Sun : Inquest hears 'spy in bag' wanted to quit London over red tape

Inquest hears 'spy in bag' wanted to quit London over red tape

Neil Millard | April 24, 2012

AN MI6 spy found dead in a bag at his flat was unhappy in London and complained of “friction” with intelligence chiefs over red tape, his inquest heard yesterday.

Gareth Williams had asked to be transferred back to GCHQ in Gloucestershire because he hated the "rat race" and "flash car competitions", but secret service bosses were “dragging their feet”.

The 31-year-old had been on a three-year secondment. But, with the agreement of MI6 chiefs, the cycling enthusiast was set to finally return to the West Country a week after he was found dead in August 2010.

His sister Ceri Subbe insisted he would not have let a potential killer into his apartment, adding: “I cannot emphasise enough his conscientiousness.”

In a statement, she told Westminster Coroner's Court: “He disliked office culture, post-work drinks, flash car competitions and the rat race. He even spoke of friction in the office.”

Explaining her comment, Ms Subbe said: “The job was not quite what he expected. He encountered more red tape than he was comfortable with.”

The policeman who was first to find him dead in a holdall told how he was surprised not to have smelled his rotting corpse sooner.

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

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

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

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

He lifted the bag up “by six or seven inches” and saw red fluid seeping out.

The cop was on foot patrol when he received instructions to carry out a “welfare check” on Mr Williams who had not been seen for around 12 days.

PC Gallagher knocked repeatedly on the door without reply. He said he noticed a woman’s wig when he was eventually let in by a letting agent.

He made his way into the flat’s bathroom, noticing a bulging red North Face holdall in the bath, with the zips padlocked together.

PC Gallagher had entered the top-floor flat in Pimlico, central London, at around 5pm on August 23, 2010. It is just half a mile from MI6’s headquarters.

He called for assistance and after Detective Sergeant Paul Colgan turned up the bag was cut open and Mr Williams’s body found.

His sister was asked about £20,000 of women’s clothes which were found in his flat after he died.

She said it was “not particularly” surprising, adding that they were “possibly a gift”.

The inquest continues.

Orange UK News : Pc tells how he found spy's body

Pc tells how he found spy's body

April 23, 2012

A woman's wig hanging on a chair caught the attention of the policeman sent to Gareth Williams's flat to check on the missing spy, the inquest heard.

Pc John Gallagher said it was unusual that he was not overwhelmed by the smell of rotting corpse as he became the first officer to set foot in the MI6 spy's home.

He was on foot patrol at about 5pm on August 23 2010 when he received instructions to carry out a "welfare check" on Mr Williams, who had not been seen for about 12 days.

He went to Flat 4 in 36 Alderney Street in Pimlico, central London, half a mile from MI6's headquarters, and was let into the building's communal hallway by a neighbour.

The officer went upstairs to Mr Williams's top-floor apartment and knocked repeatedly on the door but there was no reply.

Pc Gallagher spoke to his control room, who got lettings agent Vanessa Scott to come to let him into the flat.

The officer went through the rooms checking for any sign of Mr Williams.

In the living room he found a mobile phone and two SIM cards on a table, then spotted something else that caught his eye.

"My attention was drawn to a lady's wig hanging on one of the corners of a chair," he said.

There were some yellow sports holdalls in the bedroom, and the duvet cover was half off the bed, trailing on the floor.

There was also a neatly folded pile of clothing on the bed and a bathrobe on the floor.

He eventually walked into the flat's bathroom, noticing a bulging red North Face holdall in the bath with the zips padlocked together.

Pc Gallagher said he only picked up the "particular smell" of a body when he tried to lift the bag up.

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

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

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

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

He lifted the bag up "by six or seven inches" when he could see red fluid seeping out.

"Then there was the smell," he said. "Probably as a result of moving the bag."

Pc Gallagher said he called for assistance from officers, saying he did not have the appropriate equipment to look inside the holdall.

Detective Sergeant Paul Colgan was sent to the flat as back-up. After cutting into the bag, he confirmed there was a body inside.

He recalled: "At that point I knew we had some sort of a crime scene, so I ordered everybody out of the flat.

"Once we were out in the street, I called for other units to attend."

Officers from Scotland Yard's counter-terrorism command, known as SO15, were sent to the flat that night, the inquest heard.

