Sydney Morning Herald : MI6 spy's death may have been linked to interest in bondage

MI6 spy's death may have been linked to interest in bondage

Vikram Dodd | December 24, 2010

LONDON: British detectives believe the death of the MI6 spy Gareth Williams will be solved by getting an insight into his private life after they revealed he had visited bondage websites and a drag club and had £15,000 ($23,000) worth of unworn designer womenswear in his wardrobe.

Mr Williams's decomposed body was discovered in a padlocked bag in his apartment, about a kilometre from MI6 headquarters in London where he was a senior analyst.

Police believe he died a week earlier, early on August 16, and that someone else was present. Tests have shown no signs of a struggle or forced entry and no sign that he was drugged.

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

He used his iPhone to visit websites on bondage and escaping from bondage.

He must have been padlocked into the bag by someone else as it was impossible for him to have locked himself inside.

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

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

When Mr Williams's remains were found by police on August 23, they also discovered £15,000 of unworn women's clothing, wigs and shoes in his wardrobe.

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

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

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

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

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

Sky Valley Chronicle : BRITISH POLICE SEARCH FOR MYSTERIOUS COUPLE

BRITISH POLICE SEARCH FOR MYSTERIOUS COUPLE

As bondage websites may hold key to spy’s death

December 23, 2010

(INTERNATIONAL) -- In a strange set of circumstances that read like a pulp fiction spy novel, London police detectives believe the mysterious death of spy Gareth Williams may be solved by gaining more information about his private life after they earlier revealed he had visited bondage websites and a drag club and had £15,000 worth of unworn designer women’s wear in his wardrobe.

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

Police think he had died a week earlier in the early hours of August 16th.

They also believe someone else was present at his death although they say tests show no signs of a struggle or forced entry into the apartment and no sign that he was drugged.

So far police have released the following information about the spy’s death.

• Williams used his smartphone to visit websites on bondage (and escape from bondage) in the months before his death.

• He had been padlocked into the satchel by someone else as police say it was impossible for him to have locked himself inside.

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

• Police are trying to locate a mysterious couple, a man and woman of Mediterranean appearance, who visited his block and claimed to have a key to his apartment weeks before Williams's death.

• Just four days before he died, Williams went to a drag club in east London to see an act called Jimmy Woo, and had tickets for two similar performances at a pub close to MI6 headquarters.

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

When Williams's decomposing body was found August 23rd police also discovered £15,000 of unworn women's designer clothing, wigs and shoes in his closet.

It is now believed Williams had been leading a secret life of a gay man in his off hours unknown to family, friends or coworkers.

The high fashion women’s clothing found in the apartment was in original boxes or wrapping paper and appeared unworn.

Williams had enrolled in two fashion design courses in London in 2009 and 2010.

Scottish Daily Record : Revealed: MI6 spy found dead in a holdall loved bondage and had £15k hoard of women's designer clothes

Revealed: MI6 spy found dead in a holdall loved bondage and had £15k hoard of women's designer clothes

By Jon Clements | December 23, 2010

THE MI6 spy found dead in a padlocked bag lived a double life - spending £15,000 on women's clothes and visiting bondage websites.

Codebreaker Gareth Williams, a 31-year-old maths genius, owned Stella McCartney dresses, tops by Christopher Kane and Christian Louboutin shoes.

There is no evidence that Williams wore the clothes or some wigs he had bought - but he hid his interest in women's clothing from spy chiefs at the Government listening post GCHQ.

Detectives have found out that while tracking al-Qaeda suspects and countering Chinese hackers, Williams took two evening courses in ladies' fashion.

Drag Yesterday, police issued e-fits of a Mediterranean couple suspected of having a key to Williams's flat.

They revealed Williams visited bondage websites and researched tying himself up and escapology.

He also watched drag queen Jimmy Woo at east London bar Bistrotheque three days before he died and bought tickets for other acts at the gay pub.

But he is not known to have had any sexual partners and there is no evidence that he was gay.

Scotland Yard detectives believe Williams died in a sex game which went wrong when both keys to the padlock were left inside the bag. Officers released the details with the consent of the spy's grief-stricken family as part of a new appeal for information.

Detective Chief Super-intendent Hamish Campbell said: "We are trying to say if his death is a direct result of what we have seen on the internet, bondage sites, escape - that is not a wide community.

"This is trying to set out the plain facts, unpalatable as they are, embarrassing as they are, to someone in that world. It may be they meet on the net or at Bistrotheque and maybe someone came back to the flat with him."

Williams is believed to have died early on August 16 - a week before his body was found naked inside a waterproof North Face duffel bag. He was lying on his back with his legs bent under him and hands on his chest.

Dcs Campbell said: "We are very assured someone else was in the flat so we need to know the circumstances where you leave someone in that position.

"It is unexplained and suspicious."

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

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

Chris Greenwood | December 23, 2010

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

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

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

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

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

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

She said: “We remain completely open-minded about how he died. We are appealing today to someone who is out there to come forward and tell us more.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

On the dead man’s sexuality, the lead officer said: “We do not have any evidence to suggest that he was gay. We have not spoken to any past or present sexual partner, whether male or female.

