Wales Online : Allegations about dead spy’s private life ‘a decoy’

Allegations about dead spy’s private life ‘a decoy’

by Carys Jones, Western Mail | January 24, 2011

A FORMER tutor of MI6 spy Gareth Williams yesterday claimed allegations about his sexuality and his private life were leaked as a decoy.

The 31-year-old from Anglesey was found dead in a padlocked sports bag in his central London flat last August.

Cheryl Eastap, who taught the GCHQ code-breaker on a part-time clothing design course in London, said suggestions from anonymous police and security sources that he was gay and a cross-dresser may have been made to make his death appear to be an accident rather than something more sinister.

Around £15,000 worth of designer women’s clothing was also found at his home, but Ms Eastap told a Sunday newspaper he may well have collected the outfits as many other fashions students do.

She said: “The police should not have leaked all these things about him.

“It was hurtful to his family and it was a decoy.”

Although the tutor said it was quite normal for fashion students to collect such items, she said Williams had not needed them for her course.

Despite a high-profile investigation into Mr Williams’s death, no one has yet been arrested or questioned as a suspect.

An inquest is due to take place next month.

Wales Online : Police probe dead Welsh MI6 spy’s bondage links

Police probe dead Welsh MI6 spy’s bondage links

by Paul Rowland, Wales On Sunday | December 26, 2010

REVELATIONS that mystery death spy Gareth Williams visited bondage websites before his death were “not intended to add salacious detail or tittle-tattle” or embarrass his family, senior officers have insisted.

The denial came after officers investigating the death of the 31-year-old MI6 codebreaker, from Anglesey, revealed he had viewed sites showing people bound and tied, which included do-it-yourself guides.

Detectives also found an unworn £15,000 collection of women’s designer clothing, including tops, dresses and shoes in his wardrobe.

They revealed he visited a drag cabaret in east London four days before his death and held tickets to two more. Detective Chief Superintendent Hamish Campbell said police hoped the details may encourage people to come forward.

He said: “This is not intended to add salacious detail or tittle-tattle. We feel there is a small sub-group of the community or individuals who may know something about this matter and the nature of Gareth’s death.

“They are embarrassing, hurtful and distressing for the family, but they are aware of the matters we are raising.”

Mr Campbell added that investigators are sure someone else involved with the bondage or gay scene has “linked in” with Mr Williams, but police “cannot find that trace”.

He said: “We are very sure someone else was in that flat.”

Mr Williams’ body was found in a padlocked holdall in the bath of his Pimlico flat on August 23. The keys were inside.

Wales Online : Tests on MI6 spy Gareth Williams draw a blank

Tests on MI6 spy Gareth Williams draw a blank

Wales Online | October 28, 2010

Tests on the body of MI6 spy Gareth Williams have revealed no traces of any foreign substances that may have led to his death.

No evidence of drugs, alcohol or poisons were found during a battery of tests conducted by toxicologists, sources close to the inquiry said.

The 30-year-old GCHQ code-breaker’s naked and decomposing body was found in a padlocked holdall in the bath of his Pimlico flat on August 23.

The mysterious circumstances of Mr Williams' death sparked an international frenzy of speculation earlier this year.

Coroner Dr Paul Knapman is due to review the case in private next Wednesday after opening an inquest on September 1.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: "Results from comprehensive further toxicology tests carried out in relation to the death of Gareth Williams have come back negative, showing no trace of any drugs, alcohol, poisons or any other substances that would indicate cause of death.

"There are no plans to carry out any further tests of this type, but enquiries continue to try and establish a formal cause of death.

"Mr Williams’ death remains suspicious and unexplained and enquiries into the circumstances continue."

Scotland Yard detectives, led by Detective Chief Inspector Jackie Sebire, continue to try and identify what led to Mr Williams' death.

They have been hunting for a man and a woman seen calling at the communal door of his Alderney Street home.

Witnesses said the Mediterranean couple, aged in their twenties, were let into the property late on an evening in June or July.

The spokesman said: “The police are still keen for the couple to come forward, or receive any information regarding them from members of the public.”

Mr Williams’ body was found by officers who called at his flat after colleagues raised the alarm that he had not been seen for some time.

