Riddle of the missing two weeks: Why did body of British spy with 'secretive' private life lie undiscovered for so long?
Police probe claims Gareth Williams had double life outside work
Shocked family describe him as a 'very, very private person'
Post-mortem inconclusive: Was spy strangled or poisoned?
By Daily Mail Reporter | [updated] December 20, 2010 | originally published date N/A (possibly Oct 1)
Detectives investigating the murder of a British spy were picking over his private life today for clues that could identify his killer.
The decomposing body of codes expert Gareth Williams, 30, was found stuffed into a bag in the bath of his London Government flat.
He was days from completing a one-year secondment to the headquarters of MI6 from his job at national 'listening post' GCHQ in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.
Further tests were taking place to determine how the cycling and fitness fanatic met his death after a post-mortem examination was inconclusive.
They could reveal if Mr Williams was strangled or asphyxiated, as well as if drugs or alcohol were present in his system.
Police believe Mr Williams's body could have lain undiscovered for up to a fortnight. Mystery still surrounds why no-one raised the alarm sooner.
It is thought he was on holiday at the time of his death. Another explanation may lie in claims that he travelled regularly to the U.S. for his work.
Detectives believe the key to the case could lie in his private life. His family said he was an extremely reserved person who kept himself very much to himself.
But investigators will be attempting to discover if the quietly spoken, mild-mannered codes and ciphers expert was leading a double life which he kept from his colleagues.
There have already been a series of lurid claims about his personal affairs while others have raised the possibility that his death was a sex game gone wrong.
Police sources said the telephone numbers of escort agencies were found on one SIM card while pornographic material had also been discovered in the flat
Detectives are examining his mobile phone and a number of Sim cards found at the address, a top-floor flat at a Georgian townhouse in Pimlico, central London.
Several clues are believed to have emerged from the analysis of telephone numbers called and received on the phone.
Parents Ian and Ellen travelled to London with his sister Ceri today from their home in Anglesey to speak to police and identify his body.
William Hughes, Mrs Williams’s cousin, said the family was deeply shocked. He said: 'The last time I saw Gareth was just a few months ago at a family party and he was fine.'
Mr Hughes said he never knew Mr Williams to bring home a girlfriend or a partner, describing him as a 'very, very private person'.
Scotland Yard detectives from the Homicide and Serious Crime unit are investigating the death in liaison with counter terrorism officers and the security services although they have not yet opened a murder inquiry.
There are no obvious signs of a robbery at the flat, believed to be one of several MI6-owned 'safe houses' in the Pimlico area.
However, security sources say they have a problem identifying what Mr Williams had so cannot be sure if anything was taken.
Experts have carried out a fingertip search of the address amid fears that top-secret work material could have gone missing.
Investigators suspect Mr Williams might have known his killer as there was no sign of forced entry at the flat in Alderney Street.
Last night it emerged that Intelligence officers were investigating whether state secrets had been stolen by Mr William's killer.
Security services fear that his murderer could have taken classified material - possibly held on a laptop or MP3 player - which could be sold on to Britain’s enemies.
A security source said: ‘Whatever the motives for this killing, there is the strong likelihood that items will have been taken and that is potentially a real problem because it may be difficult identifying exactly what he had at home.’
With much of the focus of MI6 on the terror threat posed by fanatics linked to Al Qaeda and the Taliban, one theory was that Mr Williams had been targeted because of his work.
In the flat in Alderney Street, a mobile telephone and a collection of SIM cards had been carefully laid out - in what was described as a bizarre ritualistic scene - and officers are researching each number called.
Tight security controlled the entrance to the flat, which is just a few hundred yards away from the MI6 headquarters across the Thames at Vauxhall.
Such were the precautions, it is believed, that eye scanners could have been used to gain entry.
Eileen Booth, 73, who lives opposite the flat, said detectives had come round and asked neighbours for their eye colour and height.
Mr Williams, a bachelor who had been subjected to security clearance before he was given the job, was described as a mild-mannered fitness and cycling fanatic dedicated to his work.
He was due to leave London and return early next month to his job at Cheltenham.
Finance worker Gemma Wingfield Digby, 26, who moved into the basement flat of Mr Williams’s building three weeks ago, said: ‘I saw him only once but he was such a sweet guy. All I wanted to do was give him a hug.’
Public documents reveal current and former residents of the freehold block where Mr Williams lived have links to London and Cheltenham.
One fear is that an area used by MI6 to house operatives - and where two former senior Tory politicians are neighbours - had now been compromised.
Former MI6 officer Harry Ferguson said: ‘There are lots of flats in this area owned by MI6 and their big worry will be that a terrorist group or intelligence group was involved.’
As Alderney Street remained cordoned off last night and forensic experts continued to search for clues, police were releasing little about the case.
Land Registry documents reveal that the block at number 36 is owned by a private company, New Rodina, whose details are hidden because it is registered in the British Virgin Islands and is not listed with Companies House.
The word rodina means motherland in Russian and Bulgarian. Several other residents were also linked to Cheltenham leading to suggestions the flats may have been used regularly by MI6.
The property was bought for £675,250 in 2000 with a mortgage from the Royal Bank of Scotland and has been remortgaged twice, in September 2005 and February 2006.
The documents show that the owner operated through a law firm known as Park Nelson, a firm which once occupied a rented office block in Bell Yard, off Fleet Street, but no longer appears to exist.
One Frenchman who lived at the flat between 2005 and 2006 is an expert in global satellite positioning, radio communications and high sensitivity antennae.
THE SPY THEY CALLED THE QUIET MAN: MATHS GENIUS, LONER AND CYCLING FANATIC AT THE CENTRE OF MYSTERY
Few who crossed Gareth Williams’s path would have been surprised to learn that he was a spy.
A mild-mannered loner, who preferred cycling on gruelling lone runs to the pub or clubs, acquaintances knew him as ‘the quiet man’.
His landlady for a decade, Jenny Elliott, yesterday recalled how the 31-year-old bachelor lived without a TV in the annexe of her home, often hearing him working alone on the tapes she knew were part of his work.
‘There was never noise, never a problem,’ she said. ‘He was the perfect person to have in your home... a genuinely nice, decent man.’
Gareth Williams, from Cheltenham, who has been found dead in a flat in Pimlico. His body was discovered stuffed in a large sports bag in his bath in a flat just a few hundred yards from the MI6 HQ
Retired office worker Mrs Elliott, 71, and her husband Brian came to know Mr Williams well during the ten years he spent with them at their £500,000 home in the Prestbury area of Cheltenham, while he worked for GCHQ, the government’s listening centre.
‘It’s a real tragedy,’ she said. ‘Gareth was a really nice guy who was polite and mild-mannered and wouldn’t hurt a fly.
MI6 Gareth Williams
‘When someone has lived with you for ten years you get to know them really well, and Gareth almost became a part of the family.
‘Gareth was a very likeable person but didn’t really have any friends as such. He was a cycling fanatic and was forever off on some bike ride or another but never really had friends round.
'He was an extremely intelligent person but would not talk about his job as it was a secret, on account of working for GCHQ. All he told me was it was something to do with codes.’
The last time Mrs Elliott spoke to Mr Williams flat was two weeks ago, when he called to confirm when he would be returning to Cheltenham from London.
He was a keen cyclist with the Cheltenham and County Club and took part in uphill races - coming eighth in a recent event.
Mrs Elliott said she did not remember him ever bringing a girlfriend back to the self-contained flat, comprising a bathroom, bedroom and kitchen, above her garage.
’That’s not to say he didn’t meet girls. But if he did, he certainly didn’t talk about them to me.
‘Gareth occasionally said he was meeting some of the guys from work for a quiet drink but he wouldn’t tell me who they were or where they were going and I never pried.
'He never had a television and I never heard music coming from the flat. He was the perfect tenant and I doubt I’ll be able to find one as good as him again.’
Mr Williams, a Welsh speaker, was raised in Holyhead on Anglesey by his father Ian, who worked at the nuclear power plant, and mother Ellen, together with sister Ceri.
Friends recall how it was his father who led Gareth to a love of cycling and together they were a frequent sight - even recently - pounding the roads of Anglesey.
According to his uncle William Hughes, it was always apparent that Gareth was an outstandingly bright boy.
‘The family knew this from a very, very young age. He was a very clever lad. When he was at secondary school he would go to university one day a week.’
According Mr Hughes, Gareth graduated at the age of only 19 from Bangor University and went on to Cambridge to continue his studies.
‘He was quiet, unassuming. When he came home on his weekends and holidays he’d be on his bicycle riding around the lanes of Anglesey.
‘He worked for GCHQ for many years. We knew he was working in London, but he’d never talk about his work and the family knew not to ask really. We didn’t know what he was doing. He never spoke about it.’
Mr Hughes added that to learn of the murder was a terrible shock.
‘I got a phone call... I couldn’t believe that such a thing had happened.’
John Barnes, who once worked with Gareth Williams’s father and who regularly cycled with the two men, said: ‘Gareth was brilliant at maths - a genius.’
Mr Williams’s parents were abroad on holiday when their son’s death was discovered and were said to be staying last night in London. Scotland
Yard detectives were at the family home in Holyhead, where they were speaking with the dead man’s sister, Ceri Subbe, who lives with her doctor husband, Christian. #
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FOR YOUR EYES ONLY: THE INTRIGUING TRUTH ABOUT LIFE AS A 21st CENTURY SPOOK
By MICHAEL BURLEIGH
Whether he was killed by Islamic extremists, Russian gangsters or someone altogether closer to him, MI6 operative Dr Gareth Williams died a spook's death.
Murdered in his Pimlico penthouse - which is owned by a Russian-named, British Virgin Islands-registered company - his body was found in the bathroom, in a sports bag.
Nearby, a mobile phone and numerous SIM cards had been laid out on a table. As murders go, it is the stuff of Bond films.
Williams usually worked in Cheltenham, inside the vast doughnut-shaped complex that is the Government's top secret communications monitoring agency, GCHQ - and was reportedly on secondment to MI6.
Indeed, 'Ceaucescu Towers', as MI6's brutally modernist Vauxhall Cross HQ is known, is just across the River Thames from his apartment, overshadowing a huge bus terminal, and the gay clubs and saunas of 'VoHo' - the area's red light district.
But are GCHQ and MI6 operatives such as Williams really James Bond figures? And what exactly do they do?
Gone are the days when agents were recruited after a discreet word from their Oxbridge tutor. In the 21st century, spooks are recruited like anyone else. Posts are publicly advertised, and hopefuls must first sit the kind of psychometric test - devised to reveal their powers of analysis and observation - that many blue chip companies now employ.
Nor are the successful candidates guaranteed an exotic life of high jinks and murky subterfuge. While television series such as Spooks - which is about the domestic intelligence service, MI5 - have glamourised life in Britain's secret services and have certainly proved a useful recruitment tool, the daily reality is rather less dramatic.
Many of the workers at GCHQ, for example, spend their days - and often nights - trawling through billions of emails, text messages and telephone calls, looking out for the one communication that might prove crucial.
They seek to glean intelligence on a wide range of targets, including terrorists, organised criminals and hostile foreign governments. They also seek to foil the growing threat of cyber attacks launched against Britain's banking system.
In 1998 they played a major role in locating the fugitive murderer Kenneth Noye - after he fled to southern Spain - by tracking his mobile phone.
During the Seventies, Eighties and Nineties, GCHQ waged a sophisticated electronic war against the IRA. It used electronic signals to prematurely detonate radio-controlled bombs, or listened in on telephone conversations between terrorists, looking out for such phrases as 'Are you coming out for a drink then?' - meaning an attack was imminent - or 'the bricks are in the wall' - a bomb is in place.
Much of this expertise will now have been re-directed, along with GCHQ manpower, to pick up fanatical Islamists using coded language about the imminence of a 'big wedding', a favourite code for a bomb attack.
But some of their operations seem downright bizarre. After the entire electricity grid in Auckland went down in the late 1990s, for example, GCHQ helped the New Zealand authorities trace the cyber-attack back to a group named the 'Anti-Christ Doom Squad', which had managed this feat from a laptop in an Amsterdam drug café.
GCHQ also eavesdropped on UN diplomats from six (friendly) nations crucial to the Security Council's second resolution on the permissibility of the Iraq War. Some, including Mexico, are still demanding an official apology from the UK.
Holding a doctorate in maths, Williams would have been wellqualified to work in a service which uses extremely complicated decryption methods to access sensitive - and heavily protected - information.
No wonder one former landlady said that the only noise she heard from Williams's otherwise hushed flat was the whirr of audio tapes.
Much of the work of GCHQ overlaps with that of MI6, who deal with real people rather than data pulsing through the ether. But most of MI6's agents are also worlds apart from the fictional figure of James Bond.
The majority of MI6 agents work in office jobs, inside the Vauxhall Cross complex. Here, they also sift through masses of data, about 90 per cent of which is 'open source'.
That means it is available to you or I, in newspapers or via the internet. They certainly bring acute analytical skills to the table, but several former ministers have openly questioned the value of what they yield.
Indeed, only 150 or so MI6 personnel are actually stationed abroad as secret agents. They are usually 'camouflaged' as counsellor, first secretary or protocol officer on the official lists of serving British diplomats working in key embassies.
Their main job is to recruit foreign agents, often people with inside knowledge on defence or commercial matters - the links between the security services and British business run deep - that might give an edge to British interests.
Some of these contacts will volunteer their services; others will have to be blackmailed or coerced into co-operating.
These operatives will spend much of their time hanging around the sort of places where lonely businessmen, civil servants, politicians or journalists congregate.
In fact, it used to be said that MI6's real work began after 6pm, when the interminable round of diplomatic cocktail parties started.
Being the life and soul of the party, rather than a gormless wallflower, was essential to the job, which may explain why so many men like Guy Burgess or Donald Maclean - the notorious KGB double agents - became hopeless drunks.
It was a tradition that continued with rogue MI5 officer Michael Bettany. On one occasion, when caught the worse for wear travelling on a train without a ticket, he shouted: 'You can't arrest me, I'm a spy.' Indeed he was, selling British secrets to the Russians, for which he was jailed in 1984.
Of course, nowadays, MI6's contemporary Al Qaeda and Taliban opponents are not to be found sipping gin at embassy receptions.
And so a handful of MI6 agents will be getting down and dirty, not just with their opposite numbers in the Middle East, but with the local people who inhabit dusty mountain encampments.
Chief among their tasks will be monitoring British subjects who claim to be in Afghanistan or Pakistan attending family weddings when they are really planning the next London Tube bombing in a terrorist training camp.
