldn’t do their maths, and he would do it for them. We only sold it for school dinner money, 70p a time or something like that, and I used to buy magazines. He got nothing, to be honest. He didn’t want anything. That’s how he was, how we were as friends.’

After school the two friends went their separate ways.

Mr Williams gained special permission to leave school for Bangor University aged just 15, and at 18 he left home to study for a PhD at Manchester University. Three years later, he was approached by the British security services, who apparently spotted his precocious online gaming abilities.

Sian left school at 16 to become a window-dresser for Next in Bangor before going on to become a celebrity fashion stylist. She moved to Manchester and worked on Hollyoaks and Coronation Street.

It was in Manchester, four years ago, that she bumped into Gareth again. She says: ‘It was surreal at first. I was coming down the escalators at Selfridges and I spotted him coming up. We took off again. We went out for a drink and chatted. To be honest with you, I think we were both slightly in awe of each other. We were both excited by what the other was doing and amused too. He told me he was working for GCHQ.

‘We talked for a couple of hours and made a pact we would always stay in touch, and we did. We called each other every week from then on. And he would come up roughly once a month. He was hugely into music, from classical to rap. Music was his life. He’d always tie up his visits with a gig at the MEN Arena or the Apollo. I never went with him, I’d meet him afterwards or the next day. He’d often help me with the shopping for my shoots.’

Two years ago Sian moved to London, where she lives with her partner of three years Saul Herd, 37, who runs a corporate flooring company. Gareth also moved to the capital after he was seconded to MI6.

She says: ‘Our friendship deepened. We didn’t have many friends around us – he’d moved from Cheltenham, I’d moved from Manchester – and so we stuck closely together. We’d grown up together and enjoyed each other’s company.

‘We used to go to Nobu Berkeley Square in Mayfair. He always treated me. We just used to hang out.

‘Sometimes we’d go to the Fifth Floor bar at Harvey Nichols and drink cocktails. It would be apple sours for me. He would have a non-alcoholic cocktail. He used to join in with whatever was there, white wine or champagne if there was a group, but he wasn’t a drinker. If it was just me and him he wouldn’t have anything at all.

‘He used to just turn up at any time. He was always welcome. I might have spoken to him and told him I was finishing late and he would pop round. Sometimes he would stay over on the sofa. He would always bring me a bottle of rosé and often some cigarettes. He was a true old-school gentleman.

‘He loved candles. He used to love burning my expensive candles and then we’d have a catch-up and a gossip. There was no one like him, I had such an in-depth relationship with him. He was so knowledgeable about everything from restaurants to cars to maths to politics.’

Sian last saw Gareth in April. She had moved back to Wales for a while to take a break from the pressures of London life, while he was preparing to go on a driving holiday to the West Coast of America during July and August.

She says: ‘Before he went to America, we went down to Trearddur Bay and watched the sunset. We’d spent the whole afternoon together. I was at home with my parents and he stopped by. He was excited about his trip. He seemed very together. There was nothing troubling him. It was just a lovely, completely normal afternoon.’

She had no way of knowing she would never see Gareth again. The couple stayed in touch, as ever, on the phone and he called her on August 14, the day of the last known sighting of him at Holland Park Tube station. She says: ‘He just said, “Hi darling, how’s it hanging?”

‘He said he was leaving London and moving back to Cheltenham, and wondering when we would meet up next. He was happy and warm and the same as he always was. He left the message on the Saturday but I didn’t get it until the Wednesday as I was in Spain for work and couldn’t pick up messages abroad.

‘He was fine, which is why I’m sure he didn’t try to take his own life. And anyway, he’d never do that. He loved his family too much to commit suicide. Then on August 23, the day he was found, Ceri called me at 11am and asked if I’d heard from him. I said, “Yes, a week ago.” He and Ceri were due to go to Paris on the Wednesday of that week. She’d tried to get in touch over the weekend and there was no answer on the home phone or the mobile.

‘It was odd she hadn’t heard from him, particularly as they were going away. She said, “What do you think?” I told her I was sure it was nothing to worry about. But the minute I put the phone down, I knew something was wrong. He was like clockwork, so predictable. It was completely out of character for him.

‘I spoke to Ceri again later and we both admitted we were worried. We thought he must have had an accident or something. She called his work and they said he hadn’t shown up for a meeting on Wednesday.’

That day all their lives changed when Gareth was found dead. A month later, on September 24, they buried Gareth at Bethel Methodist Chapel in Anglesey. The head of MI6, Sir John Sawers, attended.

Sian says: ‘The family were really happy he came. There were around 20 people from his work there. They came in through the back door of the chapel and had a separate area they were guided into. To be honest, I don’t think anyone really noticed as there were so many people there.’

But they can never fully lay Gareth to rest until they have some idea as to how, and why, he died. Sian says: ‘I’m not sure we ever will know but the family need some answers. If anyone has any information about what happened to Gareth, I hope they will come forward. It’s not fair for his family to suffer like this.