There was no sign of any forced entry to the property or a disturbance inside and nothing is believed to be missing.

He was found unclothed, in a zipped and padlocked red North Face holdall in an empty bath in the ensuite bathroom.

A first post mortem examination could not identify a cause of death and police sent off numerous intimate samples for further tests.

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.

Police have released CCTV footage of him entering Holland Park Underground station at about 3pm the previous day.

The cycling fanatic was on a one year secondment to MI6, based in nearby Vauxhall Cross, from his work at the GCHQ listening post in Cheltenham.

His family have lashed out at rumours the mathematics prodigy was involved in risky sexual practices, saying they had been “very distressing”.

Anyone with information should contact the incident room on 020 8358 0200 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Wales Online : Funeral date for M16 worker Gareth Williams

Funeral date for M16 worker Gareth Williams

September 21, 2010

The funeral of M16 worker Gareth Williams will take place this Friday in Anglesey.

The service for the 31-year-old, who was found dead in August, will take place at Bethel Chapel, Holyhead.

Mr Williams' death at his Pimlico home is still being investigated by Metropolitan police.

He died while on secondment to the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) from his work at Government Communications HQ (GCHQ) in Cheltenham.

Wales Online : Police hunt for couple seen near murdered spy’s flat

Police hunt for couple seen near murdered spy’s flat

by Darren Devine, Western Mail | September 7, 2010

DETECTIVES probing the death of Welsh spy Gareth Williams yesterday revealed they are hunting a man and woman of “Mediterranean appearance”.

A Scotland Yard spokesperson described the pair, aged between 20 and 30, as “potential suspects” over the murder of the code breaker.

The two were let into the communal entrance of Mr Williams’ flat in Pimlico, central London, late one evening in June or July.

His decomposing naked body was found padlocked shut in a holdall in a bath in the top floor flat by officers who broke in on August 23 after Mr Williams failed to appear at work for several days.

Yesterday officers released CCTV footage of him as they appealed for the public’s help.

It showed the 30-year-old, from Valley, Anglesey, entering Holland Park Underground station about 3pm on Saturday, August 14.

Police said post-mortem examinations found “no obvious cause of death” and initial indications from toxicology tests showed no trace of any alcohol or routine or recreational drugs.

A force spokesman added there was no sign of any forced entry to his flat in Alderney Street or disturbance inside, and no property was believed to be missing.

Mr Williams, who worked at Government listening post GCHQ, was days from completing a one-year secondment to the headquarters of the Secret Intelligence Service, MI6, in Vauxhall, London.

Police said Mr Williams had returned from a planned holiday in the United States on August 11, and went shopping “on a number of occasions” in the West End and Knightsbridge areas.

On August 15, he went to a cash machine and then to Harrods before CCTV images show him in Hans Crescent, heading towards Sloane Street, near a Dolce and Gabbana store, at about 2.30pm.

Police said Mr Williams, who was 5ft 7in and of muscular build with short hair, was wearing a red T-shirt, beige trousers and white trainers.

Detective Chief Inspector Jacqueline Sebire, who is leading the inquiry for the force’s homicide and serious crime command, said: “I would appeal to anyone who may have seen, or had contact with Gareth in the period between 11th and 23rd August to come forward and speak with us.

“This remains a complex unexplained death inquiry.”

Though his body was found more than a fortnight ago scientists have, as yet, been unable to establish a cause of death.

And despite police referring to an “unexplained death”, Home Office forensic pathologist Dr Brian Rodgers said the circumstances suggest it was “clearly a homicide”.

Dr Rodgers, who has worked on high-profile murder investigations in North Wales, said aside from cases where someone has died of injuries such as stab or gunshot wounds, establishing a cause of death was more complex in a decomposing corpse.

He suggested Mr Williams may have been poisoned or strangled with a necktie as a pathologist would have problems establishing this on a decomposing body.

Dr Rodgers said: “The difficulty with any body that’s decomposing is that some of the subtle signs of certain modes of death can be very difficult to ascertain – like asphyxia with a ligature.”