These agents will also be directing covert strikes on Taliban leaders, while simultaneously seeking to peel off the more amenable or corruptible ones to join the Afghan government.
This is extremely dangerous work, requiring a clear sense of purpose and nerves of steel. But they are also the minority.
Regardless of how Dr Williams died, and it may be that he was killed by someone close to him for reasons that were obscurely personal, he was part of a highly secretive, but often surprisingly mundane, culture.
And that, presumably, is why his mysterious death is the exception, rather than the rule.
MICHAEL BURLEIGH is the author of Blood And Rage: A Cultural History Of Terrorism (Harper Perennial, £9.99).
Showing posts with label Eileen Booth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Eileen Booth. Show all posts
Daily Mail : Riddle of the missing two weeks: Why did body of British spy with 'secretive' private life lie undiscovered for so long?
Monday, December 20, 2010
Filed under
Eileen Booth,
Michael Burleigh,
post-mortem,
private life
by Winter Patriot
on Monday, December 20, 2010 |
link |
email |
TSWKTM home |
SHATASM home |
WP home
Channel 4 : Police probe murdered MI6 spy's private life
Friday, August 27, 2010
Police probe murdered MI6 spy's private life
By Channel 4 News | August 26, 2010
Detectives investigating the killing of an MI6 codes expert are looking into his private life for information which may lead them to his killer.
Murdered MI6 codes expert Gareth Williams (Credit: London Media)
Detectives are questioning associates and friends of murdered codes expert Gareth Williams for clues which could identify his killer.
The remains of the 30 year old, who was employed by the top-secret GCHQ listening station, were found in a holdall in the bath of his flat in south-west London.
His body is thought to have lain there for up to a fortnight.
Police also discovered his mobile phone and several sim cards laid out nearby when they broke into the top-floor flat in Alderney Street, Pimlico at around 4.40pm on Monday.
Mr Williams's family are travelling to London from their home in Wales to speaks to police and formally identify the body.
A man who answered the door at the family home said: "As you can imagine, it is hard enough at the moment and we have nothing to say."
Last night, a post-mortem examination on Mr Williams proved inconclusive so further tests, including toxicological analysis of his blood for evidence of drugs and alcohol, will now take place.
Investigators from the Metropolitan Police's homicide and serious crime command called the death "suspicious and unexplained", but sources said there is no evidence that Mr Williams was stabbed, contradicting earlier reports.
Those close to the inquiry have played down speculation that the murder is linked to his secretive line of work and security sources say there is no evidence linking Mr Williams's death to any rival secret service.
He had been employed as a communications officer at the GCHQ "listening post" in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, but was on secondment at the headquarters of MI6, the Secret Intelligence Service, which is only about half a mile from the flat.
Public documents have revealed that several current and former residents of the freehold block also have links to London and Cheltenham.
Police are continuing to scour Mr William's flat for evidence and cordons remain in place on the prestigious street which is also home to two former home secretaries.
One source said: "The suggestion there are terrorism or national security links to this case is pretty low down the list of probabilities."
A Foreign Office spokesman said: "There is an ongoing police investigation.
"It is long-standing government policy not to confirm or deny that any individual works for the intelligence agencies."
Land Registry documents reveal the block at number 36 Alderney Street, where the body was found, is owned by a private company, New Rodina.
The details of this company are hidden because it is registered in the British Virgin Islands and not listed with Companies House.
The word rodina means "motherland" in Russian and Bulgarian.
The property was bought for £675,250 in 2000 with a mortgage from the Royal Bank of Scotland and has been remortgaged twice, in September 2005 and February 2006.
The documents reveal the owner operated through a law firm known as Park Nelson.
This firm once occupied a rented block in Bell Yard, off Fleet Street, but it no longer appears to exist.
Neighbours shocked
Mr Williams joined Cambridge University's St Catharine's College to undertake a postgraduate certificate in mathematics in 2000 but dropped out a year later.
His former landlady Jenny Elliott said he lived in a flat attached to her Cheltenham property for 10 years and was preparing to return on 3 September.
"He phoned me a few weeks ago to say he was coming back," she said.
She described him as "a lovely guy, very friendly, very well-mannered and polite and no trouble at all".
She added: "He was often away. He went to America to work a lot and often combined it with holiday because he hated flying."
Former Tory leader Michael Howard and Sir Leon Brittan are among a host of politicians and bankers who live in the street, according to residents.
Mr Williams's neighbours described him as athletic, a keen cyclist and as having a strong Welsh accent.
Neighbour Laura Houghton said a man identifying himself as Gareth lived at the address that is being searched.
She said: "I have spoken to him only once. I met him in the entrance hall of the set of flats because of a boring plant issue about a year ago.
"He was extremely friendly and had a Welsh accent."
She said the man had an athletic build, and added: "He was not especially tall. He had medium to short brown hair.
"His windows were always shut and curtains were often closed. I could never tell if anyone was in.
"It was strange that we never saw him come and go. I just assumed he worked away.
"The first I heard of anything happening was when the police knocked on my door and asked me if I had heard anything happening. I told them the walls were so thick that I couldn't hear a thing.
"All they told me was that there had been a serious incident. I'm amazed it's taken this long to all come out."
GCHQ has a rigorous recruitment system which includes enquiring about character, family history and personal circumstances.
On the GCHQ website it says:
"GCHQ conducts enquiries into the character, family history and personal circumstances of candidates before they can be employed. It is for the protection of both the individual and GCHQ assets that we consider the risk of an individual being placed in a potentially compromising position".
"To ensure your suitability for appointment you will have to undergo a rigorous security clearance. As part of this a criminal records check will be conducted and you will be drugs tested.
"If you do not meet the Developed Vetting requirements for the job, or fail to disclose any security related issues or concerns, you will not be considered for employment."
It is unlikely GCHQ will consider a person for a position in GCHQ if they:
• Have used Class A drugs (e.g. ecstasy, cocaine, etc) in the last 12 months.
• Have used Class B/C drugs (e.g. amphetamines, cannabis, etc) in the last 6 months.
• Are currently being treated for an addiction (e.g. alcohol, gambling, etc) or have received such treatment in the last 12 months.
• Have ever suffered from manic depression or schizophrenia.
• Are currently bankrupt or the subject of an Individual Voluntary Agreement (IVA).
Pensioner Eileen Booth, 73, who lives opposite, said detectives told her the murder may have taken place two weeks ago.
She said: "A few years ago, I would definitely have known who it was that had been killed. But nobody knows each other these days.
Another neighbour Rob Mills, 35, who lives two doors away, said: "We've got two children, it's shocking.
"I'm told the man lived at the top-floor flat but we haven't ever seen him. It's not like you'd tell your neighbours if you were a spy."
Jason Hollands, 41, a city worker, who also lives nearby, said: "It's truly gruesome. This is a very mixed area of bankers and politicians. I've spoken to the next-door neighbour, who knew nothing."
Murder investigation
Scotland Yard has launched a murder investigation, led by detectives from its homicide and serious crime command wing.
It is thought that counter-terrorist and security service officers are also helping detectives in the inquiry.
Investigators say they are following up "several lines of inquiry" but declined to confirm the occupation of the dead man.
It is the first murder on British soil of someone linked to the secret services since the death of Alexander Litvinenko in 2006.
The former KGB agent died in hospital after drinking tea laced with radioactive polonium-210.
In September 1978, Bulgarian defector Georgi Markov was killed by an assassin who used an umbrella to fire a deadly ricin pellet into his leg as he walked across Waterloo Bridge.
By Channel 4 News | August 26, 2010
Detectives investigating the killing of an MI6 codes expert are looking into his private life for information which may lead them to his killer.
Murdered MI6 codes expert Gareth Williams (Credit: London Media)
Detectives are questioning associates and friends of murdered codes expert Gareth Williams for clues which could identify his killer.
The remains of the 30 year old, who was employed by the top-secret GCHQ listening station, were found in a holdall in the bath of his flat in south-west London.
His body is thought to have lain there for up to a fortnight.
Police also discovered his mobile phone and several sim cards laid out nearby when they broke into the top-floor flat in Alderney Street, Pimlico at around 4.40pm on Monday.
Mr Williams's family are travelling to London from their home in Wales to speaks to police and formally identify the body.
A man who answered the door at the family home said: "As you can imagine, it is hard enough at the moment and we have nothing to say."
Last night, a post-mortem examination on Mr Williams proved inconclusive so further tests, including toxicological analysis of his blood for evidence of drugs and alcohol, will now take place.
Investigators from the Metropolitan Police's homicide and serious crime command called the death "suspicious and unexplained", but sources said there is no evidence that Mr Williams was stabbed, contradicting earlier reports.
Those close to the inquiry have played down speculation that the murder is linked to his secretive line of work and security sources say there is no evidence linking Mr Williams's death to any rival secret service.
He had been employed as a communications officer at the GCHQ "listening post" in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, but was on secondment at the headquarters of MI6, the Secret Intelligence Service, which is only about half a mile from the flat.
Public documents have revealed that several current and former residents of the freehold block also have links to London and Cheltenham.
Police are continuing to scour Mr William's flat for evidence and cordons remain in place on the prestigious street which is also home to two former home secretaries.
One source said: "The suggestion there are terrorism or national security links to this case is pretty low down the list of probabilities."
A Foreign Office spokesman said: "There is an ongoing police investigation.
"It is long-standing government policy not to confirm or deny that any individual works for the intelligence agencies."
Land Registry documents reveal the block at number 36 Alderney Street, where the body was found, is owned by a private company, New Rodina.
The details of this company are hidden because it is registered in the British Virgin Islands and not listed with Companies House.
The word rodina means "motherland" in Russian and Bulgarian.
The property was bought for £675,250 in 2000 with a mortgage from the Royal Bank of Scotland and has been remortgaged twice, in September 2005 and February 2006.
The documents reveal the owner operated through a law firm known as Park Nelson.
This firm once occupied a rented block in Bell Yard, off Fleet Street, but it no longer appears to exist.
Neighbours shocked
Mr Williams joined Cambridge University's St Catharine's College to undertake a postgraduate certificate in mathematics in 2000 but dropped out a year later.
His former landlady Jenny Elliott said he lived in a flat attached to her Cheltenham property for 10 years and was preparing to return on 3 September.
"He phoned me a few weeks ago to say he was coming back," she said.
She described him as "a lovely guy, very friendly, very well-mannered and polite and no trouble at all".
She added: "He was often away. He went to America to work a lot and often combined it with holiday because he hated flying."
Former Tory leader Michael Howard and Sir Leon Brittan are among a host of politicians and bankers who live in the street, according to residents.
Mr Williams's neighbours described him as athletic, a keen cyclist and as having a strong Welsh accent.
Neighbour Laura Houghton said a man identifying himself as Gareth lived at the address that is being searched.
She said: "I have spoken to him only once. I met him in the entrance hall of the set of flats because of a boring plant issue about a year ago.
"He was extremely friendly and had a Welsh accent."
She said the man had an athletic build, and added: "He was not especially tall. He had medium to short brown hair.
"His windows were always shut and curtains were often closed. I could never tell if anyone was in.
"It was strange that we never saw him come and go. I just assumed he worked away.
"The first I heard of anything happening was when the police knocked on my door and asked me if I had heard anything happening. I told them the walls were so thick that I couldn't hear a thing.
"All they told me was that there had been a serious incident. I'm amazed it's taken this long to all come out."
GCHQ has a rigorous recruitment system which includes enquiring about character, family history and personal circumstances.
On the GCHQ website it says:
"GCHQ conducts enquiries into the character, family history and personal circumstances of candidates before they can be employed. It is for the protection of both the individual and GCHQ assets that we consider the risk of an individual being placed in a potentially compromising position".
"To ensure your suitability for appointment you will have to undergo a rigorous security clearance. As part of this a criminal records check will be conducted and you will be drugs tested.
"If you do not meet the Developed Vetting requirements for the job, or fail to disclose any security related issues or concerns, you will not be considered for employment."
It is unlikely GCHQ will consider a person for a position in GCHQ if they:
• Have used Class A drugs (e.g. ecstasy, cocaine, etc) in the last 12 months.
• Have used Class B/C drugs (e.g. amphetamines, cannabis, etc) in the last 6 months.
• Are currently being treated for an addiction (e.g. alcohol, gambling, etc) or have received such treatment in the last 12 months.
• Have ever suffered from manic depression or schizophrenia.
• Are currently bankrupt or the subject of an Individual Voluntary Agreement (IVA).
Pensioner Eileen Booth, 73, who lives opposite, said detectives told her the murder may have taken place two weeks ago.
She said: "A few years ago, I would definitely have known who it was that had been killed. But nobody knows each other these days.
Another neighbour Rob Mills, 35, who lives two doors away, said: "We've got two children, it's shocking.
"I'm told the man lived at the top-floor flat but we haven't ever seen him. It's not like you'd tell your neighbours if you were a spy."
Jason Hollands, 41, a city worker, who also lives nearby, said: "It's truly gruesome. This is a very mixed area of bankers and politicians. I've spoken to the next-door neighbour, who knew nothing."
Murder investigation
Scotland Yard has launched a murder investigation, led by detectives from its homicide and serious crime command wing.
It is thought that counter-terrorist and security service officers are also helping detectives in the inquiry.
Investigators say they are following up "several lines of inquiry" but declined to confirm the occupation of the dead man.
It is the first murder on British soil of someone linked to the secret services since the death of Alexander Litvinenko in 2006.
The former KGB agent died in hospital after drinking tea laced with radioactive polonium-210.
In September 1978, Bulgarian defector Georgi Markov was killed by an assassin who used an umbrella to fire a deadly ricin pellet into his leg as he walked across Waterloo Bridge.
Filed under
Alderney Street,
blood,
Channel 4,
Cheltenham,
CIA,
clearance,
Eileen Booth,
Jenny Elliot,
Laura Houghton,
murder
by Winter Patriot
on Friday, August 27, 2010 |
link |
email |
TSWKTM home |
SHATASM home |
WP home
Scotsman : Race to solve secret of grisly murder in an MI6 'safehouse'
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Race to solve secret of grisly murder in an MI6 'safehouse'
By TOM PETERKIN | August 26, 2010
POLICE were last night investigating the murder of a British spy whose decomposing body lay for two weeks stuffed inside a large sports holdall in the bath of a smart London flat.
The discovery of the body of the former University of Cambridge student, named as Gareth Williams, led to feverish speculation about the nature of his death, with detectives trying to establish whether or not it was connected to his work with the intelligence agencies.