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

Mr Williams attended Bistroteque in the east end of London on Friday August 13. Police said the restaurant, bar and theatre venue hosted Jimmy Woo, a drag cabaret act, that night and the spy went alone.

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

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

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

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

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

He said: “We are very sure that someone else was in that flat. We want to know the circumstances when you would leave somebody in that position, by accident or design. Maybe, by explaining to the public, someone will think: ‘I get it and I can explain.”

Visiting pair are sought by detectives

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

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

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

Detective Chief Inspector Jackie Sebire said that an expert brought in to examine the red North Face holdall in which Mr Williams was found concluded he could not have locked it himself. The zip was held shut by a common travel-style Yale padlock through holes in two zip fasteners.

Tests found the temperature inside the bag would have risen to 30°C within three minutes. An expert on survivability in confined spaces from the National Policing Improvement Agency said he would have suffocated in 30 minutes.

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

Speaking about how Mr Williams ended up in the bag, Mrs Sebire said an expert found it was “quite easy” to fit someone inside. She said: “If he was alive, he got into it voluntarily or, if not, he was unconscious and placed in the bag.

“There is forensic evidence that indicates the presence of other people that we have not been able to eliminate yet.”

Mrs Sebire said there was no evidence Mr Williams was suicidal and no signs of forced entry at the flat. None of his possessions were laid out in a “ritualistic” manner, she added.

Mr Williams had a laptop and four mobile phones, including at least one pay-as-you go handset. The death remains suspicious and unexplained and no conclusive cause of death has been found. An inquest will be held at Westminster Coroner’s Court on February 15.

Mirror : Body in the bag spy Gareth Williams spent £15,000 on women's clothes and visited bondage websites

Body in the bag spy Gareth Williams spent £15,000 on women's clothes and visited bondage websites

by Jon Clements | December 23, 2010

THE MI6 codebreaker found dead in a padlocked bag had researched bondage websites – and spent £15,000 on women’s clothes, police revealed yesterday.

Maths genius Gareth Williams, 31, had visited four bondage sites and looked into how people escape after tying themselves up.

Det Chief Supt Hamish Campbell, investigating his bizarre death, said: “We’re trying to see if it was as a direct result of what we’ve seen on the net – bondage sites and escape.”

Officers released the details with the consent of the spy’s grief-stricken family as part of a new appeal for information.

They also said Mr Williams owned Stella McCartney dresses and Christian Louboutin designer shoes. He kept his interest in the clothes and wigs a secret – but there is no evidence he wore any of them.

Scotland Yard believes Mr Williams, who was found naked in his flat, died in a weird sex game which went wrong when both keys to the padlock were accidentally left in the bag.

Detectives say someone else must have been involved because it would have been impossible for Mr Williams to lock himself inside.

Det Chief Supt Campbell said: “We’re sure someone else was in the flat so need to know the circumstances where you leave someone in that position by accident or by design. It’s unexplained and suspicious.”

As police issued e-fits of a Mediterranean couple suspected of having a key to Mr Williams’ flat in Pimlico, Central London, other revelations about his private life were revealed. While he worked tracking al-Qaeda suspects at the government listening post at GCHQ in Cheltenham, Gloucs, Mr Williams took two evening courses in women’s fashion.

He saw drag queen Jimmy Woo at East London bar Bistrotheque three days before he died and bought tickets to two similar acts at a gay pub.

Police also said Mr Williams is not known to have had any sexual partners and there is no evidence he was gay.

The inquiry continues to focus on the man and woman buzzed into the block of flats a few weeks before he died.

An intelligence officer at the GCHQ-owned apartments spoke briefly to the couple and was told a man called Pier Paulo had given them the key. They went upstairs towards Mr Williams’ flat but were not seen going inside.

Det Chief Insp Jackie Sebire, who is leading the inquiry, said: “Gareth was an intensely private person and would not give his key to anybody, so the fact they had the key for his flat could be a very important detail in unlocking a part of his private life we’ve yet to uncover.”

Mr Williams, of Holyhead, Anglesey, is believed to have died on August 16, a week before his body was found inside the North Face bag. He was lying on his back with his legs bent under him and with his hands on his chest.

An expert in confined spaces from the National Policing Improvement Agency estimates that anyone inside the waterproof holdall would have run out of oxygen after half an hour.

Mr Williams was uninjured apart from small bruises on his elbows, and tests found there were no drugs, poison or alcohol in his system. His inquest takes place in February.

There were no signs of a disturbance at the apartment and nothing was missing.

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

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

By MIKE SULLIVAN | December 23, 2010

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

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

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

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

Police yesterday appealed for the unknown person to come forward.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

December 22, 2010

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

He last visited an online bondage website in July.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MSNBC : Spy death inquiry looks at bondage link

Spy death inquiry looks at bondage link

British police want to question couple in death of intelligence analyst

December 22, 2010

LONDON — A British spy who was found dead in his London flat visited bondage websites and a drag club and had $23,000 worth of unworn designer womenswear in his wardrobe, detectives said Wednesday.