Daily Mail : MI6 spy found dead in a bag 'disliked the office culture, post-work drinks, flash car competitions' and dreamed of escaping the rat race, sister tells inquest

MI6 spy found dead in a bag 'disliked the office culture, post-work drinks, flash car competitions' and dreamed of escaping the rat race, sister tells inquest

* Gareth Williams was extremely 'security conscious' and would not have let strangers inside his flat
* He may have been considering leaving the security services to start up his own business
* Detectives say criminal charges are still a possibility, despite no suspects
* Four intelligence agents give evidence behind anonymity screens to avoid 'real risk of harm' to national security and international relations

By Chris Greenwood | April 23, 2012

A spy whose body was discovered in a padlocked bag was desperate to leave his intelligence post and complained about ‘friction’ at MI6 headquarters, his family said yesterday.

They revealed 31-year-old Gareth Williams was a ‘scrupulous risk assessor’ and a meticulous genius who colleagues compared to a Swiss clock.

But he had become disenchanted with a heavy drinking ‘office culture’, the London ‘rat race’ and work politics at the spy agency’s central Thames-side HQ.

He applied to end his secondment early and return to the GCHQ Government listening station in Cheltenham, where he worked as a highly prized code-breaker.

But just one week before he was due to leave, his naked and decomposing body was found in a large sports holdall in the bath of his home, sparking a huge police investigation.

Yesterday, his grieving family attended the first day of a long-awaited inquest into his mysterious death.

Coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox pledged to hold a ‘full and fearless’ inquiry as she heard:

* Mr Williams wanted to escape the ‘rat race’ of the capital and was frustrated that MI6 had been dragging its feet over the move.
* The spy was extremely conscientious and his family said he would never let anyone into his flat apart from them.
* MI6 was accused of failing to raise the alarm when he missed a key meeting one week before his body was found.
* A sergeant described the moment he cut open the red North Face holdall and found the body of Mr Williams curled up inside.
* A constable who discovered the bag and raised the alarm noticed underwear neatly folded on a nearby bed and a woman’s wig hanging on a chair.

The death of Mr Williams in August 2010 triggered a painstaking investigation, worldwide media frenzy and a raft of conspiracy theories.

Revelations about his personal life and claims that no third-party fingerprints or DNA were found in his home fuelled speculation around the circumstances of his death.

His parents, Ian and Ellen Williams, listened as his sister Ceri Subbe told the inquest how he never spoke about his top-secret intelligence work.

Choking with emotion, she outlined the astonishing academic achievements that led him to his highly specialist job and passions for sport, fashion and the arts.

But Mrs Subbe said he disliked the office culture at the landmark MI6 headquarters on the south bank of the Thames.

She said: ‘He missed the countryside and longed to ride his bicycle in the open air without smog and the constant fear of being run over by a bendy bus.

‘He disliked the office culture, post-work drinks, flash car competitions and the rat race. He even spoke of friction in the office.

‘The job was not quite what he expected. He encountered more red tape than he was comfortable with.’ Mrs Subbe said she last spoke to her brother on August 13, when he said he was looking forward to going to see a transvestite comedian.

She later found out he missed a meeting at MI6 that he was due to chair, but no one investigated why.

On August 23 PC John Gallagher was asked to conduct a ‘welfare check’ on Mr Williams’s flat when he failed to keep in touch and they could not raise him.

The officer described how the property was clean, tidy and unremarkable until he came across the holdall in the en-suite bathroom. PC Gallagher said: ‘I noticed that the side nearest the door had a round bulge.

‘I noticed there was a padlock with the two zips joined together. At this point I am realising it is something serious.’

He called Sergeant Paul Colgan, who used a knife to cut a three-inch hole in the bag, confirming a body was inside and alerting the murder squad.

Sgt Colgan said the heavy-duty bag concealed the smell of the decomposing body but once the hole was made the ‘smell became more than apparent’.

When Mr Williams’s sensitive job was discovered, detectives from the force’s Counter Terrorism Command were informed.

The inquest, in Westminster, heard details of the spy’s life, including how he went to university aged just 16, joining the University of Bangor’s computer science department.

It was also told how the successful cyclist and fell runner followed the arts and fashion and had a £20,000 collection of women’s designer clothing in his wardrobe. Mrs Subbe said her brother was ‘the most scrupulous risk-assessor’ she had ever known. She said he would meticulously check his equipment before rock climbing, cycling and fell running.

She added that her brother never told her he was being followed or felt threatened, saying: ‘I cannot think as to why anybody would want to harm him.’

The inquest, which is expected to last eight days, continues.