Mr Williams, in his 30s, was employed as a communications officer at the GCHQ "listening post" in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.
But at the time of his murder, it is understood he was on secondment to Vauxhall Cross, the riverside headquarters of MI6, the Secret Intelligence Service, about half a mile from the flat in Alderney Street, Pimlico.
Officers discovered Mr Williams after breaking into the flat on Monday afternoon when the alarm was raised by colleagues who had not seen him for "some time".
They found his body, as well as his mobile phone and several sim cards, laid out nearby at the top-floor flat.
A Home Office pathologist yesterday began a post mortem examination to learn exactly how Mr Williams, died.
The officer was described by one Pimlico neighbour as "extremely friendly".
Sources close to the inquiry played down speculation that the murder was linked to his secretive line of work.
One source said: "The suggestion there is terrorism or national security links to this case is pretty low down the list of probabilities."
Whatever the cause of his death, Mr Williams' murder is a severe blow to MI6 and follows last month's court case that saw former MI6 worker Daniel Houghton admit charges of unlawfully disclosing top-secret material.
The Houghton case resulted in questions being raised about the suitability of the people being recruited by MI6.
Last night, the murder led to intelligence experts suggesting that if it was found Mr Williams had put himself in a dangerous situation, then more questions about MI6 vetting procedures would be posed. Writing in The Scotsman, Professor Anthony Glees, an academic specialising in intelligence matters, suggested that "these processes are not working as well as they should".
Professor Glees added: "It is always possible that Mr Williams was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time."
But Prof Glees, the director of the Centre for Security and Intelligence Studies at the University of Buckingham (BUCSIS), added: "It is peculiar if this flat was, as I suspect, a Secret Intelligence Service safehouse, that someone got into the house to commit the crime without being invited in. That would be very worrying."
According to Prof Glees, if a dangerous individual had entered the Pimlico flat because Mr Williams was speaking to him in a professional capacity, then there would have been someone else from the secret services present.
"Cases like this tend to have something to do with a person's private life - whether that it is something to do with unusual sexual activity or drug dealing," Professor Glees said.
The Pimlico flat's proximity to MI6's HQ and the fact that it is owned by a company called New Rodina, registered in the British Virgin Islands, led Professor Glees to surmise it was a secret services safehouse. The word rodina means "motherland" in Russian and Bulgarian.
The property was bought for £675,250 in 2000 and remortgaged twice.
Before Mr Williams' secondment to London, he had lived in a flat in Cheltenham for the last ten years. He was preparing to return there next month.
In London, neighbours described Mr Williams as an "extremely friendly" and athletic man who enjoyed cycling and had a strong Welsh accent.
Laura Houghton, 30, a secretary, said: "His windows were always shut and curtains were often closed. I could never tell if anyone was in.
"It was strange that we never saw him come and go. I just assumed he worked away."
Eileen Booth, 73, who lives opposite, said detectives told her the murder might have taken place two weeks ago.
"A few years ago, I would definitely have known who it was that had been killed. But nobody knows each other these days," she said.
The scene of the murder is a two-storey flat on a prestigious street among a row of expensive five-storey Victorian townhouses.
Residents of the prestigious street include former home secretaries Michael Howard and Lord Brittan. Public documents revealed several current and former residents of the freehold block have links to London and Cheltenham.
Last night, Mr Williams' parents were on their way to London. His uncle William Hughes said he had no idea of the type of work the spy did.
"He worked for GCHQ for many years. I knew he was working in London doing something," Mr Hughes said.
"He would never talk about his work and it felt rude to ask, really."
By TOM PETERKIN | August 26, 2010
POLICE were last night investigating the murder of a British spy whose decomposing body lay for two weeks stuffed inside a large sports holdall in the bath of a smart London flat.
The discovery of the body of the former University of Cambridge student, named as Gareth Williams, led to feverish speculation about the nature of his death, with detectives trying to establish whether or not it was connected to his work with the intelligence agencies.
Mr Williams, in his 30s, was employed as a communications officer at the GCHQ "listening post" in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.
But at the time of his murder, it is understood he was on secondment to Vauxhall Cross, the riverside headquarters of MI6, the Secret Intelligence Service, about half a mile from the flat in Alderney Street, Pimlico.
Officers discovered Mr Williams after breaking into the flat on Monday afternoon when the alarm was raised by colleagues who had not seen him for "some time".
They found his body, as well as his mobile phone and several sim cards, laid out nearby at the top-floor flat.
A Home Office pathologist yesterday began a post mortem examination to learn exactly how Mr Williams, died.
The officer was described by one Pimlico neighbour as "extremely friendly".
Sources close to the inquiry played down speculation that the murder was linked to his secretive line of work.
One source said: "The suggestion there is terrorism or national security links to this case is pretty low down the list of probabilities."
Whatever the cause of his death, Mr Williams' murder is a severe blow to MI6 and follows last month's court case that saw former MI6 worker Daniel Houghton admit charges of unlawfully disclosing top-secret material.
The Houghton case resulted in questions being raised about the suitability of the people being recruited by MI6.
Last night, the murder led to intelligence experts suggesting that if it was found Mr Williams had put himself in a dangerous situation, then more questions about MI6 vetting procedures would be posed. Writing in The Scotsman, Professor Anthony Glees, an academic specialising in intelligence matters, suggested that "these processes are not working as well as they should".
Professor Glees added: "It is always possible that Mr Williams was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time."
But Prof Glees, the director of the Centre for Security and Intelligence Studies at the University of Buckingham (BUCSIS), added: "It is peculiar if this flat was, as I suspect, a Secret Intelligence Service safehouse, that someone got into the house to commit the crime without being invited in. That would be very worrying."
According to Prof Glees, if a dangerous individual had entered the Pimlico flat because Mr Williams was speaking to him in a professional capacity, then there would have been someone else from the secret services present.
"Cases like this tend to have something to do with a person's private life - whether that it is something to do with unusual sexual activity or drug dealing," Professor Glees said.
The Pimlico flat's proximity to MI6's HQ and the fact that it is owned by a company called New Rodina, registered in the British Virgin Islands, led Professor Glees to surmise it was a secret services safehouse. The word rodina means "motherland" in Russian and Bulgarian.
The property was bought for £675,250 in 2000 and remortgaged twice.
Before Mr Williams' secondment to London, he had lived in a flat in Cheltenham for the last ten years. He was preparing to return there next month.
In London, neighbours described Mr Williams as an "extremely friendly" and athletic man who enjoyed cycling and had a strong Welsh accent.
Laura Houghton, 30, a secretary, said: "His windows were always shut and curtains were often closed. I could never tell if anyone was in.
"It was strange that we never saw him come and go. I just assumed he worked away."
Eileen Booth, 73, who lives opposite, said detectives told her the murder might have taken place two weeks ago.
"A few years ago, I would definitely have known who it was that had been killed. But nobody knows each other these days," she said.
The scene of the murder is a two-storey flat on a prestigious street among a row of expensive five-storey Victorian townhouses.
Residents of the prestigious street include former home secretaries Michael Howard and Lord Brittan. Public documents revealed several current and former residents of the freehold block have links to London and Cheltenham.
Last night, Mr Williams' parents were on their way to London. His uncle William Hughes said he had no idea of the type of work the spy did.
"He worked for GCHQ for many years. I knew he was working in London doing something," Mr Hughes said.
"He would never talk about his work and it felt rude to ask, really."
Filed under
Alderney Street,
Cheltenham,
CIA,
decomposing,
Eileen Booth,
Laura Houghton,
murder,
Scotsman,
William Hughes
by Winter Patriot
on Thursday, August 26, 2010 |
link |
email |
TSWKTM home |
SHATASM home |
WP home
Daily Mail : Did spy's killer steal state secrets? MI6 agents search for 'missing' laptop or MP3 player after body-in-bag murder case
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Did spy's killer steal state secrets? MI6 agents search for 'missing' laptop or MP3 player after body-in-bag murder case
By David Williams, Charlotte Gill and Tom Kelly | August 26. 2010
Intelligence officers are investigating whether state secrets were stolen by the killer of a British spy.
The MI6 agent, whose body was found in a sports bag in the bath of his flat, was named yesterday as Gareth Williams.
He was a cipher and codes specialist on secondment to the Secret Intelligence Service from the GCHQ listening station, and often took his work home.
Security services fear that his murderer could have taken classified material - possibly held on a laptop or MP3 player - which could be sold on to Britain’s enemies.
The partially decomposed body of the talented 31-year-old loner was discovered in his top-floor flat at a Georgian townhouse in Pimlico, central London.
It is thought to have lain there for two weeks before it was found on Monday. Mr Williams is believed to have been on annual leave before returning to his job at GCHQ on September 3.
Detectives yesterday spent a second day in the two-bedroom flat - believed to be one of several ‘safe houses’ in that area used by MI6 - looking for clues and trying to check if anything was missing.
A security source said: ‘Whatever the motives for this killing, there is the strong likelihood that items will have been taken and that is potentially a real problem because it may be difficult identifying exactly what he had at home.’
With much of the focus of MI6 on the terror threat posed by fanatics linked to Al Qaeda and the Taliban, one theory was that Mr Williams had been targeted because of his work.
In the flat in Alderney Street, a mobile telephone and a collection of SIM cards had been carefully laid out - in what was described as a bizarre ritualistic scene - and officers are researching each number called.
Police said the results of a post-mortem examination were inconclusive.
Toxicology tests have been ordered to see if Mr Williams had been poisoned. Another possibility is that he was smothered or strangled before being bundled into the bag.
But lurid speculation that he had been stabbed or even dismembered was discounted by police sources.
They said the telephone numbers of escort agencies were found on one SIM card while pornographic material had also been discovered in the flat.
It is not known exactly when Mr Williams was reported missing - but one suggestion is that he had taken some time off and had been due to return to work on Monday.
Officers from Scotland Yard’s Murder Squad, with assistance from their counter-terrorist and security service colleagues, are delving into the private life of Mr Williams, seeking to discover whether he had relationship or money problems.
Another possibility is that he was the victim of a dangerous sex game gone wrong.
Tight security controlled the entrance to the flat, which is just a few hundred yards away from the MI6 headquarters across the Thames at Vauxhall.
Such were the precautions, it is believed, that eye scanners could have been used to gain entry.
Eileen Booth, 73, who lives opposite the flat, said detectives had come round and asked neighbours for their eye colour and height.
Mr Williams, a bachelor who had been subjected to security clearance before he was given the job, was described as a mild-mannered fitness and cycling fanatic dedicated to his work.
He was due to leave London and return early next month to his job at Cheltenham.
Finance worker Gemma Wingfield Digby, 26, who moved into the basement flat of Mr Williams’s building three weeks ago, said: ‘I saw him only once but he was such a sweet guy. All I wanted to do was give him a hug.’
Public documents reveal current and former residents of the freehold block where Mr Williams lived have links to London and Cheltenham.
One fear is that an area used by MI6 to house operatives - and where two former senior Tory politicians are neighbours - had now been compromised.
Former MI6 officer Harry Ferguson said: ‘There are lots of flats in this area owned by MI6 and their big worry will be that a terrorist group or intelligence group was involved.’
As Alderney Street remained cordoned off last night and forensic experts continued to search for clues, police were releasing little about the case.
Land Registry documents reveal that the block at number 36 is owned by a private company, New Rodina, whose details are hidden because it is registered in the British Virgin Islands and is not listed with Companies House.
The word rodina means motherland in Russian and Bulgarian. Several other residents were also linked to Cheltenham leading to suggestions the flats may have been used regularly by MI6.
The property was bought for £675,250 in 2000 with a mortgage from the Royal Bank of Scotland and has been remortgaged twice, in September 2005 and February 2006.
The documents show that the owner operated through a law firm known as Park Nelson, a firm which once occupied a rented office block in Bell Yard, off Fleet Street, but no longer appears to exist.
One Frenchman who lived at the flat between 2005 and 2006 is an expert in global satellite positioning, radio communications and high sensitivity antennae.
By David Williams, Charlotte Gill and Tom Kelly | August 26. 2010
Intelligence officers are investigating whether state secrets were stolen by the killer of a British spy.
The MI6 agent, whose body was found in a sports bag in the bath of his flat, was named yesterday as Gareth Williams.
He was a cipher and codes specialist on secondment to the Secret Intelligence Service from the GCHQ listening station, and often took his work home.
Security services fear that his murderer could have taken classified material - possibly held on a laptop or MP3 player - which could be sold on to Britain’s enemies.
The partially decomposed body of the talented 31-year-old loner was discovered in his top-floor flat at a Georgian townhouse in Pimlico, central London.
It is thought to have lain there for two weeks before it was found on Monday. Mr Williams is believed to have been on annual leave before returning to his job at GCHQ on September 3.
Detectives yesterday spent a second day in the two-bedroom flat - believed to be one of several ‘safe houses’ in that area used by MI6 - looking for clues and trying to check if anything was missing.
A security source said: ‘Whatever the motives for this killing, there is the strong likelihood that items will have been taken and that is potentially a real problem because it may be difficult identifying exactly what he had at home.’
With much of the focus of MI6 on the terror threat posed by fanatics linked to Al Qaeda and the Taliban, one theory was that Mr Williams had been targeted because of his work.
In the flat in Alderney Street, a mobile telephone and a collection of SIM cards had been carefully laid out - in what was described as a bizarre ritualistic scene - and officers are researching each number called.
Police said the results of a post-mortem examination were inconclusive.
Toxicology tests have been ordered to see if Mr Williams had been poisoned. Another possibility is that he was smothered or strangled before being bundled into the bag.
But lurid speculation that he had been stabbed or even dismembered was discounted by police sources.
They said the telephone numbers of escort agencies were found on one SIM card while pornographic material had also been discovered in the flat.
It is not known exactly when Mr Williams was reported missing - but one suggestion is that he had taken some time off and had been due to return to work on Monday.
Officers from Scotland Yard’s Murder Squad, with assistance from their counter-terrorist and security service colleagues, are delving into the private life of Mr Williams, seeking to discover whether he had relationship or money problems.
Another possibility is that he was the victim of a dangerous sex game gone wrong.
Tight security controlled the entrance to the flat, which is just a few hundred yards away from the MI6 headquarters across the Thames at Vauxhall.
Such were the precautions, it is believed, that eye scanners could have been used to gain entry.
Eileen Booth, 73, who lives opposite the flat, said detectives had come round and asked neighbours for their eye colour and height.
