Orange UK News : Errors hindered spy death probe

Errors hindered spy death probe

May 2, 2012

The bizarre circumstances of Gareth Williams's death left detectives faced with a perplexing case, but mistakes made after he died hardly helped in the quest for answers.

A week elapsed before MI6 raised the alarm over the spy's disappearance. With his undiscovered body decomposing, crucial evidence could well have been lost.

Various reasons for the delay were offered, based on false assumptions about the agent's whereabouts.

One MI6 line manager said he thought Mr Williams must be stuck on a train when he missed a meeting seven days before his remains were found.

Other colleagues believed for days he might be packing for his return to GCHQ from his London secondment.

Either that, or he was working on coursework, they thought.

Yet Mr Williams was so punctual one colleague was said to have likened him to a Swiss clock, with non-attendance at a meeting being most out of character.

A contrite secret services boss - named only as SIS F - acknowledged the blunders, admitting Mr Williams's no-show should have been flagged two to four hours after being noted.

"We are profoundly sorry about what happened," she said.

"It shouldn't have happened and we recognise that the delay in finding Gareth's body has made it even harder for the family to come to terms with his dreadful death and we are truly sorry for that.

"I also appreciate the delay had some impact on the police investigation."

The family's lawyer, Anthony O'Toole, pulled no punches in describing this impact.

"Because of the decomposition of the body, any forensic evidence that could have been derived from it has disappeared, so the police investigation has in essence been almost defeated," he said.

Scientists were left with little to go on when trying to establish how the spy died and could not rule out poisoning, despite lacking hard proof.

The slow response of the secret services was not, however, the only error feared to have hampered the inquiry.

As the inquest neared its end, MI6 and a senior detective were accused of failing to disclose vital evidence.

Nine computer memory sticks and a black bag were overlooked for 21 months after the death, with the lead detective on the case told of them only this week.

The North Face bag - similar to the one in which the agent was found dead - was discovered by officers under his desk at MI6's London HQ.

MI6 also examined computer equipment belonging to Mr Williams without telling police.

And the spy's relatives were left shaking their heads as Detective Constable Colin Hall, of the Met's counter-terror SO15 branch, said his search of the agent's Vauxhall headquarters was called off shortly after the death was discovered.

The case was then plagued by further false steps when forensic teams mistakenly identified what they thought was a significant spot of DNA on Mr Williams's hand in 2010.

It took them until March this year to realise it matched a scientist at the crime scene.

Human error was blamed, with the wrong number for the sample being logged on a computer.

Coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox spelt out the damage done: "My concern, and I'm sure the police's concern, was the amount of time spent in the investigation on what was a false lead."

Scientific adviser Ros Hammond, of LGC Forensics, said she had never witnessed this sort of mix-up.

The forensic officer responsible, Paul Stafford Allen, apologised for any "distress" caused to the family by his transcription error, expressing his "deep regret".

But apologies, and promises that changes have since been made to prevent such slip-ups recurring, will not give the family the answers they crave.

Guardian : Gareth Williams probably died by suffocation or poisoning, inquest told

Gareth Williams probably died by suffocation or poisoning, inquest told

MI6 officer could have lost consciousness within two to three minutes due to buildup of CO2 inside bag, says pathologist

Caroline Davies | April 30, 2012

The MI6 officer Gareth Williams probably suffocated to death in a locked sports holdall or died from an unknown poison, his inquest heard.

The 31-year-old codes and ciphers expert would have been overcome very rapidly by CO2, losing consciousness within two to three minutes, if the bag was sealed while he was alive.

Cause of death could not be ascertained because of the level of decomposition by the time his body was found, which meant certain poisons or volatile agents would not be detected, Dr Benjamin Swift, a consultant forensic pathologist, told the inquest. The "foremost contenders" were asphyxiation by suffocation or poisoning, he said.

The naked body of Williams was found in a padlocked holdall in his bath at his top-floor flat in Pimlico, central London, on 23 August 2010.

The Home Office pathologist Richard Shepherd said it was "more likely than not" that Williams was alive when he entered the bag, but it was "an extremely difficult call". Because of the "floppiness" of a newly dead body, it was not easy to place a body as neatly as Williams was found, he said.

Postmortem examinations revealed no evidence of "restraint, gripping or holding" marks inflicted before death. There was no evidence of strangulation or physical trauma. Williams could have entered the bag voluntarily or been coerced into it under threat, Shepherd agreed.

The independent pathologist Ian Calder, who carried out a second postmortem, said hypercapnia – carbon dioxide poisoning – would have caused a soporific effect with "gradual fading away with no pain and an increasing lack of awareness".

Asked by the coroner, Fiona Wilcox, how long that might have taken, Calder said: "Two to three minutes at best for the level to become toxic."

Small abrasions on the tips of Williams's elbows were discovered. The hearing was told these could be consistent with him moving his arms inside the bag, possibly in an attempt to escape. "Once the lock is placed on it there was no possibility of getting out of that bag," said Shepherd. "The question is: did he place the lock or did another?"

Williams would have had "a period of awareness" of being overcome by CO2, and the grazes could represent an attempt to get out, the inquest heard. "Death will come so fast, leaving little or no chance even in fit young people for there to be a response," said Shepherd. Hypercapnia was a "sign-free death", he added.

The inquest heard that the postmortem examinations were hampered by decomposition caused by heat. Despite it being summer, the radiators in the flat were on. The degree of decomposition suggested Williams had been dead for 10 days at the time of postmortem, consistent with the last time he was seen alive on CCTV on 15 August 2010.

Two hairs were recovered from the back of Williams's right thumb and his right little finger. The coroner said no forensic analysis of them had been submitted to the inquest, and she asked for any details to be disclosed.

DNA from another person was found on Williams's left hand. The inquest was told that details of the DNA were erroneously inputted into a database by LGC, the forensic company analysing samples, an error only discovered a year after Williams's death. The DNA sample was from one of the forensic scientists at the scene. Paul Allen, of LGC, expressed his "very deep regret" to Williams's family for the error.