Telegraph : Body in the bag spy Gareth Williams and his mystery links to Kazakh oligarch

Body in the bag spy Gareth Williams and his mystery links to Kazakh oligarch

The spy whose body was found in a locked bag in his London flat was in contact with the son of a Kazakh oligarch before his death.

By Jason Lewis, Investigations Editor | December 29, 2012

Police are now examining Gareth Williams’s relationship with Furkat Ibragimov, whose father is a billionaire from Kazakhstan, in the months before the spy’s body was found in an MI6-owned flat.

The disclosure raises fresh questions over the death of Williams and what he was doing in his work for British intelligence and whether he had been encouraged by MI6 to develop a connection with the oligarch’s son.

It is one of a series of key new facts uncovered by The Sunday Telegraph which include how:

* Williams was involved in field activities for the intelligence services and was more than just the computer analyst he had been portrayed as;
* One theory is that Williams may have been followed from secret meetings with undercover MI6 agents;
* MI6 is now fully co-operating with the police inquiry after criticism of its failure to do so initially;
* Police have re-interviewed every one of his friends and acquaintances in the hunt for clues to his bizarre death;
* The mystery couple seen near his flat, who were the subject of the police investigation for months, far from being an assassination squad, were, in fact, trying to find a pizza party in a neighbouring property.

The disclosure of the relationship with Mr Ibragimov, whose father is listed as among the 400 richest people in the world, comes after an exhaustive search by police for answers into how Mr Williams – a GCHQ computer expert on secondment to MI6 – came to die.

His naked body was found locked inside a red North Face bag in the bath of his flat in Pimlico, central London, in August 2010.

An inquest failed to uncover how he had died and left open the possibility that he had been murdered and that his death might have been connected to his intelligence role.

The coroner ruled that the cause of his death was “unnatural and likely to have been criminally mediated” and that she was “satisfied that on the balance of probabilities that Gareth was killed unlawfully”.

A fresh police investigation was ordered in the wake of the inquest, leading to the new leads. Detectives have not ruled out the possibility that the spy was murdered.

Crucially, they have secured the full co-operation of MI6. Earlier this year Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe ordered a “voluntary” mass DNA screening of MI6 officers to try to identify genetic material found on the bag in which Mr William’s body was found.

Sir Bernard said he was angered by an “unacceptable” breakdown in communication which saw evidence withheld from his senior investigating officers. When asked what powers he had to ensure MI6 co-operated, he said: “It’s the law.”

According to a source with detailed knowledge of the inquiry, one of the first things that the detectives learned from this new “openness” on the part of the intelligence agencies is that far from being a back room technician, Mr Williams was “directly involved with two MI6 assets in the field”.

Witnesses were asked what they knew of his connection to Mr Ibragimov., though there is no suggestion he played any part in Mr Williams’ death.

It is unclear whether detectives have yet spoken to Furkat Ibragimov or his father Alijan, the Kyrgyzstan-born businessman who is a member of a circle of oligarchs in Kazakhstan known as the “Trio”.

The other two are his business partners, Alexander Mashkevich and Patokh Chodiev, who own a mining, oil and gas, and banking empire in Kazakhstan.

Mr Ibrigamov, 25, is one of his four sons, and is based in London, where he has invested millions in a oil company and most recently a health drink firm called Rebootizer.

How Mr Ibragimov met Gareth Williams and whether he knew he was a spy is unclear.

They had at least one mutual friend, Missa Elizabeth Guthrie, the daughter of an American millionaire.

Miss Guthrie befriended Mr Williams in the year before his death after she shared a flat with Sian Lloyd-Jones, his school friend and a fashion stylist. She is also close to Mr Ibragimov, calling him “Shark”.

The Telegraph has learned that court papers, never made public, described Mr Ibragimov as Miss Guthrie’s friend and business partner and suggest that she asked Mr Williams if he could make a fake a degree certificate for him.