Mr Williams, a bachelor who had been subjected to security clearance before he was given the job, was described as a mild-mannered fitness and cycling fanatic dedicated to his work.
He was due to leave London and return early next month to his job at Cheltenham.
Finance worker Gemma Wingfield Digby, 26, who moved into the basement flat of Mr Williams’s building three weeks ago, said: ‘I saw him only once but he was such a sweet guy. All I wanted to do was give him a hug.’
Public documents reveal current and former residents of the freehold block where Mr Williams lived have links to London and Cheltenham.
One fear is that an area used by MI6 to house operatives - and where two former senior Tory politicians are neighbours - had now been compromised.
Former MI6 officer Harry Ferguson said: ‘There are lots of flats in this area owned by MI6 and their big worry will be that a terrorist group or intelligence group was involved.’
As Alderney Street remained cordoned off last night and forensic experts continued to search for clues, police were releasing little about the case.
Land Registry documents reveal that the block at number 36 is owned by a private company, New Rodina, whose details are hidden because it is registered in the British Virgin Islands and is not listed with Companies House.
The word rodina means motherland in Russian and Bulgarian. Several other residents were also linked to Cheltenham leading to suggestions the flats may have been used regularly by MI6.
The property was bought for £675,250 in 2000 with a mortgage from the Royal Bank of Scotland and has been remortgaged twice, in September 2005 and February 2006.
The documents show that the owner operated through a law firm known as Park Nelson, a firm which once occupied a rented office block in Bell Yard, off Fleet Street, but no longer appears to exist.
One Frenchman who lived at the flat between 2005 and 2006 is an expert in global satellite positioning, radio communications and high sensitivity antennae.
Filed under
Alderney Street,
Cheltenham,
CIA,
clearance,
Daily Mail,
Eileen Booth,
forensic,
game,
Harry Ferguson,
laptop,
money,
murder,
semen,
toxicology
by Winter Patriot
on Thursday, August 26, 2010 |
link |
email |
TSWKTM home |
SHATASM home |
WP home
Adelaide Now : Spy's remains found in bag in bath
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Spy's remains found in bag in bath
From correspondents in London | From: AFP | August 26, 2010
BRITISH police were today investigating the suspicious death of a man in London who was reportedly a spy working for the foreign intelligence agency MI6.
Detectives said the body of the Gareth Williams, 30, was found on Tuesday in the top-floor flat of an upmarket building within walking distance of the MI6 headquarters on the River Thames.
His decomposing remains were found stuffed in a bag in the bath of the property, where they were thought to have lain for up to a fortnight, reports said.
A post-mortem examination late Wednesday failed to establish a cause of death and further tests will now take place, police said.
News media reported there was no evidence he had been stabbed, contradicting earlier reports.
According to The Sun newspaper, Williams had worked for GCHQ, the government's communication monitoring centre, but was on secondment with MI6. The report said his body was found in a suitcase in the bathroom.
The victim's mobile phone and a number of SIM cards were carefully laid out elsewhere in the flat, according to a separate report in the Daily Mail.
"Officers from the homicide and serious crime command are investigating, and are treating this as a suspicious and unexplained death," said London's Metropolitan Police.
Police said they visited the flat in Westminster after reports that the occupant had not been seen for some time.
The road remained cordoned off today and curtains were drawn in the flat where the body was believed to have been found.
Eileen Booth, 73, who lives opposite the building where the body was found, said detectives had been visiting neighbours as part of their investigation, adding: "They said this probably happened two weeks ago."
From correspondents in London | From: AFP | August 26, 2010
BRITISH police were today investigating the suspicious death of a man in London who was reportedly a spy working for the foreign intelligence agency MI6.
Detectives said the body of the Gareth Williams, 30, was found on Tuesday in the top-floor flat of an upmarket building within walking distance of the MI6 headquarters on the River Thames.
His decomposing remains were found stuffed in a bag in the bath of the property, where they were thought to have lain for up to a fortnight, reports said.
A post-mortem examination late Wednesday failed to establish a cause of death and further tests will now take place, police said.
News media reported there was no evidence he had been stabbed, contradicting earlier reports.
According to The Sun newspaper, Williams had worked for GCHQ, the government's communication monitoring centre, but was on secondment with MI6. The report said his body was found in a suitcase in the bathroom.
The victim's mobile phone and a number of SIM cards were carefully laid out elsewhere in the flat, according to a separate report in the Daily Mail.
"Officers from the homicide and serious crime command are investigating, and are treating this as a suspicious and unexplained death," said London's Metropolitan Police.
Police said they visited the flat in Westminster after reports that the occupant had not been seen for some time.
The road remained cordoned off today and curtains were drawn in the flat where the body was believed to have been found.
Eileen Booth, 73, who lives opposite the building where the body was found, said detectives had been visiting neighbours as part of their investigation, adding: "They said this probably happened two weeks ago."
Filed under
decomposing,
Eileen Booth
by Winter Patriot
on Thursday, August 26, 2010 |
link |
email |
TSWKTM home |
SHATASM home |
WP home
Independent : Mystery of the MI6 man who was found dead in his bath
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Mystery of the MI6 man who was found dead in his bath
Neighbours describe reclusive man whose body lay undiscovered for two weeks
By Terri Judd | August 26, 2010
An unassuming and private character, Gareth Williams only ever described his work as "something to do with codes". Over the years he had grown accustomed to fading into the background. But when he repeatedly failed to turn up for work at the riverside headquarters of MI6, colleagues became so concerned that they called in Scotland Yard to open up his flat. From that point on Mr Williams' death – if not his life – was to be very public.
The scene that greeted the detectives inside the top-floor apartment of an expensive central London house was gruesome. A decomposing body had been stuffed inside a large sports holdall in the bath. Nearby, Mr Williams' mobile telephone had been laid out alongside several SIM cards.
Yesterday the 30-year-old's work as a communications officer at the intelligence "listening post" GCHQ, seconded to the Secret Intelligence Service, led to speculation that he had been brutally murdered because of his job. Was he the first spy to be killed in Britain since the former KGB officer Alexander Litvinenko was poisoned in 2006?
The reality, however, is likely to be more mundane. Sources within the murder inquiry led by the Metropolitan Police's Homicide and Serious Crime Command insisted that "the suggestion there are terrorism or national security links to this case is pretty low down the list of probabilities". They are believed to be concentrating on Mr Williams' private life.
While his body was discovered at around 4.40pm on Monday after the door to his flat was broken down, it appeared that he may have been dead for as long as two weeks. The first post-mortem examination proved inconclusive yesterday evening, though it did find that, contrary to earlier reports, he had not been stabbed.
Police have described the death as "suspicious and unexplained," and a further examination is due to be held soon to find out exactly how Mr Williams, yet to be officially identified, died. It will include toxicological analysis of his blood to test for traces of drugs or alcohol.
Both GCHQ and the Foreign Office have refused to say anything more than that it is policy not to confirm or deny the identity of any individuals working for the intelligence agencies. However, it is understood that Scotland Yard's Counter Terrorism Command and the domestic intelligence agency MI5 are being kept up to date with the investigation.
Mr Williams normally lived near his work within the heavily secure environment of the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), an intelligence agency in Gloucestershire which eavesdrops on global communications. But he had been based in a flat in London for the past year in a street populated by bankers and politicians.
In a twist befitting any spy thriller, the property in Pimlico, whose recent occupants all appeared to have Cheltenham links, was owned by a company registered in the British Virgin Islands called New Rodina – a term which means "motherland" in Russian. The well-to-do street is home to a number of distinguished residents, including former Conservative Home Secretaries Michael Howard and Sir Leon Brittan.
It is a far cry from the granny flat in Cheltenham, with its floral carpets, silk flowers and potpourri, that he was about to return to on 3 September. His landlady Jenny Elliott, 71, said he had been a perfect tenant for 10 years and she had welcomed his return when he called a fortnight ago to ask whether he could move back.
He was, she said, a fairly reclusive person, whose parents and sister had only visited once: "Gareth was a really nice and quiet man, but he didn't really seem to have much of a circle of friends. As far as I'm aware, he never bought a girl back in the 10 years I knew him... Gareth occasionally said he was 'meeting some of the guys from work for a quiet drink', but he wouldn't tell me who they were or where they were going and I never pried. "
Often she would hear him working late into the night: "All I heard was a tape recorder being rewound or listened to over and over, although he must have had his earphones in because I couldn't make out what it was."
"It's a real tragedy what's happened. Gareth was a really nice guy who was polite and mild-mannered and wouldn't hurt a fly," explained Mrs Elliott, adding: "He was a cycling fanatic and was forever off on some bike ride or another. He was an extremely intelligent person but would not talk about his job as it was a secret, on account of working for GCHQ. All he told me was it was something to do with codes."
Last night his uncle, William Hughes, from his home town of Anglesey, explained that he had not even told his family what work he was doing in London, only that he was employed by GCHQ. The news of his death was broken to his parents on holiday.
"It was a terrible shock," he said. "I got a phone call yesterday morning. I couldn't believe that such a thing had happened. At the time we didn't have any details – just that he'd been found in his flat. He was quiet, unassuming. When he came home on his weekends and holidays he'd be on his bicycle, riding around the lanes of Anglesey."
Brilliant academically, he had attended a special primary school, Mr Hughes explained. "He was a very clever lad. When he was at secondary school he would go to university one day a week." In 2000, he attended St Catharine's College, Cambridge, to undertake a notoriously demanding postgraduate certificate in advanced mathematics only open to students with first-class degrees in physics, maths or engineering, but dropped out a year later.
Yesterday, as forensics officers continued to examine the flat behind a police cordon, neighbours said Mr Williams had been a pleasant man, who kept his curtains closed so it was hard to tell whether he was in. One neighbour, Eileen Booth, 73, said detectives had called looking for information and said the murder may have taken place two weeks ago.
Keith Thompson, of Holyhead Cycling Club, said he had known Mr Williams since he joined the club at the age of 17.
He said: "I heard the news in a text message yesterday morning and it was a shock.
"We are a small club, only 20 members, and all of us knew Gareth.
"We are totally devastated. He was a really lovely young man.
"Of course, once he moved to Cheltenham he joined the club there and we didn't see much of him.
"I last saw him on our Boxing Day meeting last year.
"He was his usual self really.
"It's true that he was very quiet. He wasn't a great conversationalist.
"We were club mates but Gareth wasn't the sort to go the pub after a race so he didn't have any close friends in the group.
"I never spoke to him about his job or his private life. Nobody did with Gareth.
"It was his cycling that we knew about. He was known for being very good on hill races but a couple of times he won the club's 'best all-rounder' award.
"He was also a good runner but that was to be expected, his whole family is very sporty.
"His father was a member of this club and Ceri was an athlete.
"We'll be getting in touch to offer our condolences when they are home.
"We have also cancelled a club event we had planned for tonight. Nobody feels up to it now."
David Hughes, from Clwb Rasio Mona, another cycling club on the island, said: "As neighbouring clubs, we used to come across each other all the time.
"Although I didn't know him personally, he was known around the cycling scene as a lovely person.
"His reputation was for hill races and he was a fine sportsman."
Neighbours describe reclusive man whose body lay undiscovered for two weeks
By Terri Judd | August 26, 2010
An unassuming and private character, Gareth Williams only ever described his work as "something to do with codes". Over the years he had grown accustomed to fading into the background. But when he repeatedly failed to turn up for work at the riverside headquarters of MI6, colleagues became so concerned that they called in Scotland Yard to open up his flat. From that point on Mr Williams' death – if not his life – was to be very public.
The scene that greeted the detectives inside the top-floor apartment of an expensive central London house was gruesome. A decomposing body had been stuffed inside a large sports holdall in the bath. Nearby, Mr Williams' mobile telephone had been laid out alongside several SIM cards.
Yesterday the 30-year-old's work as a communications officer at the intelligence "listening post" GCHQ, seconded to the Secret Intelligence Service, led to speculation that he had been brutally murdered because of his job. Was he the first spy to be killed in Britain since the former KGB officer Alexander Litvinenko was poisoned in 2006?
The reality, however, is likely to be more mundane. Sources within the murder inquiry led by the Metropolitan Police's Homicide and Serious Crime Command insisted that "the suggestion there are terrorism or national security links to this case is pretty low down the list of probabilities". They are believed to be concentrating on Mr Williams' private life.
While his body was discovered at around 4.40pm on Monday after the door to his flat was broken down, it appeared that he may have been dead for as long as two weeks. The first post-mortem examination proved inconclusive yesterday evening, though it did find that, contrary to earlier reports, he had not been stabbed.
Police have described the death as "suspicious and unexplained," and a further examination is due to be held soon to find out exactly how Mr Williams, yet to be officially identified, died. It will include toxicological analysis of his blood to test for traces of drugs or alcohol.
Both GCHQ and the Foreign Office have refused to say anything more than that it is policy not to confirm or deny the identity of any individuals working for the intelligence agencies. However, it is understood that Scotland Yard's Counter Terrorism Command and the domestic intelligence agency MI5 are being kept up to date with the investigation.
Mr Williams normally lived near his work within the heavily secure environment of the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), an intelligence agency in Gloucestershire which eavesdrops on global communications. But he had been based in a flat in London for the past year in a street populated by bankers and politicians.
In a twist befitting any spy thriller, the property in Pimlico, whose recent occupants all appeared to have Cheltenham links, was owned by a company registered in the British Virgin Islands called New Rodina – a term which means "motherland" in Russian. The well-to-do street is home to a number of distinguished residents, including former Conservative Home Secretaries Michael Howard and Sir Leon Brittan.
It is a far cry from the granny flat in Cheltenham, with its floral carpets, silk flowers and potpourri, that he was about to return to on 3 September. His landlady Jenny Elliott, 71, said he had been a perfect tenant for 10 years and she had welcomed his return when he called a fortnight ago to ask whether he could move back.
He was, she said, a fairly reclusive person, whose parents and sister had only visited once: "Gareth was a really nice and quiet man, but he didn't really seem to have much of a circle of friends. As far as I'm aware, he never bought a girl back in the 10 years I knew him... Gareth occasionally said he was 'meeting some of the guys from work for a quiet drink', but he wouldn't tell me who they were or where they were going and I never pried. "
Often she would hear him working late into the night: "All I heard was a tape recorder being rewound or listened to over and over, although he must have had his earphones in because I couldn't make out what it was."