BBC : MI6 spy Gareth Williams was 'scrupulous risk assessor'

MI6 spy Gareth Williams was 'scrupulous risk assessor'

April 23, 2012

An MI6 officer found dead in his flat had been a "scrupulous risk-assessor" and only let "vetted" people into his home, his sister has told an inquest.

The body of Gareth Williams, 31, originally from Anglesey, was found padlocked in a bag in a bath in his Pimlico flat in August 2010.

Ceri Subbe said only family had keys to her brother's flat and that he would not have let in a potential killer.

The inquest is expected to examine whether anyone else was involved.

Ms Subbe said her brother had never told her he had been followed or felt threatened.

"I cannot think as to why anybody would want to harm him," she told the inquest.

In a statement read to the court, Ms Subbe said MI6 had been "dragging their feet" over her brother's request to return to government communications surveillance agency GCHQ's headquarters in Gloucestershire.

The mathematics prodigy had worked as a cipher and codes expert for GCHQ since 2001.

He had been working for MI6 in London on what had been meant to be a three-year secondment, but "as time went by his enthusiasm began to fade", Ms Subbe said.

"He disliked office culture, post-work drinks, flash car competitions and the rat race. He even spoke of friction in the office," the statement said.

Giving evidence at Westminster Coroner's Court, Ms Subbe added: "The job was not quite what he expected. He encountered more red tape than he was comfortable with."

Mr Williams had asked to return to GCHQ in April 2010 and MI6 had agreed he could leave on 1 September 2010.

The inquest was told that he failed to show up to a meeting that day and Ms Subbe had spoken to one of his colleagues.

"He is very conscientious. The person I spoke to agreed, and said Gareth was like a Swiss clock - very punctual, very efficient, and it was very unlike him not to attend a meeting," she said.

Ms Subbe told the inquest he had seemed upbeat the last time she spoke to him.

She said it was "not particularly" surprising that £20,000 of women's clothes had been found in her brother's flat and that they could possibly have been intended as gifts.

The police officer who discovered the bag in the bath, PC John Gallagher, told the inquest he was let into the locked flat by a letting agent after reports that Mr Williams was missing.

He said that, once inside, his attention was drawn to a woman's wig hanging on the corner of a chair.

When he got to the bathroom, there was a bathrobe on the floor outside the closed door, he added.

When he opened it, he noticed the bag in the bath but only became aware of the "particular smell" of a body when he tried to lift it.

"I noticed that the side nearest the door had a round bulge," he said.

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

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

He said he could only see red fluid seeping out after he lifted the bag up "by six or seven inches".

He called for back-up and Det Sgt Paul Colgan arrived who cut open the holdall to reveal the body inside.

The inquest has been adjourned until Tuesday.

Opening proceedings earlier, coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox said evidence into Mr Williams's death would be heard in public but that some sensitive information would be withheld because of a "real risk of harm" to national security.

Summaries or "gists" of any withheld evidence would be revealed in court and there would be "a full, fair and fearless inquest into this highly controversial death", she said.

The inquest will hear from Mr Williams's colleagues from MI6 and the GCHQ, toxicology experts and bag experts.

Most of the 37 witnesses will give evidence in person, but some officers will be able to testify anonymously and behind screens.

Broadcasters and newspaper have applied for photographs, video and documents referred to in open court to be supplied to the media.

But a lawyer for the Met Police, Vincent Williams, said there was a "live complex ongoing investigation" into the death and charges were still a "real possibility".

Dr Wilcox suggested that the lawyers agree a compromise outside court.

A lawyer for Mr Williams's family said they opposed the release of video footage showing an attempted reconstruction of how he may have climbed into the bath.

'Dark arts'

A post-mortem examination and further toxicology tests - which found no trace of drugs, alcohol or poison - and the police investigation have all failed to establish a cause of death.

Police originally found it would have been impossible for Mr Williams to have locked himself inside the holdall his naked body was found in.

But they have been unable to establish whether he died at the hands of a third party.

Dr Wilcox told a pre-inquest hearing in March that whether the code-breaker was able to lock himself in the bag would be "at the very heart" of the inquest.

Lawyer Anthony O'Toole told the pre-inquest hearing that Mr Williams's family believed a third party was present at his death or later destroyed evidence.

"The impression of the family is that the unknown third party was a member of some agency specialising in the dark arts of the secret services - or evidence has been removed post-mortem by experts in the dark arts," he said.