Telegraph : MI6 spy Gareth Williams 'probably died from poisoning or asphyxiation'

MI6 spy Gareth Williams 'probably died from poisoning or asphyxiation'

MI6 spy Gareth Williams is most likely to have died from poisoning, suffocation or strangulation, his inquest heard today.

By Tom Whitehead, Security Editor | April 30, 2012

Pathologist Dr Benjamin Swift said Mr Williams’ body was so badly decomposed it meant his cause of death could not be officially “ascertained”.

But he said “poisoning or asphyxiation” were the “foremost contenders” for his death.

The court heard how he could have been dead within "two to three minutes" of being in bag due to the levels of carbon dioxide that would have quickly built up.

The inquest at Westminster Coroners’ Court is investigating Mr Williams’ death, whose decomposing, naked body was found in a padlocked holdall in his bath at his flat in Pimlico in August 2010.

It has already heard that some poisons may not show up in a post mortem because of the level of decomposition.

Dr Swift estimated Mr Williams’ body had been in the bag for ten days.

A second pathologist, Dr Ian Calder said death from carbon dioxide poisoning, because of the restricted breathing space within the bag, was a “very likely possibility”.

Dr Richard Shepherd, who carried out a third post mortem, said he was sure Mr Williams suffered an “unnatural death” and that poisoning or suffocation were the most likely causes.

He said he believed he died in the bag.

Evidence of slight bruising and grazing were also found on Mr Williams' arms but the three separate post mortem examinations failed to find any evidence of a “traumatic” death or struggle.

Dr Shepherd said there was no suggestion he had been “manhandled” but could not rule out he might have been coerced to climb in to it himself, possibly even gunpoint.

He said the slight bruising and grazes could have come from being inside the bag.

But even if he was aware of his predicament and attempted to escape, the padlock on the bag would have “sealed” his fate, he said.

The sixth day of the inquest also heard how police followed a potential DNA clue for more than year before it emerged it belonged to a forensic officer who attended the scene.

An error in recording the data for checking on the database meant no match was initially found suggesting a mystery person was at the flat.

Evidence from forensics officers showed spots of blood were found on the carpet near the kitchen, on the edge of the bath and in the communal doorway.

They also recovered “very weak” traces of blood from the bag handles and padlock. The inquest has already heard that police are still investigating those traces.

A forensic officer also apologised to Mr Willliams’ family after his blunder sent the police on a wild goose chase for more than a year.

Officers believed that had recovered an unknown DNA sample from the back of Mr Williams’ hand.

It was not until February this year that it emerged the sample belonged to a forensic officer from the scene but there had been error when uploading it meaning it did not initially throw up a match.

In a written statement, Paul Stafford Allen apologise for the “distressed” it must have caused.

The inquest heard on Friday how Mr Williams must have been “dead or unconscious” when placed in to the sports bag.

Peter Faulding, a former Parachute Regiment reservist and expert in confined rescues, concluded that not even Harry Houdini could have padlocked himself in the holdall in the bath.

His revelations will further fuel theories that the 31-year-old codebreaker may have been killed.

The maths prodigy had been on secondment to MI6 from GCHQ when he died.

The issue of whether Mr Williams could lock himself in the bag is central to the inquiry and has fuelled theories that a third party was involved.

The inquest at Westminster Coroners’ Court is investigating Mr Williams’ death, whose decomposing, naked body was found in a padlocked holdall in his bath at his flat in Pimlico in August 2010.

Video footage of attempts to recreate climbing in to an 81cm by 48 cm holdall and locking it was shown to the court.

Mr Faulding, who is of similar height and build to Mr Williams, tried to climb in to a bag inside a bath and lock it himself 300 times and failed every time.

The inquest heard that if Mr Willliams had been alive when he went in to the bath, he would have been dead within 30 minutes.

Oxygen levels dropped to 17 per cent and the temperature rose by 10 per cent within five minutes.

However, another expert in “unusual occurrences” and confined places suggested Mr Williams may have been able to do it himself but it was very unlikely.

William MacKay and a colleague tried and failed 100 times although they came “reasonably close” at times.

He said: “There are people who can do amazing things and Mr Williams may well be one of those persons.”

It also emerged a homemade video showing Mr Williams naked except for black leather boots in which he “wiggles and girates” with his back to the camera was on one of his iPhones.

Evidence of visits to bondage and fetish websites were also found on his phones and lap tops.

Web records also showed he once searched for bondage sites and watched a YouTube video after typing "dress bondage training".

Pages from 2008 showed he may have looked at sites relating to "hogtie", a bondage method of tying the limbs together.