"It's a real tragedy what's happened. Gareth was a really nice guy who was polite and mild-mannered and wouldn't hurt a fly," explained Mrs Elliott, adding: "He was a cycling fanatic and was forever off on some bike ride or another. He was an extremely intelligent person but would not talk about his job as it was a secret, on account of working for GCHQ. All he told me was it was something to do with codes."
Last night his uncle, William Hughes, from his home town of Anglesey, explained that he had not even told his family what work he was doing in London, only that he was employed by GCHQ. The news of his death was broken to his parents on holiday.
"It was a terrible shock," he said. "I got a phone call yesterday morning. I couldn't believe that such a thing had happened. At the time we didn't have any details – just that he'd been found in his flat. He was quiet, unassuming. When he came home on his weekends and holidays he'd be on his bicycle, riding around the lanes of Anglesey."
Brilliant academically, he had attended a special primary school, Mr Hughes explained. "He was a very clever lad. When he was at secondary school he would go to university one day a week." In 2000, he attended St Catharine's College, Cambridge, to undertake a notoriously demanding postgraduate certificate in advanced mathematics only open to students with first-class degrees in physics, maths or engineering, but dropped out a year later.
Yesterday, as forensics officers continued to examine the flat behind a police cordon, neighbours said Mr Williams had been a pleasant man, who kept his curtains closed so it was hard to tell whether he was in. One neighbour, Eileen Booth, 73, said detectives had called looking for information and said the murder may have taken place two weeks ago.
Keith Thompson, of Holyhead Cycling Club, said he had known Mr Williams since he joined the club at the age of 17.
He said: "I heard the news in a text message yesterday morning and it was a shock.
"We are a small club, only 20 members, and all of us knew Gareth.
"We are totally devastated. He was a really lovely young man.
"Of course, once he moved to Cheltenham he joined the club there and we didn't see much of him.
"I last saw him on our Boxing Day meeting last year.
"He was his usual self really.
"It's true that he was very quiet. He wasn't a great conversationalist.
"We were club mates but Gareth wasn't the sort to go the pub after a race so he didn't have any close friends in the group.
"I never spoke to him about his job or his private life. Nobody did with Gareth.
"It was his cycling that we knew about. He was known for being very good on hill races but a couple of times he won the club's 'best all-rounder' award.
"He was also a good runner but that was to be expected, his whole family is very sporty.
"His father was a member of this club and Ceri was an athlete.
"We'll be getting in touch to offer our condolences when they are home.
"We have also cancelled a club event we had planned for tonight. Nobody feels up to it now."
David Hughes, from Clwb Rasio Mona, another cycling club on the island, said: "As neighbouring clubs, we used to come across each other all the time.
"Although I didn't know him personally, he was known around the cycling scene as a lovely person.
"His reputation was for hill races and he was a fine sportsman."
Filed under
blood,
Ceri Subbe,
Cheltenham,
CIA,
decomposing,
e-fits,
Eileen Booth,
Holyhead,
Independent,
Jenny Elliot,
Keith Thompson,
MI5,
murder,
William Hughes
by Winter Patriot
on Thursday, August 26, 2010 |
link |
email |
TSWKTM home |
SHATASM home |
WP home
Daily Mail : First picture of British spy found dead in his bath yards from MI6 HQ who was killed 'two weeks ago'
Thursday, August 26, 2010
By Stephen Wright | August 25, 2010
* Decomposing body parts stuffed in a bag
* Flat owned by private company called New Rodina, which means 'motherland' in Russian
* Acting PM Clegg to be briefed on spy's death today
* Dead man was employed at government 'listening post'
This is the first picture of the murdered British spy who detectives have said could have been killed up to two weeks ago.
The body of Gareth Williams, 31, was discovered stuffed in a large sports bag in his bath in a flat just a few hundred yards from the headquarters of MI6.
A Home Office pathologist has failed to find a cause of death following a post-mortem examination of Mr Williams' body, which was decomposing when it was found.
Further tests, including toxicological analysis of his blood for evidence of drugs and alcohol, will now take place.
Investigators from the Met's homicide and serious crime command have labelled the death as "suspicious and unexplained".
Sources said there was no evidence Mr Williams had been stabbed, contradicting earlier reports.
Elsewhere in the top-floor flat - in a bizarre ritualistic scene - his mobile telephone and a collection of SIM cards were carefully laid out.
Scotland Yard has launched a murder inquiry into the grim find in Pimlico, Central London. Detectives have told local residents that the murder may have taken place two weeks ago.
Mr Williams was employed as a communications officer at the Government's 'listening post' - better known as GCHQ in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.
But it is thought he was on secondment to the headquarters at MI6, the Secret Intelligence Service, near the flat.
MI6 gathers secret information about Britain's overseas enemies, making the spy a possible target of terrorists.
Mr Williams was described by neighbours as mild-mannered and a keen cyclist. He joined the University of Cambridge in 2000 to undertake a postgraduate certificate in advanced studies in mathematics but dropped out.
'I'm told the man lived at the top-floor flat but we haven't ever seen him. It's not like you'd tell your neighbours if you were a spy'
A spokeswoman said he was a member of St Catharine's College but left without completing the qualification the next year.
The course is described as 'demanding' and normally only accepts students with first-class degrees in physics, mathematics or engineering.
He lived in a street where houses sell for more than £1million, and it has been cordoned off at both ends since Monday night. Access is being granted only to residents.
The street remained cordoned off this morning and police officers stood outside No 36, which is divided into three flats.
Land Registry documents revealed the block at number 36 is owned by a private company, New Rodina.
Its details are hidden because it is registered in the British Virgin Islands and is not listed with Companies House.
The word rodina means 'motherland' in Russian and Bulgarian.
The property was bought for £675,250 in 2000 with a mortgage from the Royal Bank of Scotland and has been remortgaged twice, in September 2005 and February 2006.
The documents revealed the owner operated through a law firm known as Park Nelson. The firm once occupied a rented office block in Bell Yard, off Fleet Street, but no longer appears to exist.
Curtains were drawn in the top-floor flat, where it was believed the attack took place.
Public documents revealed that several current and former residents of the freehold block have links to London and Cheltenham.
Police continued to scour the two-floor flat for evidence today and cordons remained in place on the prestigious street where two former home secretaries live.
Ex-Tory leader Michael Howard and Sir Leon Brittan are among a host of politicians and bankers who have homes there, residents said.
Mr Williams, who was in his 30s, was discovered stuffed in a large sports bag in his bath in a flat just a few hundred yards from the headquarters of MI6.
Mr Howard, who lives several doors down the road, was at home when the body was taken away by forensic officers, one resident, Andy Perkins, said.
Neighbour Laura Houghton said Mr Williams was an 'extremely friendly' man.
The 30-year-old secretary said: 'I have spoken to him only once. I met him in the entrance hall of the set of flats because of a boring plant issue about a year ago.
'He was extremely friendly and had a Welsh accent.'
She said he had an athletic build, and added: 'He was not especially tall. He had medium to short brown hair.'
Mrs Houghton added: 'His windows were always shut and curtains were often closed. I could never tell if anyone was in.
It was strange that we never saw him come and go. I just assumed he worked away.
'The first I heard of anything happening was when the police knocked on my door and asked me if I had heard anything happening. I told them the walls were so thick that I couldn't hear a thing.
'All they told me was that there had been a serious incident. I'm amazed it's taken this long to all come out.'
A landlady who rented Mr Williams a flat in Cheltenham, said: 'He was polite and mild-mannered and wouldn't hurt a fly. He was forever off on bike rides but never really had friends around.
'Sometimes you could hear tapes whirring from his flat. It must have been audio cassettes he used for work. He never told me what they were.'
Eileen Booth, 73, who lives opposite, said detectives told her the murder may have taken place two weeks ago.
She said: 'A few years ago, I would definitely have known who it was that had been killed.
pimlico graphic
Map shows Alderney Street in Pimlico, central London, where the body was found
'Detectives came round and asked for our eye colour and height. They said this probably happened two weeks ago.'
Rob Mills, 35, who lives two doors away, said today: 'We've got two children - it's shocking.
'I'm told the man lived at the top-floor flat but we haven't ever seen him. It's not like you'd tell your neighbours if you were a spy.'
Jason Hollands, 41, a City worker, who also lives nearby, said: 'It's truly gruesome - this is a very mixed area of bankers and politicians. I've spoken to the next-door neighbour, who knew nothing.'
The case is being investigated by officers from the Murder Squad with assistance from their counter-terrorist and security service colleagues. No arrests have been made.
Forensic teams are continuing to search for clues at the five-storey terraced townhouse
A Met Police spokesman said: 'Officers were called to reports of a suspicious death at 4.40pm on Monday. They attended a top floor flat in Alderney Street and gained entry and found the body of a man in his 30s.'
One resident said: 'My neighbours said it was a stabbing.
It sounds like it was really gruesome.' Scotland Yard said no cause of death was known. A post-mortem examination is due today.
A Downing Street spokesman refused to comment, saying: 'Any potential case is a matter for the police.'
Details of the incident will be contained in the Prime Minister's intelligence briefing which will be handed to Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg today. David Cameron is also expected to be kept abreast of developments.
A Foreign Office spokesman said: 'There is an ongoing police investigation.
'It is long-standing Government policy not to confirm or deny that any individual works for the intelligence agencies.'
Patrick Mercer, former chairman of the Commons counter-terrorism subcommittee, said: 'This underlines the danger that our outstanding security services have to face on a minute-by-minute basis every single day.'
The last spy to have been killed on British soil was former Russian Federal Security Service officer Alexander Litvinenko in November 2006. He was poisoned with polonium-210.
Bulgarian defector Georgi Markov was killed by an assassin who used an umbrella to fire a ricin pellet into his leg as he crossed Waterloo Bridge in September 1978.
A spokesman said the body was yet to be formally identified.
A post-mortem examination is due to take place today.
Filed under
Alderney Street,
blood,
Cheltenham,
CIA,
Daily Mail,
decomposing,
Eileen Booth,
forensic,
Laura Houghton,
murder
by Winter Patriot
on Thursday, August 26, 2010 |
link |
email |
TSWKTM home |
SHATASM home |
WP home
Channel 4 : Body of killed MI6 man 'dead for two weeks'
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Body of killed MI6 man 'dead for two weeks'
By Channel 4 News | August 25, 2010
As detectives confirm the body of an MI6 employee may have lay undiscovered for two weeks, a former MI6 officer tells Channel 4 News the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) will be very concerned about the killing.
The body of the man, named locally as 31-year-old Gareth Williams from Angelsey, was found stuffed into a large sports holdall in the bath of his central London apartment.
Officers discovered his mobile phone and several sim cards laid out nearby when they broke into the top-floor flat in Alderney Street, Pimlico at around 4.40pm on Monday.
It is understood Mr Williams had been stabbed, possibly several times, and his body was decomposing when it was found.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said the body had yet to be formally identified.
MI6 will never confirm whether Gareth Williams worked for them or not, writes Channel 4 News Foreign Affairs Correspondent Jonathan Rugman, given the organisation's cloak of secrecy.
Security sources point out that the investigation into his death is being led by homicide and serious crime units from the Metropolitan Police - apparently ruling out any suspicion that this was a terrorist hit or related to Mr Williams' work.
I understand there is no evidence of any link between this killing and al Qaeda or any foreign intelligence service, including the Russians, though MI6 and GCHQ are waiting for the police to give them the results of the post-mortem examination.
Colleagues raised the alarm and contacted authorities on Monday after Mr Williams had not been seen for "some time".
It is understood he had been employed as a communications officer at the GCHQ "listening post" in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.
But it is believed he was on secondment at the headquarters of MI6, the Secret Intelligence Service, which is only about half a mile from the flat.
Public documents revealed that several current and former residents of the freehold block have links to London and Cheltenham.
Police are continuing to scour the two-floor flat for evidence and cordons remain in place on the prestigious street where two former home secretaries live.
Sources close to the inquiry said it is not clear how Mr Williams died and played down speculation that the murder is linked to his secretive line of work.
One source said: "The suggestion there is terrorism or national security links to this case is pretty low down the list of probabilities."
A Foreign Office spokesman said: "There is an ongoing police investigation.
"It is long-standing Government policy not to confirm or deny that any individual works for the intelligence agencies."
Security sources say there is no evidence linking Mr Williams' death to any rival secret service.
But Harry Ferguson, a former MI6 officer, told Channel 4 News that the agency would still be concerned.
"I think the chances are quite high it was a private matter, although it still leaves the mystery of the sim cards," he said.
"If it was that, it would concern MI6 anyway because it suggests he was carrying on liaisons in his private life that they weren't aware of that led to this sort of incident."
Land Registry documents reveal the block at number 36 Alderney Street, where the body was found, is owned by a private company, New Rodina.
The details of this company are hidden because it is registered in the British Virgin Islands and not listed with Companies House.
The word rodina means "motherland" in Russian and Bulgarian.
The property was bought for £675,250 in 2000 with a mortgage from the Royal Bank of Scotland and has been remortgaged twice, in September 2005 and February 2006.
The documents reveal the owner operated through a law firm known as Park Nelson.
This firm once occupied a rented block in Bell Yard, off Fleet Street, but it no longer appears to exist.
Neighbours shocked
Former Tory leader Michael Howard and Sir Leon Brittan are among a host of politicians and bankers who live in the street, according to residents.
Neighbour Laura Houghton said an "extremely friendly" man identifying himself as Gareth lived at the address that is being searched.
She said: "I have spoken to him only once. I met him in the entrance hall of the set of flats because of a boring plant issue about a year ago.
"He was extremely friendly and had a Welsh accent."
She said the man had an athletic build, and added: "He was not especially tall. He had medium to short brown hair.
"His windows were always shut and curtains were often closed. I could never tell if anyone was in.
"It was strange that we never saw him come and go. I just assumed he worked away.
"The first I heard of anything happening was when the police knocked on my door and asked me if I had heard anything happening. I told them the walls were so thick that I couldn't hear a thing.
"All they told me was that there had been a serious incident. I'm amazed it's taken this long to all come out."
GCHQ has a rigorous recruitment system which includes enquiring about character, family history and personal circumstances.
On the GCHQ website it says:
"GCHQ conducts enquiries into the character, family history and personal circumstances of candidates before they can be employed. It is for the protection of both the individual and GCHQ assets that we consider the risk of an individual being placed in a potentially compromising position".
"To ensure your suitability for appointment you will have to undergo a rigorous security clearance. As part of this a criminal records check will be conducted and you will be drugs tested.
"If you do not meet the Developed Vetting requirements for the job, or fail to disclose any security related issues or concerns, you will not be considered for employment."