But when Miss Guthrie was asked about the connection between Mr Williams and Mr Ibragimov by the coroner at the inquest she said Mr Williams had “never mentioned” him.

An MI6 officer known only as witness “F”, who gave evidence from behind a screen during the hearing, was asked whether, if Mr Williams had been in contact with anyone from the central Asian country of Kyrgyzstan, he should have reported this to service’s vetting team. “F” said she could not answer for security reasons.

Mr Ibragimov’s father and his partners are the major shareholders in the London-based Eurasian National Resources Corporation (ENRC), which controls mines in Kazakhstan, Africa, Eastern Europe and Africa. In 2009, ENRC reported profits of more than £900 million.

Mr Ibragimov senior was ranked at 382 on Forbes’ list of the world’s billionaires, with an estimated worth of £1.73 billion, and has homes which include a secluded estate on Lake Zurich in Switzerland.

His son controls an investment portfolio called Glendesk Overseas based in the British Virgin Islands, and with his brothers Davron and Dostan, is also overseeing the construction of the first motor racing circuit in Kazakhstan, where they, and the country’s controversial ruler Nursultan Nazarbayev, hope to stage Formula One racing.

Last week Mr Ibragimov, a graduate of the private European Business School in London, was on holiday in Far East and could not be contacted. Miss Guthrie was also unavailable for comment.

The connection to central Asia is only one of the new leads being followed by detectives.

They are also examining closely his MI6 role and his involvement with two field agents. Until now it had been believed that Mr Williams’ work involved only computer analysis.

According to the source, detectives have been exploring the idea that the MI6 agents could have been followed to their meetings with Mr Williams leading to him being identified by foreign agents or terrorists and murdered.

This area was originally ruled off limits by intelligence chiefs when murder squad detectives were called in to examine Mr Williams’ death.

At the time no MI6 officers were interviewed by detectives and only “security cleared” officers attached to police counter terrorism operations were allowed into the Secret Intelligence Service headquarters at Vauxhall Cross, south London, to examine Mr Williams’ office and its contents.

It is unclear whether Mr Williams’ engagement with field agents involved him going “undercover” himself or if, as seems more likely, he was giving the agents technical help and advice after meeting them at a secure location like an MI6 safe house.

Eavesdropping and computer experts from GCHQ are regularly sent on operations abroad, including with the Army in war zones, while others have played a role in bugging foreign embassies or agents in the UK.

It is known that Mr Williams had been previously sent to the US to work alongside agents from America’s National Security Agency.

Detectives have also been able to finally solve one of the outstanding questions which have bedevilled the inquiry.

In December 2010 detectives issued an “e-fit” of “a man and a woman, both of Mediterranean appearance and aged between 20 and 30 years old, who, they said, were seen entering the communal area late one evening in June or July.

At the time a police spokesman said: “Having gained access to the communal area of the building, they intimated that they had a key to Gareth’s flat, number 4, and were last seen walking towards it. It is believed they said they had been given a key by a 'Pier Paulo’, or something similar.”

The request for assistance led to wild speculation about who the couple were and what there connection was to the dead spy, including that they were part of a Mossad hit squad.

It was almost two years before the police were able to rule the couple out of their enquiries. In fact, it can be revealed, that the pair were guests who got lost on their way to a pizza party thrown by an Italian language student at a flat down the road from where Mr Williams was living.

Pierpaolo Pittari, who gave the party, lived in Alderney Street between February and November 2010 while he was learning English. He worked in a local bar and as an archivist at the Italian consulate before returning home at the end of 2010.

Last week, speaking from his home in Salerno, near the Amalfi Coast, he said: “Some of my guests got lost on the way to my flat and knocked on the wrong door.

"Someone later gave their details to the police. I saw the e-fit at the time but I did not recognise them as my friends. I still can’t see any likeness.

"The picture was so generic, so vague, it was just a man with black hair and a woman with long black hair. It could have been anyone and I thought nothing of it at the time.”