Herald Scotland : Plea to gay community for help in explaining spy’s death

Plea to gay community for help in explaining spy’s death

Chris Greenwood | December 23, 2010

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

The MI6 codebreaker, whose naked, decomposing body was found in a padlocked holdall with the keys inside in the bath of his central London flat four months ago, had viewed sites showing people bound and tied. They included do-it-yourself guides to the fetish.

Police also found a £15,000 collection of unworn women’s designer clothing including tops, dresses and shoes in his wardrobe and revealed Mr Williams, 31, had visited a drag cabaret in east London four days before his death and held tickets to two more such events.

Detective Chief Inspector Jackie Sebire, who is leading the inquiry that has been delving into the life of the intensely private man, yesterday said she remained convinced someone else helped put him in the bag.

She told a news conference that a witness had seen him at a gay bar several months before his death, but police did not know for certain if he was gay.

She added that police believe they will get to the bottom of the spy’s death.

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 Government Communications Headquarters intelligence officer had been on a year-long secondment to the spy agency from the Government’s eavesdropping headquarters in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, which was due to end days after he was found dead on August 23.

He was discovered by police after he was reported missing. The discovery immediately sparked lurid speculation that included unfounded media reports he may have targeted by people with links to al Qaeda and the Taliban. Theories were put forward that he was killed by those who wanted to steal state secrets.

However, there were also a suggestion from the outset that he died following a sex game that had gone wrong and police have been concentrating on this line of inquiry.

No evidence of drugs, alcohol or poisons were found during a battery of tests conducted by toxicologists, said Ms Sebire, who also revealed police have forensic evidence that other people whom they have been unable to trace were in the flat.

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.

Mrs Sebire said the six boxes of unworn designer clothing found in a wardrobe included pieces by Stella McCartney, Christopher Kane and Christian Louboutin that had been bought at London boutiques and online.

She said the clothing was in various sizes, all small, and a number of women’s wigs were also found. The items had not been worn or hung up, the buttons were done up and items were still wrapped in paper.

However, Ms Sebire said Mr Williams attended two fashion design courses at Central St Martins College in the capital. His employers did not know he had taken part in or that he was interested in fashion.

She said it was a possibility the clothing purchases were linked to the diploma courses for beginners, which Mr Williams had passed.

Ms Sebire said analysis of Mr Williams’s phones and laptops revealed he visited no more than five bondage websites and had spent between 30 minutes and an hour on the sites from the end of last year until July, shortly before his death on August 16.

However, he did not appear “obsessed” with the subject and no other pornography was found in Alderney Street, she added.

She continued: “The sites primarily feature women and there are guides on how to do certain things.”

On the dead man’s sexuality, the lead officer 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.”

Mr Williams attended Bistroteque in the east end of London 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 some of the audience.

Mr Williams, who lived alone, also held tickets for drag shows that took place after his death.

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.

Mr Campbell added that investigators were sure someone else involved with the bondage or gay scene had “linked in” with Mr Williams.

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. Maybe, by explaining to the public, someone will think: ‘I get it and I can explain.”

Visiting pair are sought by detectives

MI6 spy Gareth Williams may have died at the hands of a mystery bondage sex partner he met on London’s gay scene, detectives have suggested.

Police have released two e-fits of a couple who they said they were visiting Mr Williams’s home in late June or July. The casually dressed Mediterranean couple, in their twenties, were buzzed through the communal entrance by another resident at the property in Pimlico.

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

Detective Chief Inspector Jackie Sebire said that an expert brought in to examine the red North Face holdall in which Mr Williams was found concluded he could not have locked it himself. 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 30°C within three minutes. An expert on survivability in confined spaces from the National Policing Improvement Agency said he would have suffocated in 30 minutes.

She said Mr Williams probably died in the early hours of August 16, a week before he was found, and there was no sign of injury apart from bruising to his elbows, which might have occurred some time before his death.

Speaking about how Mr Williams ended up in the bag, Mrs Sebire said an expert found it was “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.

“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 no signs of forced entry at the flat. None of his possessions were laid out in a “ritualistic” manner, she added.

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.

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.

Sun : Dresspionage: MI6 spy found dead in bag had 15,000 of dresses and shoes at his flat

Dresspionage: MI6 spy found dead in bag had 15,000 of dresses and shoes at his flat

By MIKE SULLIVAN | December 23, 2010

THE spy found dead in a bag at his flat had 15,000 worth of women's designer dresses and shoes, cops said yesterday.

MI6 code breaker Gareth Williams, 31, had also been using a string of bondage websites.

Some featured claustrophilia, in which confined spaces are used to get sexual kicks.

Mr Williams is thought to have died after a kinky game went wrong with a mystery partner.

Police yesterday appealed for the unknown person to come forward.

They also released an e-fit of a couple of Mediterranean appearance who visited the spook late at night a few weeks before he died.

The posh clothing - produced by fashion stars including Stella McCartney, Christopher Kane and Christian Louboutin - was inside six boxes.

The garments - all unused - were in small sizes but could have been worn by fitness enthusiast and cyclist Mr Williams, who was 5ft 8in and weighed just over 9st.

Det Chief Insp Jackie Sebire revealed that several wigs were also at the flat.

She said: "The items of clothing by select designers were purchased online and also in West End stores and boutiques.