It is unlikely GCHQ will consider a person for a position in GCHQ if they:
• Have used Class A drugs (e.g. ecstasy, cocaine, etc) in the last 12 months.
• Have used Class B/C drugs (e.g. amphetamines, cannabis, etc) in the last 6 months.
• Are currently being treated for an addiction (e.g. alcohol, gambling, etc) or have received such treatment in the last 12 months.
• Have ever suffered from manic depression or schizophrenia.
• Are currently bankrupt or the subject of an Individual Voluntary Agreement (IVA).
Pensioner Eileen Booth, 73, who lives opposite, said detectives told her the murder may have taken place two weeks ago.
She said: "A few years ago, I would definitely have known who it was that had been killed. But nobody knows each other these days.
"Detectives came round and asked for our eye colour and height. They said this probably happened two weeks ago."
Another neighbour Rob Mills, 35, who lives two doors away, said: "We've got two children - it's shocking.
"I'm told the man lived at the top-floor flat but we haven't ever seen him. It's not like you'd tell your neighbours if you were a spy."
Jason Hollands, 41, a City worker, who also lives nearby, said: "It's truly gruesome - this is a very mixed area of bankers and politicians. I've spoken to the next-door neighbour, who knew nothing."
Murder investigation
Scotland Yard has launched a murder investigation, led by detectives from its Homicide and Serious Crime Command wing. It is thought that counter-terrorist and security service officers are also helping detectives in the inquiry.
He said investigators were following up "several lines of inquiry" but declined to confirm the occupation of the dead man.
It is the first murder on British soil of someone linked to the secret services since the death of Alexander Litvinenko in 2006.
The former KGB agent died in hospital after drinking tea laced with radioactive polonium-210.
Bulgarian defector Georgi Markov was killed by an assassin who used an umbrella to fire a deadly ricin pellet into his leg as he walked across Waterloo Bridge in September 1978.
By Channel 4 News | August 25, 2010
As detectives confirm the body of an MI6 employee may have lay undiscovered for two weeks, a former MI6 officer tells Channel 4 News the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) will be very concerned about the killing.
The body of the man, named locally as 31-year-old Gareth Williams from Angelsey, was found stuffed into a large sports holdall in the bath of his central London apartment.
Officers discovered his mobile phone and several sim cards laid out nearby when they broke into the top-floor flat in Alderney Street, Pimlico at around 4.40pm on Monday.
It is understood Mr Williams had been stabbed, possibly several times, and his body was decomposing when it was found.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said the body had yet to be formally identified.
MI6 will never confirm whether Gareth Williams worked for them or not, writes Channel 4 News Foreign Affairs Correspondent Jonathan Rugman, given the organisation's cloak of secrecy.
Security sources point out that the investigation into his death is being led by homicide and serious crime units from the Metropolitan Police - apparently ruling out any suspicion that this was a terrorist hit or related to Mr Williams' work.
I understand there is no evidence of any link between this killing and al Qaeda or any foreign intelligence service, including the Russians, though MI6 and GCHQ are waiting for the police to give them the results of the post-mortem examination.
Colleagues raised the alarm and contacted authorities on Monday after Mr Williams had not been seen for "some time".
It is understood he had been employed as a communications officer at the GCHQ "listening post" in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.
But it is believed he was on secondment at the headquarters of MI6, the Secret Intelligence Service, which is only about half a mile from the flat.
Public documents revealed that several current and former residents of the freehold block have links to London and Cheltenham.
Police are continuing to scour the two-floor flat for evidence and cordons remain in place on the prestigious street where two former home secretaries live.
Sources close to the inquiry said it is not clear how Mr Williams died and played down speculation that the murder is linked to his secretive line of work.
One source said: "The suggestion there is terrorism or national security links to this case is pretty low down the list of probabilities."
A Foreign Office spokesman said: "There is an ongoing police investigation.
"It is long-standing Government policy not to confirm or deny that any individual works for the intelligence agencies."
Security sources say there is no evidence linking Mr Williams' death to any rival secret service.
But Harry Ferguson, a former MI6 officer, told Channel 4 News that the agency would still be concerned.
"I think the chances are quite high it was a private matter, although it still leaves the mystery of the sim cards," he said.
"If it was that, it would concern MI6 anyway because it suggests he was carrying on liaisons in his private life that they weren't aware of that led to this sort of incident."
Land Registry documents reveal the block at number 36 Alderney Street, where the body was found, is owned by a private company, New Rodina.
The details of this company are hidden because it is registered in the British Virgin Islands and not listed with Companies House.
The word rodina means "motherland" in Russian and Bulgarian.
The property was bought for £675,250 in 2000 with a mortgage from the Royal Bank of Scotland and has been remortgaged twice, in September 2005 and February 2006.
The documents reveal the owner operated through a law firm known as Park Nelson.
This firm once occupied a rented block in Bell Yard, off Fleet Street, but it no longer appears to exist.
Neighbours shocked
Former Tory leader Michael Howard and Sir Leon Brittan are among a host of politicians and bankers who live in the street, according to residents.
Neighbour Laura Houghton said an "extremely friendly" man identifying himself as Gareth lived at the address that is being searched.
She said: "I have spoken to him only once. I met him in the entrance hall of the set of flats because of a boring plant issue about a year ago.
"He was extremely friendly and had a Welsh accent."
She said the man had an athletic build, and added: "He was not especially tall. He had medium to short brown hair.
"His windows were always shut and curtains were often closed. I could never tell if anyone was in.
"It was strange that we never saw him come and go. I just assumed he worked away.
"The first I heard of anything happening was when the police knocked on my door and asked me if I had heard anything happening. I told them the walls were so thick that I couldn't hear a thing.
"All they told me was that there had been a serious incident. I'm amazed it's taken this long to all come out."
GCHQ has a rigorous recruitment system which includes enquiring about character, family history and personal circumstances.
On the GCHQ website it says:
"GCHQ conducts enquiries into the character, family history and personal circumstances of candidates before they can be employed. It is for the protection of both the individual and GCHQ assets that we consider the risk of an individual being placed in a potentially compromising position".
"To ensure your suitability for appointment you will have to undergo a rigorous security clearance. As part of this a criminal records check will be conducted and you will be drugs tested.
"If you do not meet the Developed Vetting requirements for the job, or fail to disclose any security related issues or concerns, you will not be considered for employment."
It is unlikely GCHQ will consider a person for a position in GCHQ if they:
• Have used Class A drugs (e.g. ecstasy, cocaine, etc) in the last 12 months.
• Have used Class B/C drugs (e.g. amphetamines, cannabis, etc) in the last 6 months.
• Are currently being treated for an addiction (e.g. alcohol, gambling, etc) or have received such treatment in the last 12 months.
• Have ever suffered from manic depression or schizophrenia.
• Are currently bankrupt or the subject of an Individual Voluntary Agreement (IVA).
Pensioner Eileen Booth, 73, who lives opposite, said detectives told her the murder may have taken place two weeks ago.
She said: "A few years ago, I would definitely have known who it was that had been killed. But nobody knows each other these days.
"Detectives came round and asked for our eye colour and height. They said this probably happened two weeks ago."
Another neighbour Rob Mills, 35, who lives two doors away, said: "We've got two children - it's shocking.
"I'm told the man lived at the top-floor flat but we haven't ever seen him. It's not like you'd tell your neighbours if you were a spy."
Jason Hollands, 41, a City worker, who also lives nearby, said: "It's truly gruesome - this is a very mixed area of bankers and politicians. I've spoken to the next-door neighbour, who knew nothing."
Murder investigation
Scotland Yard has launched a murder investigation, led by detectives from its Homicide and Serious Crime Command wing. It is thought that counter-terrorist and security service officers are also helping detectives in the inquiry.
He said investigators were following up "several lines of inquiry" but declined to confirm the occupation of the dead man.
It is the first murder on British soil of someone linked to the secret services since the death of Alexander Litvinenko in 2006.
The former KGB agent died in hospital after drinking tea laced with radioactive polonium-210.
Bulgarian defector Georgi Markov was killed by an assassin who used an umbrella to fire a deadly ricin pellet into his leg as he walked across Waterloo Bridge in September 1978.
Filed under
Alderney Street,
Channel 4,
Cheltenham,
CIA,
clearance,
decomposing,
Eileen Booth,
Harry Ferguson,
Laura Houghton,
murder
by Winter Patriot
on Thursday, August 26, 2010 |
link |
email |
TSWKTM home |
SHATASM home |
WP home
AFP : Police conduct tests in MI6 death probe
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Police conduct tests in MI6 death probe
August 25, 2010
LONDON — Police investigating the suspicious death of an MI6 officer in London are to carry out further tests after a post-mortem proved inconclusive.
Detectives said the body of the Gareth Williams, 30, was found on Monday in the top-floor flat of an upmarket building within walking distance of the MI6 headquarters on the River Thames.
His decomposing remains were found stuffed in a bag in the bath of the property in Pimlico, where they were thought to have lain for up to a fortnight, reports said.
A post-mortem examination late Wednesday failed to establish a cause of death and further tests, including for drugs and alcohol, will now take place, police said. News media reported there was no evidence he had been stabbed, contradicting earlier reports.
Williams, who was from Anglesey, had worked for GCHQ, the government's communication monitoring centre, but was on secondment with MI6, according to media reports.
His mobile phone and a number of SIM cards were carefully laid out in the flat in Alderney Street when his body was found.
"Officers from the homicide and serious crime command are investigating, and are treating this as a suspicious and unexplained death," said a statement from London's Metropolitan Police.
Police said they visited the flat after reports that the occupant had not been seen for some time.
The road remained cordoned off Wednesday and curtains were drawn in the flat where the body was believed to have been found.
Eileen Booth, 73, who lives opposite the building where the body was found, said detectives had been visiting neighbours as part of their investigation, adding: "They said this probably happened two weeks ago."
Copyright © 2010 AFP. All rights reserved.
August 25, 2010
LONDON — Police investigating the suspicious death of an MI6 officer in London are to carry out further tests after a post-mortem proved inconclusive.
Detectives said the body of the Gareth Williams, 30, was found on Monday in the top-floor flat of an upmarket building within walking distance of the MI6 headquarters on the River Thames.
His decomposing remains were found stuffed in a bag in the bath of the property in Pimlico, where they were thought to have lain for up to a fortnight, reports said.
A post-mortem examination late Wednesday failed to establish a cause of death and further tests, including for drugs and alcohol, will now take place, police said. News media reported there was no evidence he had been stabbed, contradicting earlier reports.
Williams, who was from Anglesey, had worked for GCHQ, the government's communication monitoring centre, but was on secondment with MI6, according to media reports.
His mobile phone and a number of SIM cards were carefully laid out in the flat in Alderney Street when his body was found.
"Officers from the homicide and serious crime command are investigating, and are treating this as a suspicious and unexplained death," said a statement from London's Metropolitan Police.
Police said they visited the flat after reports that the occupant had not been seen for some time.
The road remained cordoned off Wednesday and curtains were drawn in the flat where the body was believed to have been found.
Eileen Booth, 73, who lives opposite the building where the body was found, said detectives had been visiting neighbours as part of their investigation, adding: "They said this probably happened two weeks ago."
Copyright © 2010 AFP. All rights reserved.
Filed under
Alderney Street,
decomposing,
Eileen Booth
by Winter Patriot
on Wednesday, August 25, 2010 |
link |
email |
TSWKTM home |
SHATASM home |
WP home
Independent : Murdered spy lay undiscovered for weeks
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Murdered spy lay undiscovered for weeks
Body stuffed into holdall
PA | August 25, 2010
A British spy found murdered in his flat might have lain undiscovered for up to two weeks.
The man, named locally as Gareth Williams, was found stuffed in a large sports holdall in the bath of his central London home.
Mr Williams, aged in his 30s, was employed as a communications officer at the GCHQ "listening post" in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.
He was on secondment to the riverside headquarters of MI6, the Secret Intelligence Service, about half a mile from the flat.
Officers discovered Mr Williams after breaking into the flat on Monday afternoon when the alarm was raised by colleagues who had not seen him for "some time".
They found his decomposing body, as well as his mobile phone and several Sim cards, laid out nearby at the top-floor flat in Alderney Street, Pimlico.
A post-mortem examination was being carried out by a Home Office pathologist today to establish what led to his death.
Sources close to the inquiry said it is not clear how he died and played down speculation that the murder is linked to his secretive line of work.
One source said: "The suggestion there is terrorism or national security links to this case is pretty low down the list of probabilities."
Neighbours described Mr Williams as an "extremely friendly" and athletic man who enjoyed cycling and had a strong Welsh accent.
They said he had lived in London for about a year and was planning to return to Cheltenham, where he rented a flat.
A postwoman who called at the block today said he often collected parcels at the communal front door.
Secretary Laura Houghton, 30, said: "His windows were always shut and curtains were often closed. I could never tell if anyone was in.
"It was strange that we never saw him come and go. I just assumed he worked away.
"The first I heard of anything happening was when the police knocked on my door and asked me if I had heard anything happening. I told them the walls were so thick that I couldn't hear a thing.
"All they told me was that there had been a serious incident. I'm amazed it's taken this long to all come out."
Eileen Booth, 73, who lives opposite, said detectives told her the murder might have taken place two weeks ago.
She said: "A few years ago, I would definitely have known who it was that had been killed. But nobody knows each other these days.
"Detectives came round and asked for our eye colour and height. They said this probably happened two weeks ago."
The scene of the murder is a two-storey flat on a prestigious street among a row of expensive five-storey Victorian townhouses.
Residents are mainly bankers and politicians, including former home secretaries Michael Howard and Lord Brittan.
The ownership of the building is hidden behind the private company New Rodina, registered in the British Virgin Islands.
The property was bought for £675,250 in 2000, remortgaged twice and the word rodina means "motherland" in Russian and Bulgarian.
Public documents revealed several current and former residents of the freehold block have links to London and Cheltenham.
One Frenchman who lived at the flat between 2005 and 2006 is an expert in global satellite positioning, radio communications and high sensitivity antennae.
Officials at Scotland Yard's Counter Terrorism Command and domestic intelligence agency MI5 have been kept up to date about the police inquiry.
The murder inquiry is being led by officers from Scotland Yard's Homicide and Serious Crime Command.
A spokesman said the body was yet to be formally identified and a post-mortem examination would take place later today.
He said investigators were following up "several lines of inquiry" but declined to confirm the occupation of the dead man.