Detectives are also said to be re-examining details of Mr Williams’ lifestyle seeking new witnesses who knew him and who might shed some light on his strange death.

His family and friends dismissed claims that he was involved in cross dressing or had an interest in bondage. But his landlady in Cheltenham told the inquest into his death how she and her husband had found Mr Williams tied to a bed in the flat he rented from them and police found internet searches for bondage sites on his computer.

Forensic officers are painstaking viewing the photographs, videos and a computer generated mock up of his apartment again trying to rule out the idea that the scene was staged by someone with a detailed knowledge of forensic investigation techniques to suggest that Mr Williams was a sexual deviant to detract from other evidence that he was murdered.

However the theory also remains that, however unlikely it seems, Mr Williams may have simply locked himself in the sports bag in his bath in a bizarre sex game and suffocated after becoming trapped inside.

A series of experts attempted to show how this could be done for the benefit of the inquest but, once inside the bag, they were unable to secure the lock to the zip. However, they did not rule out that it could be done.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: “This remains an active investigation and officers continue to explore a number of lines of inquiry. Officers retain an open mind in relation to the circumstances surrounding the death of Mr Williams.”

Daily Mail : 'Spy in the bag' inquest delayed as police chase new leads

'Spy in the bag' inquest delayed as police chase new leads

By Mail On Sunday Reporter | January 16, 2011

The mystery over the MI6 spy found locked in a sports bag has taken a new twist after his inquest was delayed.

The hearing into the death of Gareth Williams, 31, was due to take place at Westminster Coroner’s Court on February 15, but it has now been adjourned and no new date has been set.

The postponement to allow further investigations by police will raise fresh questions about the baffling case.

Detectives are following new leads about a couple who called at his flat before he died. They have received several possible names for the man and woman who visited the codebreaker’s MI6-owned flat in Pimlico, London, in June or July last year.

Mr Williams’s body was found at the apartment inside a padlocked North Face holdall on August 23. Two post-mortems failed to establish how he died, while toxicology tests found no evidence of drugs, alcohol or poisons in his system.

At a Press conference last month, detectives issued e-fit pictures of the man and woman, both believed to be in their 20s and of Mediterranean appearance.

They were let into the block of four flats by a tenant on the ground floor. The couple told her they had keys to Mr Williams’s flat, number four, but said they were there to visit someone called Pier Paolo.

Wired : Police Publish Images of Two Sought in Codebreaker’s Death

Police Publish Images of Two Sought in Codebreaker’s Death

By Kim Zetter | January 6, 2011

In an effort to identify two people who may be connected to the mysterious death of a top British codebreaker, authorities have published images of a man and woman who entered his apartment building weeks before his death.

Gareth Williams, 31, was found dead and naked in a North Face duffel bag in the bathtub of his flat last August. The sports bag was padlocked on the outside.

The two, said to be in their 20s and of Mediterranean appearance, were let in to Williams’ building by another tenant in late June or July. They told the tenant they had keys to Williams’ flat but indicated they knew him as Pier Paolo.

Williams, described by those who knew him as a “math genius,” worked for the U.K.’s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) helping to break coded Taliban communications, among other things. He was just completing a year-long stint with MI6, Britain’s secret intelligence service, when he died. The flat where he lived was part of a network of flats registered to an offshore front company and rented out to GCHQ workers.

Williams had been dead for at least a week when his body was found. His mobile phone and a number of SIM cards were laid out on a table near the body, according to news reports. There were no signs of forced entry to the apartment and no signs of a struggle. The keys to the padlock on the duffel bag were found inside the bag beneath Williams’ body.

The codebreaker reportedly had made repeated visits to the United States to meet with the National Security Agency and worked closely with British and U.S. spy agencies to intercept and examine communications that passed between an al Qaeda official in Pakistan and three men who were convicted last year of plotting to bomb transcontinental flights.

