UPI : British spy's death likely due to sex game

British spy's death likely due to sex game

October 28, 2010

LONDON, Oct. 28 (UPI) -- Toxicology reports on the body of a British spy probably involved in a sado-masochistic game showed no evidence of substance abuse, officials said Thursday.

The naked, decomposing body of MI6 codebreaker Gareth Williams, 30, was found locked in a bag in his London apartment Aug. 23, The Daily Telegraph reported.

Authorities think Williams died after climbing into the bag which was then locked from the outside by another person, as part of a sex game from which Williams took pleasure in being rendered helpless, the Daily Mail reported.

Williams probably died from suffocation and dehydration, the Daily Mail said.

Scotland Yard seeks a Mediterranean couple between the ages of 20 and 30, who entered the apartment in June or July, the newspaper reported.

Officers have not ruled out preventing Williams from continuing important work in intercepting and decrypting foreign powers' messages as a motive for his death, the newspaper said.

UPI : Dead MI6 agent also worked in Washington

Dead MI6 agent also worked in Washington

September 25, 2010

LONDON, Sept. 25 (UPI) -- The FBI is helping British police in their investigation into the death of an intelligence analyst who had worked in the United States, officials say.

Sir John Sawers, the head of MI6, the British military intelligence agency, attended Gareth Williams' funeral Friday at the Bethel Methodist Chapel in Anglesey, Wales, The Daily Telegraph reported.

Williams' body was found in his London apartment locked into a sports bag on Aug. 23. Investigators had not determined a cause of death.

Williams, 31, made several trips to the United States to work with the National Security Agency at Fort Meade in Maryland, the Telegraph said. He returned from his final trip on Aug. 10.

A couple reportedly visited Williams in London. The FBI has been using face recognition technology to determine if the couple were with Williams on any of his flights into or out of the United States.

Agents have also asked baggage handlers in Washington if they remember a bag like the one where the body was found and have searched an apartment where he stayed in the city, the Telegraph said.

UPI : CIA joins probe of British spy slaying

CIA joins probe of British spy slaying

August 26, 2010

LONDON, Aug. 26 (UPI) -- The CIA was called in to help investigate the death of a British spy whose body was found decomposing in a sports bag in his bathtub, officials said Thursday.

Gareth Williams, a 31-year-old code breaker for the MI6 Secret Intelligence Service, supplying Britain with foreign intelligence, was often sent on secret missions to the United States. He returned to London from his last U.S. trip a few weeks before he was found dead, The Daily Mail reported.

His death in his upscale London townhouse apartment near MI6 headquarters -- said to have happened as much as two weeks ago but just discovered Monday -- has led to a flurry of speculation about how he died and why.

Security officials told the Mail they could not explain how someone holding his sensitive post could go missing for such a long time before police were called.

Detectives were said to be trying to determine if Williams was strangled or asphyxiated or if drugs or alcohol were present in his system. Police discounted lurid speculation he had been stabbed or even dismembered, the Mail said.

Williams was days from returning to Britain's eavesdropping Government Communications Headquarters intelligence agency in Cheltenham, 100 miles northwest of London, most British media outlets reported.

Despite the intrigue, Williams' death is being investigated by the Homicide and Serious Crime Command of London's Metropolitan Police, suggesting the death may be unrelated to espionage, The Guardian reported.

The newspaper said investigators suspected Williams may have known his killer.

UPI : Spy found dead in London apartment

Spy found dead in London apartment [scroll down]

August 25, 2010

LONDON, Aug. 25 (UPI) -- A British spy found dead in a London apartment was stabbed to death before being put in a duffel bag where his body rotted for up to two weeks, officials said.

The man, known as Gareth Williams, reportedly was working as a communications worker at the British government's listening post in Cheltenham, The Daily Telegraph reported Wednesday.

Williams was thought to be on temporary assignment at the headquarters for MI6, the British secret intelligence service, across the Thames River from where his body was discovered, sources told the newspaper.

Police were called to the central London apartment to follow up on reports that the occupant hadn't been seen for some time, officials said. Williams' cell phone and other items also were found in the apartment.

A London metropolitan police spokesman said officers were responding to "reports of a suspicious death."

"They attended a top floor flat ... and gained entry and found the body of a man in his 30s," the spokesman said.

Counter-terrorist and security service officers are helping detectives in the investigation, the newspaper said.