His last internet activity was during the early hours of Monday August 16, a week before his body was discovered, and one of his phone had had its factory settings restored - the equivalent of wiping a hard drive.

The phone was backed up on August 15th but it is not known when it was reset.

The hearing continues.

This Is London : Forensic DNA blunder hindered 'spy in bag' investigation for a year

Forensic DNA blunder hindered 'spy in bag' investigation for a year

Paul Cheston, Kiran Randhawa | March 30, 2012

The family of dead spy Gareth Williams are convinced he was the victim of "the dark arts of the secret services" a court heard today.

They believe an agent was in the Pimlico flat where died inside a padlocked duffle bag in the bath.

Then the secret service destroyed the evidence before the alarm could be raised, eight days after he was last seen alive in August 2010.

In a pre-inquest hearing today Anthony O’Toole, representing the family told the court of their fears about their son’s suspicious death.

“Our impression is that the unknown third party was a member of some agency specialising in the dark arts of the secret services.

“Perhaps the evidence of that third party has been removed by some person post-mortem who is expert in those arts.”

Mr Williams’ parents Ian and Ellen who live in Anglesey, were not in court for today’s hearing.

Mr Williams, a code breaker for GCHQ, had been on secondment to MI6 when he died.

The 31-year-old was discovered dead in a North Face holdall eight days after he had last been seen.

A pre-inquest hearing at Westminster magistrates' court today heard how a major forensic blunder over DNA allegedly found on the spy's body has caused his family months of unnecessary heartache.

The DNA sample was discovered on the hand of the former GCHQ code breaker who was on secondment to MI6 when he was discovered dead at a Pimlico flat in August 2010.

It was believed to bear a mixed profile clearly suggesting that another person must have been at the flat when Mr Williams died inside a padlocked sports bag in the bath. But the court was told today that the DNA trace was due to contamination by a scientist at the scene. It was then incorrectly entered into the computer at the laboratory LGC.

The error, discovered only two weeks ago, has led the police investigation up a blind alley for more than a year. Coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox today demanded statements be taken from Tony Larkin, the scientist who allegedly contaminated the sample, and Paul Stafford Allen, who was said to have recorded the error on the computer.

She also demanded assurances from LGC managing director Steve Allen and chief executive David Richardson that systems were in place to ensure that the impact of this kind of human error could not occur again.

“There are wider concerns about whether LGC can be trusted to provide a proper level of forensic back-up to all investigations, remembering they are providing forensic DNA and analytical background to a lot of criminal cases,” said the Westminster coroner.

“What I’m concerned about is that the system in place to detect the error, and human errors will always occur and it is not unusual for contamination to happen, but I am concerned about the system evaluation and back up and the analysis of the evidence taken. There has been so much public speculation and so much public anxiety that that is the reason the court has to act to address it head on.”

The court heard that his family was concerned that MI6 did not take any steps to check on his welfare for more than a week, even though he had not been turning up to work.

As a result, his body was so contaminated that scientists are unable to be certain about the exact cause of death.

The full inquest hearing is due to start at the end of next month and last at least five days.

The coroner today said that she would ask scientists to carry out a re-enactment in court of how Mr Williams could have got into the sports bag.

The court has heard that scientists are agreed that it would have been virtually impossible for him to have locked the bag on the outside when he was inside.

Dr Wilcox said: “I want it demonstrated in court exactly how somebody could have got into the bag, done it up and locked it from the outside when confined inside.­ I want a practical demonstration of this in court. It is something I have given an awful lot of my time considering.

“I want a very clear demonstration. It’s the fundamental issue in this case whether Gareth Williams was able to lock the bag outside when he was inside it — it’s the very heart of this inquiry.”

The coroner said she wanted to establish an answer to the question of whether Mr Williams could have suffered from a lack of oxygen or from a build up of carbon dioxide.

This was a key line of inquiry considering the lack of injuries to Mr Williams’s body and the lack of pathological evidence that he made any frantic attempt to get out of the bag.

The inquest is expected to hear from 30 witnesses giving evidence in court.

Three of Mr Williams’s former colleagues will be called to give evidence and will be known only by the initials K, F and G.

They include Mr Williams’s line manager, described as the “chap at the coalface” by Anthony O’Toole, counsel representing the family.

The hearing continues.

During a two hour hearing Mr O’Toole told Westminster Coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox: “We thought there was DNA evidence that was a dead end. There was also a footprint found, that has turned out to be a dead end.”

Later the court went into private session to hear PII evidence which Foreign Secretary William Hague wanted to be kept secret on the grounds of national security during the inquest which is due to start on April 23 and last for at least five days.

The Coroner said she would deliver a written judgement on the submissions.