Investigators haven’t ruled out the possibility that Williams was killed over something related to his work but believe his death may have been related to his personal life. Investigators believe Pier Paolo was an alias Williams may have used that was borrowed from Pier Paolo Pasolini, a controversial Italian filmmaker who made films that included sexual violence. According to recent reports, Williams had accessed five bondage websites prior to his death.

Williams flew up to four times a year to the United States to the NSA’s headquarters at Fort Meade, according to the British paper the Mirror. His uncle, Michael Hughes, told the paper that Williams would mysteriously disappear for three or four weeks.

“The trips were very hush-hush,” Hughes said. “They were so secret that I only recently found out about them — and we’re a very close family. It had become part of his job in the past few years. His last trip out there was a few weeks ago, but he was regularly back and forth.”

Williams was said to have worked with the NSA on e-mails intercepted between Abdullah Ahmed Ali and Assad Sarwar and Rashid Rauf, a British national in Pakistan who was allegedly director of European operations for al Qaeda. The e-mails, intercepted by the NSA in 2006, allegedly contained coded messages.

The NSA shared the e-mails with British prosecutors but wouldn’t allow them to use the evidence in an early trial of the suspects out of fear of tipping off Rauf that he was under surveillance. It was only after Rauf was reportedly killed in a U.S. drone attack that the NSA allowed prosecutors to use the e-mails to convict the other suspects.

It’s never been known whether the NSA intercepted the messages overseas or siphoned them as they passed through internet nodes on U.S. soil as part of the NSA’s controversial and unconstitutional warrantless wiretapping program.

An unidentified Western intelligence source told the Mirror that Williams’ job would have had him participating in “crucial high-level meetings with American intelligence officers. His job would have been crucial to the security of the U.K. and our interests abroad — and also to America and Europe. Although not particularly high up the GCHQ ladder, the importance of his role should not be underestimated. The man was a mathematical genius.”

His landlady, Jenny Elliott, told the Telegraph, “Occasionally, you could hear tapes whirring from his flat, which must have been audio cassettes he used for work, but he never told me what they were.”

This Is London : New leads for police in hunt for mystery pair who visited spy

New leads for police in hunt for mystery pair who visited spy

Justin Davenport, Crime Editor | January 4, 2011

Detectives investigating the bizarre death of spy Gareth Williams are following a number of new leads suggesting the identity of a couple who called at his flat before he died.

Police have been given several possible names for the man and a woman, who visited the MI6-owned flat in Alderney Street, Pimlico in late June or July last year.

The naked body of the 31-year-old codebreaker was found on 23 August padlocked inside a large North Face holdall. He is thought to have suffocated.

Murder squad detectives believe a second person padlocked the holdall but has failed to come forward.

They issued E-fit pictures of the man and woman, described as being in their twenties and of Mediterranean appearance, who were let in by a tenant on the ground floor of the building.

They told her they had keys to the flat where Mr Williams lived but said they were there to visit someone called Pier Paolo. They went upstairs to the top floor flat and did not re-appear.

One source close to the inquiry said: “There has been a good response to the appeal and a number of names [for the couple] are being explored.”

The inquiry is examining the possibility that Mr Williams, a GCHQ codebreaker who was on secondment to MI6 in Vauxhall, used an alias for possible secret liaisons.

One theory is that Mr Williams took the name Pier Paolo from the Italian poet and film director Pasolino, whose works include Salo, which was based on the novel 120 Days of Sodom by the Marquis de Sade.

Pasolino was murdered in 1975, run down in his own car near Rome.

Detectives believe Mr Williams's death is linked to his private life but have not ruled out a link to his work. He is known to have visited several bondage websites.

Anyone with information should ring police on 020 8358 0200 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.

Sun : Sex film alias of spy in bag

Sex film alias of spy in bag

By MIKE SULLIVAN, Crime Editor | January 4, 2011

THE spy found dead in a bag at his flat is believed to have used the alias of a notorious movie maker for kinky sex liaisons.