It is the first murder on British soil of someone linked to the secret services since the death of Alexander Litvinenko in 2006.
The former KGB agent died in hospital after drinking tea laced with radioactive polonium-210.
Bulgarian defector Georgi Markov was killed by an assassin who used an umbrella to fire a deadly ricin pellet into his leg as he walked across Waterloo Bridge in September 1978.
A Foreign Office spokesman said: "There is an ongoing police investigation.
"It is long-standing Government policy not to confirm or deny that any individual works for the intelligence agencies."
A GCHQ spokesman said: "There is an ongoing police investigation and it would not be appropriate for us to comment at all as this is ongoing.
"We have nothing to add. Our policy is not to comment on individual members of staff or whether they are staff."
Mr Williams, 31, joined the University of Cambridge in 2000 to undertake a postgraduate certificate in advanced studies in mathematics but dropped out.
A spokeswoman said he was a member of St Catharine's College but left without completing the qualification the next year.
The course is described as "demanding" and normally only accepts students with first-class degrees in physics, mathematics or engineering.
Forensic officers continued to comb the scene this afternoon.
Three officers in pale blue overalls were seen returning to the townhouse shortly after 3pm.
William Hughes, a relative of Mr Williams, said he had no idea of the type of work the spy was engaged in at GCHQ.
He told the BBC: "He worked for GCHQ for many years. I knew he was working in London doing something.
"He would never talk about his work and it felt rude to ask really."
Mr Hughes said he had not yet spoken to the dead man's parents.
He added: "Unfortunately they were away out of the country, they have arrived back in the country today, I haven't spoken to them yet.
"It was terrible when I had the phone call yesterday morning, I just didn't know what to believe really, I didn't know what to believe."
He said Williams was "very, very talented", adding: "We don't know what he was doing, we never spoke about it."
Body stuffed into holdall
PA | August 25, 2010
A British spy found murdered in his flat might have lain undiscovered for up to two weeks.
The man, named locally as Gareth Williams, was found stuffed in a large sports holdall in the bath of his central London home.
Mr Williams, aged in his 30s, was employed as a communications officer at the GCHQ "listening post" in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.
He was on secondment to the riverside headquarters of MI6, the Secret Intelligence Service, about half a mile from the flat.
Officers discovered Mr Williams after breaking into the flat on Monday afternoon when the alarm was raised by colleagues who had not seen him for "some time".
They found his decomposing body, as well as his mobile phone and several Sim cards, laid out nearby at the top-floor flat in Alderney Street, Pimlico.
A post-mortem examination was being carried out by a Home Office pathologist today to establish what led to his death.
Sources close to the inquiry said it is not clear how he died and played down speculation that the murder is linked to his secretive line of work.
One source said: "The suggestion there is terrorism or national security links to this case is pretty low down the list of probabilities."
Neighbours described Mr Williams as an "extremely friendly" and athletic man who enjoyed cycling and had a strong Welsh accent.
They said he had lived in London for about a year and was planning to return to Cheltenham, where he rented a flat.
A postwoman who called at the block today said he often collected parcels at the communal front door.
Secretary Laura Houghton, 30, said: "His windows were always shut and curtains were often closed. I could never tell if anyone was in.
"It was strange that we never saw him come and go. I just assumed he worked away.
"The first I heard of anything happening was when the police knocked on my door and asked me if I had heard anything happening. I told them the walls were so thick that I couldn't hear a thing.
"All they told me was that there had been a serious incident. I'm amazed it's taken this long to all come out."
Eileen Booth, 73, who lives opposite, said detectives told her the murder might have taken place two weeks ago.
She said: "A few years ago, I would definitely have known who it was that had been killed. But nobody knows each other these days.
"Detectives came round and asked for our eye colour and height. They said this probably happened two weeks ago."
The scene of the murder is a two-storey flat on a prestigious street among a row of expensive five-storey Victorian townhouses.
Residents are mainly bankers and politicians, including former home secretaries Michael Howard and Lord Brittan.
The ownership of the building is hidden behind the private company New Rodina, registered in the British Virgin Islands.
The property was bought for £675,250 in 2000, remortgaged twice and the word rodina means "motherland" in Russian and Bulgarian.
Public documents revealed several current and former residents of the freehold block have links to London and Cheltenham.
One Frenchman who lived at the flat between 2005 and 2006 is an expert in global satellite positioning, radio communications and high sensitivity antennae.
Officials at Scotland Yard's Counter Terrorism Command and domestic intelligence agency MI5 have been kept up to date about the police inquiry.
The murder inquiry is being led by officers from Scotland Yard's Homicide and Serious Crime Command.
A spokesman said the body was yet to be formally identified and a post-mortem examination would take place later today.
He said investigators were following up "several lines of inquiry" but declined to confirm the occupation of the dead man.
It is the first murder on British soil of someone linked to the secret services since the death of Alexander Litvinenko in 2006.
The former KGB agent died in hospital after drinking tea laced with radioactive polonium-210.
Bulgarian defector Georgi Markov was killed by an assassin who used an umbrella to fire a deadly ricin pellet into his leg as he walked across Waterloo Bridge in September 1978.
A Foreign Office spokesman said: "There is an ongoing police investigation.
"It is long-standing Government policy not to confirm or deny that any individual works for the intelligence agencies."
A GCHQ spokesman said: "There is an ongoing police investigation and it would not be appropriate for us to comment at all as this is ongoing.
"We have nothing to add. Our policy is not to comment on individual members of staff or whether they are staff."
Mr Williams, 31, joined the University of Cambridge in 2000 to undertake a postgraduate certificate in advanced studies in mathematics but dropped out.
A spokeswoman said he was a member of St Catharine's College but left without completing the qualification the next year.
The course is described as "demanding" and normally only accepts students with first-class degrees in physics, mathematics or engineering.
Forensic officers continued to comb the scene this afternoon.
Three officers in pale blue overalls were seen returning to the townhouse shortly after 3pm.
William Hughes, a relative of Mr Williams, said he had no idea of the type of work the spy was engaged in at GCHQ.
He told the BBC: "He worked for GCHQ for many years. I knew he was working in London doing something.
"He would never talk about his work and it felt rude to ask really."
Mr Hughes said he had not yet spoken to the dead man's parents.
He added: "Unfortunately they were away out of the country, they have arrived back in the country today, I haven't spoken to them yet.
"It was terrible when I had the phone call yesterday morning, I just didn't know what to believe really, I didn't know what to believe."
He said Williams was "very, very talented", adding: "We don't know what he was doing, we never spoke about it."
Filed under
Alderney Street,
Cheltenham,
CIA,
decomposing,
Eileen Booth,
forensic,
Independent,
Laura Houghton,
MI5,
murder,
William Hughes
by Winter Patriot
on Wednesday, August 25, 2010 |
link |
email |
TSWKTM home |
SHATASM home |
WP home
Mirror : British spy found murdered in flat near MI6 HQ
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
British spy found murdered in flat near MI6 HQ
By Mirror.co.uk | August 25, 2010
A British spy found murdered in his flat might have lain undiscovered for up to two weeks.
The man, named locally as Gareth Williams, was found stuffed in a large sports holdall in the bath of his central London home.
Mr Williams, aged in his 30s, was employed as a communications officer at the GCHQ "listening post" in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.
He was on secondment to the riverside headquarters of MI6, the Secret Intelligence Service, about half a mile from the flat.
Officers discovered Mr Williams after breaking into the flat on Monday afternoon when the alarm was raised by colleagues who had not seen him for "some time".
They found his decomposing body, as well as his mobile phone and several Sim cards, laid out nearby at the top-floor flat in Alderney Street, Pimlico.
A post-mortem examination was being carried out by a Home Office pathologist today to establish what led to his death.
Sources close to the inquiry said it is not clear how he died and played down speculation that the murder is linked to his secretive line of work.
One source said: "The suggestion there is terrorism or national security links to this case is pretty low down the list of probabilities."
Neighbours described Mr Williams as an "extremely friendly" and athletic man who enjoyed cycling and had a strong Welsh accent.
They said he had lived in London for about a year and was planning to return to Cheltenham, where he rented a flat.
A postwoman who called at the block today said he often collected parcels at the communal front door.
Secretary Laura Houghton, 30, said: "His windows were always shut and curtains were often closed. I could never tell if anyone was in.
"It was strange that we never saw him come and go. I just assumed he worked away.
"The first I heard of anything happening was when the police knocked on my door and asked me if I had heard anything happening. I told them the walls were so thick that I couldn't hear a thing.
"All they told me was that there had been a serious incident. I'm amazed it's taken this long to all come out."
Eileen Booth, 73, who lives opposite, said detectives told her the murder might have taken place two weeks ago.
She said: "A few years ago, I would definitely have known who it was that had been killed. But nobody knows each other these days.
"Detectives came round and asked for our eye colour and height. They said this probably happened two weeks ago."
The scene of the murder is a two-storey flat on a prestigious street among a row of expensive five-storey Victorian townhouses.
Residents are mainly bankers and politicians, including former home secretaries Michael Howard and Lord Brittan.
The ownership of the building is hidden behind the private company New Rodina, registered in the British Virgin Islands.
The property was bought for £675,250 in 2000, remortgaged twice and the word rodina means "motherland" in Russian and Bulgarian.
Public documents revealed several current and former residents of the freehold block have links to London and Cheltenham.
One Frenchman who lived at the flat between 2005 and 2006 is an expert in global satellite positioning, radio communications and high sensitivity antennae.
Officials at Scotland Yard's Counter Terrorism Command and domestic intelligence agency MI5 have been kept up to date about the police inquiry.
The murder inquiry is being led by officers from Scotland Yard's Homicide and Serious Crime Command.
A spokesman said the body was yet to be formally identified and a post-mortem examination would take place later today.
He said investigators were following up "several lines of inquiry" but declined to confirm the occupation of the dead man.
It is the first murder on British soil of someone linked to the secret services since the death of Alexander Litvinenko in 2006.
The former KGB agent died in hospital after drinking tea laced with radioactive polonium-210.
Bulgarian defector Georgi Markov was killed by an assassin who used an umbrella to fire a deadly ricin pellet into his leg as he walked across Waterloo Bridge in September 1978.
A Foreign Office spokesman said: "There is an ongoing police investigation.
"It is long-standing Government policy not to confirm or deny that any individual works for the intelligence agencies."
A GCHQ spokesman said: "There is an ongoing police investigation and it would not be appropriate for us to comment at all as this is ongoing.
"We have nothing to add. Our policy is not to comment on individual members of staff or whether they are staff."
By Mirror.co.uk | August 25, 2010
A British spy found murdered in his flat might have lain undiscovered for up to two weeks.
The man, named locally as Gareth Williams, was found stuffed in a large sports holdall in the bath of his central London home.
Mr Williams, aged in his 30s, was employed as a communications officer at the GCHQ "listening post" in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.
He was on secondment to the riverside headquarters of MI6, the Secret Intelligence Service, about half a mile from the flat.
Officers discovered Mr Williams after breaking into the flat on Monday afternoon when the alarm was raised by colleagues who had not seen him for "some time".
They found his decomposing body, as well as his mobile phone and several Sim cards, laid out nearby at the top-floor flat in Alderney Street, Pimlico.
A post-mortem examination was being carried out by a Home Office pathologist today to establish what led to his death.
Sources close to the inquiry said it is not clear how he died and played down speculation that the murder is linked to his secretive line of work.
One source said: "The suggestion there is terrorism or national security links to this case is pretty low down the list of probabilities."
Neighbours described Mr Williams as an "extremely friendly" and athletic man who enjoyed cycling and had a strong Welsh accent.
They said he had lived in London for about a year and was planning to return to Cheltenham, where he rented a flat.
A postwoman who called at the block today said he often collected parcels at the communal front door.
Secretary Laura Houghton, 30, said: "His windows were always shut and curtains were often closed. I could never tell if anyone was in.
"It was strange that we never saw him come and go. I just assumed he worked away.
"The first I heard of anything happening was when the police knocked on my door and asked me if I had heard anything happening. I told them the walls were so thick that I couldn't hear a thing.
"All they told me was that there had been a serious incident. I'm amazed it's taken this long to all come out."
Eileen Booth, 73, who lives opposite, said detectives told her the murder might have taken place two weeks ago.
She said: "A few years ago, I would definitely have known who it was that had been killed. But nobody knows each other these days.
"Detectives came round and asked for our eye colour and height. They said this probably happened two weeks ago."
The scene of the murder is a two-storey flat on a prestigious street among a row of expensive five-storey Victorian townhouses.
Residents are mainly bankers and politicians, including former home secretaries Michael Howard and Lord Brittan.
The ownership of the building is hidden behind the private company New Rodina, registered in the British Virgin Islands.
The property was bought for £675,250 in 2000, remortgaged twice and the word rodina means "motherland" in Russian and Bulgarian.
Public documents revealed several current and former residents of the freehold block have links to London and Cheltenham.
One Frenchman who lived at the flat between 2005 and 2006 is an expert in global satellite positioning, radio communications and high sensitivity antennae.
Officials at Scotland Yard's Counter Terrorism Command and domestic intelligence agency MI5 have been kept up to date about the police inquiry.
The murder inquiry is being led by officers from Scotland Yard's Homicide and Serious Crime Command.
A spokesman said the body was yet to be formally identified and a post-mortem examination would take place later today.
He said investigators were following up "several lines of inquiry" but declined to confirm the occupation of the dead man.
It is the first murder on British soil of someone linked to the secret services since the death of Alexander Litvinenko in 2006.
The former KGB agent died in hospital after drinking tea laced with radioactive polonium-210.
Bulgarian defector Georgi Markov was killed by an assassin who used an umbrella to fire a deadly ricin pellet into his leg as he walked across Waterloo Bridge in September 1978.
A Foreign Office spokesman said: "There is an ongoing police investigation.
"It is long-standing Government policy not to confirm or deny that any individual works for the intelligence agencies."
A GCHQ spokesman said: "There is an ongoing police investigation and it would not be appropriate for us to comment at all as this is ongoing.
"We have nothing to add. Our policy is not to comment on individual members of staff or whether they are staff."
Filed under
Alderney Street,
Cheltenham,
CIA,
decomposing,
Eileen Booth,
Laura Houghton,
MI5,
Mirror,
murder
by Winter Patriot
on Wednesday, August 25, 2010 |
link |
email |
TSWKTM home |
SHATASM home |
WP home
Daily Post : MI6 worker from Holyhead found murdered in London flat
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
MI6 worker from Holyhead found murdered in London flat
By Our Correspondent, Daily Post | August 25, 2010
A British spy found murdered in his flat might have lain undiscovered for up to two weeks.