Dr Rodgers, 57, who works part-time at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd in Bodelwyddan, Denbighshire, added: “What you have to remember is that from the process of decomposition chemicals are produced in the body which can affect the analysis of various poisons, so you’d get false positive and negative results.

“I don’t know anything about the case other than what I’ve read in the papers and has been on the news, but I suspect he’s either been poisoned or strangled in some way.”

In a statement shortly after his body was found, Mr Williams’ parents Ian and Ellen hit out at rumours that suggested the codes expert was involved in risky sexual practices, saying they had been “very distressing”.

In tribute to him they said: “Gareth was a generous, loving son, brother, and friend, and he was a very private person.

“He was a great athlete, and loved cycling and music.

“His loss has devastated us and we would ask anyone with information to come forward and assist the police inquiry.”

Wales Online : Welsh spy's death a professional hit, claims expert

Welsh spy's death a professional hit, claims expert

by Darren Devine, Western Mail | September 2, 2010

WELSH spy Gareth Williams was murdered by a hostile security service such as the Russia’s or Iran’s, a leading expert on espionage claimed last night.

Professor Anthony Glees suggests Mr Williams’ murder was the result of a professional hit rather than personal entanglements following revelations his decomposing body was found padlocked shut in a holdall.

And Prof Glees, head of the Buckingham University Centre for Security and Intelligence Studies, called on the UK Government to make a statement over the murder of the GCHQ code-breaker – saying the speculation surrounding his death was a threat to national security.

An inquest yesterday heard a cause of death was yet to be established after Mr Williams, from Valley, near Holyhead on Anglesey, was discovered in the government flat on August 23.

Prof Glees said: “To me it smacks of a very professional killing job and that means the Russian secret service – they’ve murdered people in London before – or conceivably the Iranians.

“It looks more and more like an intelligence killing – what people call a ‘wet job’, meaning intelligence officers have murdered somebody and blood has flown.”

Prof Glees, 62, said Mr Williams may have been blackmailed into passing on secrets to a hostile intelligence service which wanted to leave no trace of any links back to its organisation.

The academic questioned how Mr Williams’ body lay undiscovered for so long in the bag – the 30-year-old was last seen eight days before his corpse was found.

The academic said when security services staff were off work for more than a day without explanation home visits were made.

“They don’t appear to have come round to see this chap. Why not? We can only speculate,” he said. “If they had been frantically looking for him, they would have found him.”

Police broke into the top floor flat in Alderney Street, Pimlico, central London, after Mr Williams failed to appear at work.

Prof Glees added: “Until we’re told, people will continue to speculate and that in itself undermines national security and that’s why the Government must now explain what they know about this person and why his body was not discovered for two weeks.

“That, to me, is a really chilling fact.”

At an inquest yesterday coroner Dr Paul Knapman revealed the corpse appeared to be in an “advanced state of decay”.

A postmortem examination carried out on August 25 failed to establish a cause of death and investigations were continuing, Westminster Coroner’s Court heard. The inquest was adjourned to September 8.

Dr Knapman will be kept informed of how the investigation is progressing and consider when to release the body so a funeral can take place.

There were no members of Mr Williams’ family in court.

Police have not said whether the last sighting of Mr Williams was made on CCTV or came from another source.

The investigation is being led by the Metropolitan Police’s Homicide Command with the security-vetted Counter Terror Command (SO15) also playing a lesser role in proceedings.

Officers are still trying to determine if he was suffocated, poisoned or if drugs or alcohol were present in his system.

A pathologist found Mr Williams, who in 2000 left a Cambridge University course in advanced mathematics having apparently already learnt all he could, was not stabbed or shot and there were no obvious signs of strangulation.

Mr Williams was days from completing a one-year secondment to the headquarters of the Secret Intelligence Service, MI6, in Vauxhall, London.

Secret services expert Gordon Thomas has said Mr Williams’ mathematical brain made him a vital tool in the fight against terrorism and cyber- warfare.

Mr Thomas, author of Inside British Intelligence: 100 years of MI5 and MI6, said the security services had played down his role so as not to alarm the world over his importance to anyone involved in his murder.

A Downing Street spokesperson said they could not comment on security matters.