An unknown man and woman who visited the home of MI6 codebreaker Gareth Williams weeks previously told a neighbour they were there to visit someone called Pier Paolo.

Police suspect it was a bogus identity assumed by 31-year-old Mr Williams using the first two names of Italian director Pier Paolo Pasolini, who made films featuring explicit sexual violence.

The pair also appeared to have a key to Mr Williams' flat in Pimlico, South West London - where Mr Williams was believed to have died inside the 32in-long sports bag after a kinky sex game went wrong.

A police source said: "The use of the name Pier Paolo suggests the couple were there for unorthodox sexual reasons. Did they leave him in the bag a few weeks later with tragic consequences?"

Police were keen to speak to the pair, of Mediterranean appearance. Mr Williams was found dead on August 23 last year. An inquest will be held on February 15.

Reuters : Dead MI6 worker visited bondage sites, drag cabaret

Dead MI6 worker visited bondage sites, drag cabaret

By Michael Holden | December 23, 2010

LONDON (Reuters) - Police probing the death of a man who worked for MI6 said on Wednesday he had visited bondage websites and had a wardrobe full of thousands of pounds worth of unworn women's clothing.

Gareth Williams, 30, was found by police on August 23 at his top floor flat in Pimlico, central London, not far from MI6 headquarters. Officers discovered his naked, decomposing body in a zipped and padlocked holdall bag in an empty bath.

Detectives said an examination of his phones had revealed that on a few occasions he had accessed websites relating to bondage and escape from bondage.

Williams had also visited a drag cabaret 10 days before his body was found and had tickets for two other shows. There was also an unconfirmed sighting of him at the "Barcode" gay bar in south London in May.

"Gareth's death remains suspicious and unexplained, and enquiries into the circumstances continue," said Detective Chief Inspector Jackie Sebire, who is leading the inquiry.

Media reported that Sebire was now convinced someone else had helped put him into the bag.

Nothing was believed to have been stolen from the flat and there was no sign of any forced entry or disturbance inside. Toxicology tests on his body have found no traces of alcohol, drugs or poisons.

Police also disclosed that Williams had a collection of dresses and shoes worth about 15,000 pounds in his wardrobe which were new and appeared to be unused.

Williams had been attending a fashion course for beginners at Clerkenwell in central London, detectives said.

They also issued e-fits of a couple, both of Mediterranean appearance, aged between 20 and 30, who had paid a visit to Williams' flat about a month before he was found dead.

The couple had suggested to a witness in the communal area of the block at that time that they had a key to his flat which they had been given by someone called "Pier Paulo."

"Gareth was a very private individual, and we know he would not have given his keys to anyone other than close family," Sebire said. "I am asking this man or woman, or anyone who recognizes them, to encourage them to come forward."

The mysterious nature of the death has led some to question whether he was targeted because of his work. However, the police inquiry is being carried out by its homicide unit, indicating they believe it is not related to terrorism or spy matters.

Williams was working for MI6, which deals with foreign espionage matters, on secondment from the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), the state eavesdropping service.

An inquest into his death is due to be heard at Westminster Coroner's Court on February 15 next year.

(Editing by Steve Addison)

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.

Express : BONDAGE GAMES CLUE TO SPY GARETH WILLIAMS DEATH

BONDAGE GAMES CLUE TO SPY GARETH WILLIAMS DEATH

by John Twomey | December 23, 2010

SPY Gareth Williams led a secret double life as a women’s fashion designer and visited bondage websites shortly before he died, police revealed yesterday.

The MI6 codebreaker passed two courses in fashion design at a prestige college and had a collection of women’s designer clothes and shoes worth £15,000.

Much of the clothing was still in boxes and none had been worn, Scotland Yard said. He had also bought women’s wigs.

Mr Williams, 31, was found dead inside a zipped and padlocked sports holdall in his top floor flat in Pimlico, London, on August 23. He is believed to have died on August 16.