The man, named locally as Gareth Williams, was found stuffed in a large sports holdall in the bath of his central London home.
Mr Williams, aged in his 30s and believed to be from Holyhead, was employed as a communications officer at the GCHQ "listening post" in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.
He was on secondment to the riverside headquarters of MI6, the Secret Intelligence Service, about half a mile from the flat.
Officers discovered Mr Williams after breaking into the flat on Monday afternoon when the alarm was raised by colleagues who had not seen him for "some time".
They found his decomposing body, as well as his mobile phone and several Sim cards, laid out nearby at the top-floor flat in Alderney Street, Pimlico.
A post-mortem examination was being carried out by a Home Office pathologist today to establish what led to his death.
Sources close to the inquiry said it is not clear how he died and played down speculation that the murder is linked to his secretive line of work.
One source said: "The suggestion there is terrorism or national security links to this case is pretty low down the list of probabilities."
Neighbours described Mr Williams as an "extremely friendly" and athletic man who enjoyed cycling and had a strong Welsh accent.
They said he had lived in London for about a year and was planning to return to Cheltenham, where he rented a flat.
A postwoman who called at the block on Wednesday said he often collected parcels at the communal front door.
Secretary Laura Houghton, 30, said: "His windows were always shut and curtains were often closed. I could never tell if anyone was in.
"It was strange that we never saw him come and go. I just assumed he worked away.
"The first I heard of anything happening was when the police knocked on my door and asked me if I had heard anything happening. I told them the walls were so thick that I couldn’t hear a thing.
"All they told me was that there had been a serious incident. I’m amazed it’s taken this long to all come out."
Eileen Booth, 73, who lives opposite, said detectives told her the murder might have taken place two weeks ago.
She said: "A few years ago, I would definitely have known who it was that had been killed. But nobody knows each other these days.
"Detectives came round and asked for our eye colour and height. They said this probably happened two weeks ago."
The scene of the murder is a two-storey flat on a prestigious street among a row of expensive five-storey Victorian townhouses.
Residents are mainly bankers and politicians, including former home secretaries Michael Howard and Lord Brittan.
The ownership of the building is hidden behind the private company New Rodina, registered in the British Virgin Islands.
The property was bought for £675,250 in 2000, remortgaged twice and the word rodina means "motherland" in Russian and Bulgarian.
Public documents revealed several current and former residents of the freehold block have links to London and Cheltenham.
One Frenchman who lived at the flat between 2005 and 2006 is an expert in global satellite positioning, radio communications and high sensitivity antennae.
Officials at Scotland Yard’s Counter Terrorism Command and domestic intelligence agency MI5 have been kept up to date about the police inquiry.
The murder inquiry is being led by officers from Scotland Yard’s Homicide and Serious Crime Command.
A spokesman said the body was yet to be formally identified and a post-mortem examination would take place later on Wednesday.
He said investigators were following up "several lines of inquiry" but declined to confirm the occupation of the dead man.
It is the first murder on British soil of someone linked to the secret services since the death of Alexander Litvinenko in 2006.
The former KGB agent died in hospital after drinking tea laced with radioactive polonium-210.
Bulgarian defector Georgi Markov was killed by an assassin who used an umbrella to fire a deadly ricin pellet into his leg as he walked across Waterloo Bridge in September 1978.
A Foreign Office spokesman said: "There is an ongoing police investigation.
"It is long-standing Government policy not to confirm or deny that any individual works for the intelligence agencies."
A GCHQ spokesman said: "There is an ongoing police investigation and it would not be appropriate for us to comment at all as this is ongoing.
"We have nothing to add. Our policy is not to comment on individual members of staff or whether they are staff."
Mr Williams, 31, joined the University of Cambridge in 2000 to undertake a postgraduate certificate in advanced studies in mathematics but dropped out.
A spokeswoman said he was a member of St Catharine’s College but left without completing the qualification the next year.
The course is described as "demanding" and normally only accepts students with first-class degrees in physics, mathematics or engineering.
William Hughes, a relative of Mr Williams, said he had no idea of the type of work the spy was engaged in at GCHQ.
He said: "He worked for GCHQ for many years. I knew he was working in London doing something.
"He would never talk about his work and it felt rude to ask really."
Mr Hughes said he had not yet spoken to the dead man’s parents.
He added: "Unfortunately they were away out of the country. They have arrived back in the country today, I haven’t spoken to them yet.
"It was terrible when I had the phone call yesterday morning, I just didn’t know what to believe really, I didn’t know what to believe."
He said Williams was "very, very talented", adding: "We don’t know what he was doing, we never spoke about it."
By Our Correspondent, Daily Post | August 25, 2010
A British spy found murdered in his flat might have lain undiscovered for up to two weeks.
The man, named locally as Gareth Williams, was found stuffed in a large sports holdall in the bath of his central London home.
Mr Williams, aged in his 30s and believed to be from Holyhead, was employed as a communications officer at the GCHQ "listening post" in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.
He was on secondment to the riverside headquarters of MI6, the Secret Intelligence Service, about half a mile from the flat.
Officers discovered Mr Williams after breaking into the flat on Monday afternoon when the alarm was raised by colleagues who had not seen him for "some time".
They found his decomposing body, as well as his mobile phone and several Sim cards, laid out nearby at the top-floor flat in Alderney Street, Pimlico.
A post-mortem examination was being carried out by a Home Office pathologist today to establish what led to his death.
Sources close to the inquiry said it is not clear how he died and played down speculation that the murder is linked to his secretive line of work.
One source said: "The suggestion there is terrorism or national security links to this case is pretty low down the list of probabilities."
Neighbours described Mr Williams as an "extremely friendly" and athletic man who enjoyed cycling and had a strong Welsh accent.
They said he had lived in London for about a year and was planning to return to Cheltenham, where he rented a flat.
A postwoman who called at the block on Wednesday said he often collected parcels at the communal front door.
Secretary Laura Houghton, 30, said: "His windows were always shut and curtains were often closed. I could never tell if anyone was in.
"It was strange that we never saw him come and go. I just assumed he worked away.
"The first I heard of anything happening was when the police knocked on my door and asked me if I had heard anything happening. I told them the walls were so thick that I couldn’t hear a thing.
"All they told me was that there had been a serious incident. I’m amazed it’s taken this long to all come out."
Eileen Booth, 73, who lives opposite, said detectives told her the murder might have taken place two weeks ago.
She said: "A few years ago, I would definitely have known who it was that had been killed. But nobody knows each other these days.
"Detectives came round and asked for our eye colour and height. They said this probably happened two weeks ago."
The scene of the murder is a two-storey flat on a prestigious street among a row of expensive five-storey Victorian townhouses.
Residents are mainly bankers and politicians, including former home secretaries Michael Howard and Lord Brittan.
The ownership of the building is hidden behind the private company New Rodina, registered in the British Virgin Islands.
The property was bought for £675,250 in 2000, remortgaged twice and the word rodina means "motherland" in Russian and Bulgarian.
Public documents revealed several current and former residents of the freehold block have links to London and Cheltenham.
One Frenchman who lived at the flat between 2005 and 2006 is an expert in global satellite positioning, radio communications and high sensitivity antennae.
Officials at Scotland Yard’s Counter Terrorism Command and domestic intelligence agency MI5 have been kept up to date about the police inquiry.
The murder inquiry is being led by officers from Scotland Yard’s Homicide and Serious Crime Command.
A spokesman said the body was yet to be formally identified and a post-mortem examination would take place later on Wednesday.
He said investigators were following up "several lines of inquiry" but declined to confirm the occupation of the dead man.
It is the first murder on British soil of someone linked to the secret services since the death of Alexander Litvinenko in 2006.
The former KGB agent died in hospital after drinking tea laced with radioactive polonium-210.
Bulgarian defector Georgi Markov was killed by an assassin who used an umbrella to fire a deadly ricin pellet into his leg as he walked across Waterloo Bridge in September 1978.
A Foreign Office spokesman said: "There is an ongoing police investigation.
"It is long-standing Government policy not to confirm or deny that any individual works for the intelligence agencies."
A GCHQ spokesman said: "There is an ongoing police investigation and it would not be appropriate for us to comment at all as this is ongoing.
"We have nothing to add. Our policy is not to comment on individual members of staff or whether they are staff."
Mr Williams, 31, joined the University of Cambridge in 2000 to undertake a postgraduate certificate in advanced studies in mathematics but dropped out.
A spokeswoman said he was a member of St Catharine’s College but left without completing the qualification the next year.
The course is described as "demanding" and normally only accepts students with first-class degrees in physics, mathematics or engineering.
William Hughes, a relative of Mr Williams, said he had no idea of the type of work the spy was engaged in at GCHQ.
He said: "He worked for GCHQ for many years. I knew he was working in London doing something.
"He would never talk about his work and it felt rude to ask really."
Mr Hughes said he had not yet spoken to the dead man’s parents.
He added: "Unfortunately they were away out of the country. They have arrived back in the country today, I haven’t spoken to them yet.
"It was terrible when I had the phone call yesterday morning, I just didn’t know what to believe really, I didn’t know what to believe."
He said Williams was "very, very talented", adding: "We don’t know what he was doing, we never spoke about it."
Filed under
Alderney Street,
Cheltenham,
CIA,
Daily Post,
decomposing,
Eileen Booth,
Holyhead,
Laura Houghton,
MI5,
murder,
William Hughes
by Winter Patriot
on Wednesday, August 25, 2010 |
link |
email |
TSWKTM home |
SHATASM home |
WP home
New York Post : Murdered British spy found in bathtub 'was stabbed to death'
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Murdered British spy found in bathtub 'was stabbed to death'
August 25, 2010
A British secret service employee who was found dead in a bag in the bathtub of his London home was named locally Wednesday as Gareth Williams.
The decomposing body of Williams, in his 30s, was found Monday, stuffed into a large sports duffel bag in the bathtub of his apartment in Pimlico, central London. It was understood that he was stabbed -- possibly several times -- and that he might have been dismembered.
Detectives investigating his murder believe he could have been killed up to two weeks ago.
Officers discovered Williams' cell phone and several SIM cards laid out near his body when they broke into the top-floor apartment, after they were told by some of the man's friends that he had not been seen for some time.
He was understood to have been a communications officer at GCHQ, the U.K. government’s listening post in Cheltenham, southwestern England. He was thought to have attended the University of Cambridge and been a keen cyclist.
Williams was believed to have been working on secondment to MI6 -- the Secret Intelligence Service -- which gathers information about Britain’s enemies overseas and is located just over the River Thames from the apartment where the body was discovered. Sky News sources said Williams was renting the apartment on a short-term basis and also had a home in Cheltenham.
Detectives from the Homicide and Serious Crime Command began an investigation into the death and up to a dozen forensic science officers in blue overalls were still scouring the London apartment Wednesday for clues.
Neighbor Laura Houghton, a 30-year-old secretary, said an “extremely friendly” man who called himself Gareth lived at the address.“I have spoken to him only once. I met him in the entrance hall of the set of flats because of a boring plant issue about a year ago. He was extremely friendly and had a Welsh accent," she said. “His windows were always shut, and curtains were often closed. I could never tell if anyone was in. It was strange that we never saw him come and go. I just assumed he worked away."
Eileen Booth, 73, who lives opposite Williams' apartment, added, “Detectives came round and asked for our eye color and height. They said this probably happened two weeks ago.”
A Scotland Yard spokesman said: “At around 1640 [4:40pm local time] on Monday, officers attended the flat on the top floor of a property in Alderney Street, Westminster SW1, following reports that the occupant had not been seen for some time. Officers gained entry and found the body of the man, believed to be aged in his thirties. He was pronounced dead at the scene."
A Foreign Office spokesman confirmed "there is an ongoing police investigation. It is long-standing government policy not to confirm or deny that any individual works for the intelligence agencies.”
An autopsy is scheduled for Wednesday.
August 25, 2010
A British secret service employee who was found dead in a bag in the bathtub of his London home was named locally Wednesday as Gareth Williams.
The decomposing body of Williams, in his 30s, was found Monday, stuffed into a large sports duffel bag in the bathtub of his apartment in Pimlico, central London. It was understood that he was stabbed -- possibly several times -- and that he might have been dismembered.
Detectives investigating his murder believe he could have been killed up to two weeks ago.
Officers discovered Williams' cell phone and several SIM cards laid out near his body when they broke into the top-floor apartment, after they were told by some of the man's friends that he had not been seen for some time.
He was understood to have been a communications officer at GCHQ, the U.K. government’s listening post in Cheltenham, southwestern England. He was thought to have attended the University of Cambridge and been a keen cyclist.
Williams was believed to have been working on secondment to MI6 -- the Secret Intelligence Service -- which gathers information about Britain’s enemies overseas and is located just over the River Thames from the apartment where the body was discovered. Sky News sources said Williams was renting the apartment on a short-term basis and also had a home in Cheltenham.
Detectives from the Homicide and Serious Crime Command began an investigation into the death and up to a dozen forensic science officers in blue overalls were still scouring the London apartment Wednesday for clues.
Neighbor Laura Houghton, a 30-year-old secretary, said an “extremely friendly” man who called himself Gareth lived at the address.“I have spoken to him only once. I met him in the entrance hall of the set of flats because of a boring plant issue about a year ago. He was extremely friendly and had a Welsh accent," she said. “His windows were always shut, and curtains were often closed. I could never tell if anyone was in. It was strange that we never saw him come and go. I just assumed he worked away."
Eileen Booth, 73, who lives opposite Williams' apartment, added, “Detectives came round and asked for our eye color and height. They said this probably happened two weeks ago.”
A Scotland Yard spokesman said: “At around 1640 [4:40pm local time] on Monday, officers attended the flat on the top floor of a property in Alderney Street, Westminster SW1, following reports that the occupant had not been seen for some time. Officers gained entry and found the body of the man, believed to be aged in his thirties. He was pronounced dead at the scene."
A Foreign Office spokesman confirmed "there is an ongoing police investigation. It is long-standing government policy not to confirm or deny that any individual works for the intelligence agencies.”
An autopsy is scheduled for Wednesday.
Filed under
Alderney Street,
Cheltenham,
decomposing,
Eileen Booth,
forensic,
Laura Houghton,
murder
by Winter Patriot
on Wednesday, August 25, 2010 |
link |
email |
TSWKTM home |
SHATASM home |
WP home
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