The Guardian newspaper reported that police believe the mystery surrounding Gareth Williams' death will be solved through insights into his private life.

Williams, a 30-year-old official at the code-breaking agency GCHQ, was found inside a red North Face sports bag at his central London apartment on Aug. 23. Williams was working on attachment to the MI6 spy agency, but security officials believe it is unlikely that his killing was connected with his work. Toxicology tests showed there were no traces of drugs or poisons that may have led to his death.

Offering new details, police said they hoped to determine conclusively whether Williams' death was linked to his personal life and to trace two people seen at the communal door of Williams' apartment block in June or July.

The man and woman, described as Mediterranean in appearance in their 20s and dressed casually, were buzzed through the communal entrance at the flats in Alderney Street by another resident in late June or July, The Guardian said. They said they had been given a key and were on their way to the apartment that Williams lived in.

"Gareth was a very private individual, and we know he would not have given his keys to anyone other than close family," said Detective Chief Inspector Jackie Sebire, head of the inquiry into his death.

Sebire said it was still unclear whether Williams died as a result of a sex game gone wrong, and called on any former partners to contact police.

"There is forensic evidence that indicates the presence of other people that we have not been able to eliminate yet," Sebire said.

Experts called in by police have assessed that Williams could not have locked himself inside the bag — which was fastened with a padlock — and could have survived for only 30 minutes inside before suffocation. The keys to the Yale padlock were found inside the bag, The Guardian said.

Detective Chief Superintendent Hamish Campbell said, head of Scotland Yard's homicide command, said police had been reluctant to make public details of Williams's private life, knowing it could prove distressing to his family.

Detectives said Williams used his iPhone to visit websites on bondage in the months before his death, The Guardian reported. Four days before he died, he went to a drag club called Bistrotheque in Bethnal Green, east London, to see an act called Jimmy Woo, and had tickets for two similar performances at a pub in Vauxhall, close to MI6 headquarters.

"We feel there is some small subgroup of the community, or individuals, who may know something about this matter and the nature of Gareth's death," Campbell said.

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

This article includes reporting msnbc.com staff and The Associated Press.

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

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

December 22, 2010

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media 2010

Telegraph : MI6 spy found dead in bag: Gareth Williams visited bondage websites, drag cabaret and gay bars

MI6 spy found dead in bag: Gareth Williams visited bondage websites, drag cabaret and gay bars

By Duncan Gardham, Security Correspondent | December 22, 2010

A British spy whose naked body was found padlocked into a sports bag in the bath of his flat in central London had been visiting bondage websites and drag clubs and had a £15,000 collection of women’s designer clothing, police have disclosed.

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

While the death is officially described as “suspicious” rather than murder, officers also released e-fits of a Mediterranean couple that visited the flat a few weeks later and let themselves in with a key.

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

“We are very sure that someone else was in that flat. We want to know the circumstances when you would leave somebody in that position, by accident or design,” he added.

Det Chief Insp Jacqueline Sebire, who is leading the inquiry, described Mr Williams, 31, from Anglesey in North Wales, as an “intensely private person” who had kept his lifestyle hidden from friends and family.

His body was found in a red North Face holdall on August 23 after he failed to turn up to work at MI6’s headquarters at Vauxhall Cross in London.

Inside the flat, police found half a dozen boxes with neatly folded, apparently unused women’s designer clothing and shoes, along with a number of wigs.

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

They were all in small sizes that would have fitted Mr Williams, who was 5ft 8ins tall and weighed around 9st.

The labels included Stella McCartney, Christopher Kane and Christian Louboutin shoes, and the collection came to around £15,000.

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

Unknown to his family and colleagues, Mr Williams had also attended two, six to eight week courses in fashion design for beginners at the prestigious Central St Martin’s College of Art and Design in London during evenings and weekends, one in 2010 and one in 2009, passing both courses.

Mr Williams had recently visited the West Coast of the US for his work which involved working on computers and intercept techniques, and had combined the trip with a fly-drive holiday.

He arrived back in Britain on Wednesday August 11 and two days later he went to the Bistrotheque restaurant and bar in Bethnal Green, East London to watch Jimmy Woo, a drag artist.

CCTV recovered later showed him wearing cream trousers and a blue t-shirt.

“He went alone and left alone,” DCI Sebire said. “He chatted to people at the event but it was nothing other than small talk.”

The spy also had two single tickets for two other drag acts at the Vauxhall Tavern in South London, not far from MI6 headquarters, for each of the following weekends.

A single witness has also said they chatted to him at a gay bar called Barcode in Vauxhall in May, although police have been unable to trace any sexual partners, either heterosexual or homosexual.

However examination of his personal laptop and personal mobile phone showed that he had visited five separate bondage websites, beginning with a search on the encyclopedia site Wikipedia and followed up with the sites hogtie.com, boundanna.com, artofconstriction.com and likera.com.

The evidence recovered from the computer and phone does not show whether he chatted to anyone online, but some of the sites had chat forums, police said.

The sites were said to be primarily pictures of women and “how to guides” and Mr Williams visited them on only four occasions between the end of 2009 and a few weeks before he died. There was no sign that he had visited any pornographic websites.