Despite the female clothing and the occasional visits to gay bars, police have found no evidence that he was homosexual.

But they have discovered Mr Williams had an interest in bondage.

Checks on his personal laptop computer and his four mobile phones have revealed he occasionally logged on to bondage websites.

Mr Williams was found naked. The padlock keys were inside the red North Face bag, which was in the bath.

Detectives are certain that someone else was with Mr Williams when he got into the bag.

It is impossible to zip up and lock the holdall from the inside, or to escape without help.

Detective Chief Inspector Jacqueline Sebire said: “We want that person to come forward and talk to us.”

Police are still trying to trace a young Mediterranean couple who called at Mr Williams’s flat in the weeks before his death and yesterday they released e-fits of the pair.

The pair were let into the communal hallway and said they had a key to the spy’s flat.

It is not known whether Mr Williams was in at the time – or even if they went inside.

The couple, said to be in their 20s, spoke to a neighbour and said they had got the key from someone called “Pier Paulo.”

Neither Mr Williams’s fashion design studies or his fetish for bondage was known to his MI6 spymasters or his family.

The exact cause of death is still unknown, although suffocation is the most likely explanation.

An expert in confined spaces, who was locked inside a similar bag, found the temperature soared to 30C in three minutes.

After half-an-hour, the oxygen level in the bag, which is made of thick, weatherproof material, became dangerously low. DCI Sebire said: “Expert evidence is that it is not possible to lock yourself inside without assistance, or unlock yourself once you’re in the bag.”

Speaking about the website visits, DCI Sebire said: “It was very limited sections of time. It is not like continual browsing.

“It was not every evening or weekend. The sites primarily feature women.”

Mr Williams, who worked for the government listening post GCHQ and was on secondment to MI6, studied fashion design at Central St Martins College in London.

He was awarded diplomas after passing beginners’ courses this year and last year.

Police have spoken to fellow students, but want to hear from anyone who knew him at college or through his interest in fashion. They also want to speak to anyone who met Williams when he visited a drag queen cabaret at the Bistrotheque in Bethnal Green, east London, on August 13.

He had tickets for similar shows at a gay pub in Vauxhall, south London, for dates after his death.

DCI Sebire 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.”

Anyone with information should call the incident room on 020 8358 0200.

Callers who wish to remain anonymous can ring Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Metro Police : E-fits issued in death investigation

E-fits issued in death investigation

Bulletin 0000002137 | December 22, 2010

OFFICERS from the Homicide and Serious Crime Command investigating the circumstances into the death of Gareth Williams (date of birth 26.09.78) in August continue to appeal for information.

Police have issued two e-fits of a man and a woman they wish to speak with in connection with the enquiry.

They are described as of Mediterranean appearance, aged between 20-30 years-old.

They called at 36 Alderney Street, Pimlico, SW1 late one evening in June or July, 2010.

Having gained access to the communal area of the building, they intimated that they had a key to Gareth's flat, number 4, and were last seen walking towards it. It is believed they said they had been given the key by a 'Pier Paulo', or something similar.

At this stage, officers are making a further appeal and are urging this man and woman to come forward and assist, so that they can be eliminated from our enquiries.

There are also a number of other points on which officers are asking the public for their help.

Gareth was attending Central St Martins College, Clerkenwell, on a fashion course for beginners - police are urging anyone who knew or met him through the course to come forward if they have any information.

In addition, Gareth's wardrobe contained a collection of female attire, such as dresses and shoes, which were new, and seemingly unused, worth in the region of £15,000, as well as a collection of wigs. If anyone knows where, or when he might have bought such clothing, officers would very much like to speak to them.

Police would also like to hear from anyone who met Gareth on a visit he made to a drag cabaret - 'Bistroteque' in Mile End on 13 August 2010. Gareth had bought tickets for two other shows at the same venue. They also want to speak to anyone who saw Gareth in May 2010, at the 'Barcode' gay bar in Vauxhall, south London, when there was an unconfirmed sighting of him.