"We would like to hear from anyone who may have served him to assist in helping us establish what the clothing was for.

"The clothing was all unopened and packed in boxes but we have evidence he bought them."

Ms Sebire added: "We know more than one person was in the flat at the time Gareth died and want them to come forward.

"There is no evidence that he was gay and we have not traced any past or present sexual partners."

Mr Williams's family, from Anglesey, North Wales, gave cops permission to reveal the information in an attempt to establish how he died.

The GCHQ worker, on a year-long attachment to MI6, was found dead in his flat in Pimlico, South West London, on August 23.

Investigators have discovered he attended a cabaret by drag queen Jimmy Woo at the Bistroteque, in Bethnal Green, East London, two nights before he died.

Tickets for two forthcoming drag queen concerts were found in his flat.

A witness claims they saw the maths genius in a gay haunt called Barcode in Vauxhall, South London, three months before he died.

Cops also found that at the end of last year Mr Williams began an eight-week fashion designing course at Central Saint Martins College, Clerkenwell, central London.

Independent : MI6 spy 'visited bondage sites' before his death

MI6 spy 'visited bondage sites' before his death

By Kim Sengupta, Defence Correspondent | December 23, 2010

Photofits have been released of a man and a woman whom police want to question in connection with the death of an MI6 spy found dead in a padlocked holdall in his central London flat.

Detectives say Gareth Williams, 31, was unlikely to have been alone at the time of his death. The couple were seen visiting the flat where he lived in Pimlico, south-west London, several weeks before the decomposing body in the bag was discovered in a bathtub on 23 August.

Police disclosed yesterday that Mr Williams, who worked as a codebreaker for the intelligence service, owned £15,000 worth of women's designer clothes. He had also viewed a number of bondage websites which showed people bound and tied.

Detective Chief Inspector Jackie Sebire, who is leading the investigation, 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 who was brought in to examine the red holdall in which Mr Williams was found concluded that he could not have locked it.

Mr Williams, who had been seconded from GCHQ to MI6, had visited a drag night at a club called Bistrotheque in Mile End, east London just 10 days before his death, and a gay bar called Barcode in May. He had taken a keen interest in clothes and had completed fashion design courses at Central Saint Martins art college in London.

Mr Williams, from Holyhead on Anglesey, north Wales, owned four mobile telephones, two of which were "pay as you go". Investigators have failed to trace any calls to the couple who visited Mr Williams' address in late June or July. The man and woman, described as being in their twenties and of Mediterranean appearance, were let in by another tenant in the building; they told her they had keys to the flat where Mr Williams lived.

At the time, Mr Williams was known to have been away. DCI Sebire 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. There is forensic evidence [in the flat] that indicates the presence of other people that we have not been able to eliminate yet."

Referring to Mr Williams' visits to bondage sites, DCI Sebire said: "It is not like continual browsing. It was not every evening or weekend. The sites primarily feature women, and there are guides on how to do certain things." He also said, "We do not have any evidence to suggest that he was gay."

Tests on Mr Williams' body showed no evidence that he had been poisoned, drugged or under the influence of alcohol.

Detective Chief Superintendent Hamish Campbell added that detectives hoped that by revealing details of Mr Williams' personal life, it would encourage people to come forward.

Sydney Morning Herald : Bondage link to dead spy

Bondage link to dead spy

December 23, 2010

A British spy whose body was found padlocked inside a bag at his London flat in August visited bondage websites before his death and had a huge stash of women's designer clothes, police said on Wednesday.

Police probing the mysterious death of Gareth Williams, 30, a codebreaker for Britain's foreign intelligence service MI6, said they remain convinced that someone else had helped to put him inside the holdall.

The revelations come after the inquiry increasingly focused on the reclusive intelligence agent's private life and moved away from speculation that his death was linked to his job.

Scotland Yard detective Hamish Campbell told reporters that investigators believed someone involved with the bondage or gay scene had "linked in" with Williams.

"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.

Williams's had visited five bondage sites - including hogtie.com, boundanna.com and artofconstriction.com - between the end of 2009 and last July, said detective Jackie Sebire, who is leading the inquiry.

"The sites primarily feature women and there are guides on how to do certain things," Sebire told reporters.

No bondage equipment was found in the flat, she added.

Williams also visited a drag cabaret in east London four days before his death and held tickets to two more, she said.

In addition, Williams had £15,000 ($23,230) worth of unworn women's designer clothing including tops, dresses and shoes in his wardrobe, plus a number of women's wigs, said Sebire.

Labels included Stella McCartney and Christian Louboutin.

She said the clothes could have been linked to two fashion courses he attended at the famed Central St Martin's College in London in 2009 and 2010 - neither of which British intelligence knew he had attended.

Sebire said that an expert who examined the red North Face bag in which Williams's naked body was found on August 23 had concluded that he could not have locked it himself. The keys were found inside the bag.

Police were trying to trace a couple of Mediterranean appearance known to have visited his flat in late June or July.

Williams was last seen alive on August 15.

He died just days before completing a one-year secondment to MI6 from GCHQ, Britain's electronic "listening post" which monitors communications for intelligence purposes, located in Cheltenham, southwest England.

AFP

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.