Routine forensic examination of Gareth's phones has revealed a limited number of occasions when access was made from them to websites relating to bondage and escape from bondage. Officers would like to talk to anyone who had contact with Gareth via one or more of those sites, who may be able to assist in understanding the circumstances of his death.

Police strongly believe Gareth was not alone in his flat at or before the time of his death and are strongly urging any person, or persons who were there, or knows anything in relation to this, to come forward.

DCI Jacqueline Sebire, the investigating officer, said today: "Gareth was a very private individual, and we know he would not have given his keys to anyone other than close family. I am asking this man or woman, or anyone who recognizes them, to encourage them to come forward and assist us with this enquiry.

"Gareth's death remains suspicious and unexplained, and enquiries into the circumstances continue."

Anyone with information should call the Incident Room in Hendon on 020 8358 0200 or, if they wish to remain anonymous, Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

The Williams family said today: "Gareth's family are still struggling to come to terms with the loss of their son and brother, they urge anybody to come forward with any information that can assist the police investigation."

The Inquest into Gareth's death will be heard before Westminster Coroner's Court on 15 February 2011.

Gareth Williams returned to the UK from a planned holiday in the US, on Wednesday, 11 August 2010. CCTV enquiries established that on a number of occasions on his return, he was shopping in the West End and Knightsbridge areas.

CCTV images issued by officers (6 September 2010) showed Gareth on Saturday 14 August 2010 at approx 15:00hrs, entering Holland Park underground station.

On Sunday 15 August 2010 Gareth was shopping in Brompton Road, SW7. He went to a cash machine, and then into Harrods. At approx 14:30hrs, CCTV images show him in Hans Crescent, SW1 heading towards Sloane Street, near to the Dolce and Gabbana store.

He was wearing a red t-shirt, beige trousers, and white trainers. Gareth was approx 5ft 7inches tall, with short hair and of a muscular build.

On 23 August 2010, Gareth was found in his flat at Flat 4, 36 Alderney Street, Pimlico, SW1 by uniformed officers. There was no sign of any forced entry to the property, and no signs of disturbance inside.

Gareth was found unclothed, in a zipped and padlocked red 'North Face' holdall which was in an empty bath in the en suite bathroom. Officers do not believe any property was missing from the flat and there was no suggestion the items within the flat were specifically posed. No drugs, or indications of drug usage, were recovered.

The first post mortem on 25 August 2010 established no cause of death. Further examinations of the body were held and results from comprehensive further toxicology tests carried out came back negative, showing no trace of any drugs, alcohol, poisons or any other substances that would indicate cause of death.

This Is London : Spy in bag: Police seek mystery couple, MI6 man used bondage websites

Spy in bag: Police seek mystery couple, MI6 man used bondage websites

Justin Davenport, Crime Editor | December 22, 2010

Police revealed dramatic details today about the bizarre death of an MI6 spy found in a sports bag - and appealed for help to find a mystery couple who may hold vital clues.

Scotland Yard issued the first images of a man and woman who could make clear how Gareth Williams died.

The couple visited the spy's Pimlico flat several weeks before his decomposing body was found, on August 23, in the bath inside a zipped and padlocked North Face bag. Detectives also revealed:

* The 31-year-old codebreaker had a collection of designer dresses and shoes worth £15,000 in his flat. The clothes by Stella McCartney and Christopher Kane, and Louboutin shoes, appeared unworn, with many still in wrappings.

* He was almost certainly not alone when he died and had bruised elbows, possibly as he tried to escape from the bag. A pair of keys to the padlock were inside under his body.

* He had visited five bondage websites since last year. No pornography was found in the flat. He visited a comedy drag night at a club called Bistrotheque in Mile End on August 13.

* He had passed two fashion design courses at Central Saint Martins.

* He had four mobile phones including some that were pay-as-you-go.

Tests have been unable to explain how Mr Williams died. One theory is that he may have been the victim of a sex game that went wrong.

Police told how they employed a specialist to climb into the North Face holdall and re-enact events that might have led to his death. He found it was impossible to shut the bag and padlock it from inside without help. It was also impossible to unlock the bag from inside on his own.

The mystery couple called at the flat in Alderney Street in June or July. They buzzed the outside door and were let in by a woman on the ground floor. They told her they were visiting flat 4 — Mr Williams's — and had their own key, given to them by someone called “Pier Paulo”, or a similar name.

The couple went upstairs and did not come down, suggesting they entered the flat. They were aged in their twenties or thirties, possibly of Mediterranean or east European appearance.

Despite a number of previous appeals the pair have not come forward and detectives increasingly believe they could hold vital clues.

Detective Chief Inspector Jacqueline Sebire, leading the inquiry, said: “Gareth was a very private individual. We know he would not have given his keys to anyone other than close family. I am asking this man or woman or anyone who recognises them to encourage them to come forward and assist us.”

In a statement, Mr Williams's family said: “We are still struggling to come to terms with the loss of their son and brother, we urge anybody to come forward with any information that can assist the police investigation.”

At the time of the visit, Mr Williams is believed to have been away and detectives say it is highly unlikely he gave his keys to anyone. Tests on his body show he was not poisoned, drugged or under the influence of alcohol at the time of his death. There were no injuries to suggest a struggle and an examination of his computers showed he had a secret fetish for bondage and being confined in enclosed spaces.

There was no evidence of anything missing from his flat and no signs of a disturbance. Detectives have discounted one rumour that the flat was locked from the outside.

Mr Williams, a keen cyclist, was in London on a year's secondment and was due to return to the GCHQ government listening post in Cheltenham. He is known to have made trips on business to the US but he was not a field agent and his spy bosses can find no reason for him to have been killed.

He was last seen eight days before his body was found. CCTV showed him at Harrods and Holland Park Tube.

Anyone with information can call 020 8358 0200 or ring Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.

The unanswered questions

How did he die?

A post mortem has proved inconclusive. But experts can say he was not stabbed or shot, there are no obvious injuries to his body and tests found no trace of alcohol, drugs or poison. It is possible he suffocated inside the North Face bag. Experts say that because of the heat in the flat he could have died within minutes if he could not escape.

Was he alone and why did he not escape from the bag?

Police now believe he was almost certainly not alone. Intriguingly, there is no sign of anyone else being in the flat, but tests have shown that Mr Williams could not have locked himself into the bag on his own. He must have had help and either climbed into the bag as part of a sex game — or, in some way, was forced in. The real question is why he was unable to escape and why the second party did not help him. One possibility is the second man — or woman — left the scene planning to return but when they did the spy was already dead. The second person then panicked and fled. The puzzle is why he or she did not leave any clues. And why, if the explanation was innocent, they have not come forward.

What about his private life?

This remains a mystery. Inquiries have found the spy to be an intensely private individual. He was spotted in a gay bar near the MI6 HQ in Vauxhall and visited a transvestite bar in the weeks before he died but there is no other obvious reference to his sexuality. His computers revealed a interest in bondage and a colourful wig was found in his flat along with £15,000 of high fashion women's dresses and shoes, all of which seem to be still in their wrappers. But there were few, if any, friends who knew him personally.

What was he doing before he died?

His body was found on August 23. It is known he returned from a trip to the US on August 11 and was last seen alive at Holland Park Tube station on August 14 and shopping in Harrods the following day. The post mortem results suggest he died soon afterwards but his body was not found until eight days later.

Who are the mystery couple? 

This is one of the most tantalising questions in the inquiry. No one — including MI6 or his family — can explain why Mr Williams would have given his keys to anyone. They were specific about visiting Flat 4 though they are not thought to have mentioned the spy by name. The codebreaker is not believed to have been in the flat at the time — and the possibility remains the couple could be a red herring.