The Metropolitan Police said all areas of Mr Williams’ life were being investigated – both personal and professional.

The University of Buckingham was ranked 27th out of 115 universities in The Times Higher Education Supplement’s ‘Table of Tables’ 2010.

Wales Online : Police believe spy knew his killer

Police believe spy knew his killer

Western Mail | August 27, 2010

THE family of a Welsh spy, whose murder at his London flat remains shrouded in mystery, hit out last night at allegations about his private life.

Detectives investigating the murder of 30-year-old Gareth Williams were picking over details of his life last night for clues that could identify his killer.

The code expert’s decomposing body was found stuffed into a bag in the bath of his government flat.

He was days from completing a one-year secondment to the headquarters of MI6 from his job at national “listening post” GCHQ in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. Further tests were taking place to determine how the cycling and fitness fanatic met his death after a post-mortem examination was inconclusive.

A pathologist found Mr Williams had not been stabbed or shot and there were no obvious signs of strangulation.

Police are refusing to categorise the case as a murder inquiry, despite the bizarre circumstances, as they insist he may have died innocently.

One line of inquiry is reportedly that he is the victim of a sex game that went wrong and questions remain over why he was not discovered sooner.

Police believe Mr Williams’ body could have lain undiscovered for up to a fortnight and it is thought he was on holiday at the time of his death.

They believe the key to the case could lie in his private life.

But his uncle, William Hughes, said suggestions reported in London newspapers that the GCHQ and MI6 officer was gay and a transvestite had deeply upset his parents, Ian and Elen, from Valley on Anglesey.

The couple were still too upset to speak of their son’s death yesterday.

But 62-year-old Mr Hughes said: “They’re devastated. That is the worst part of it [the allegations about his private life].

“Terrible accusations have been made and there’s no truth whatsoever in them. They just need to be left alone and given space.”

Mr Hughes said Mr Williams’ parents remained in the dark as to whether his death was linked to his security services work or his personal life. Mr Williams has been described as an extremely private person.

Investigators suspect he might have known his killer as there was no sign of forced entry at his top-floor flat in smart Alderney Street, Pimlico.

Police have begun examining his mobile phone and financial records as well as CCTV cameras from streets and businesses surrounding his home.

His home has been the subject of a fingertip search amid fears that top-secret work material could have gone missing.

Mr Williams’ parents travelled to London with his sister Ceri, who lives near Wrexham, yesterday to speak to police and formally identify his body.

Mr Hughes said they were deeply shocked and flew back from a holiday in North America after learning of his death.

He said: “The last time I saw Gareth was just a few months ago at a family party and he was fine.

“He was always a quiet person, he was from a young age. But this is a close family and we all see each other quite regularly at family occasions.”

He said he never knew Mr Williams to bring home a girlfriend or a partner, describing him as a “very, very private person”.

“It’s a long way from Anglesey to Cheltenham and London. When he came home, he brought his bicycle. He enjoyed cycling around the island,” he said.

“I knew he worked at GCHQ and he had been working in London but I didn’t know what he did. It wasn’t said that we shouldn’t talk about it, I simply never asked and he never told me.

“He was a bright boy from a young age and his parents were very proud of him.”

Officers broke down the door of Mr Williams’ home on Monday afternoon when attempts by government officials to locate him via his former landlady failed.

Investigators from the Metropolitan Police’s homicide and serious crime command labelled the death as “suspicious and unexplained”.

Former landlady Jenny Elliott said the victim lived in a flat attached to her Cheltenham property for 10 years and was preparing to return on September 3.

“He phoned me a few weeks ago to say he was coming back,” she said.

She described him as “a lovely guy, very friendly, very well-mannered and polite and no trouble at all”.

She added: “He was often away. He went to America to work a lot and often combined it with holiday because he hated flying.”

Mr Williams’ London neighbours described him as “extremely friendly”, athletic and a keen cyclist.

He joined Cambridge University’s St Catharine’s College to undertake a postgraduate certificate in mathematics in 2000, but dropped out a year later.

Sources close to the inquiry said it was not clear how he died and played down speculation that the murder was linked to his secretive line of work.

One source said: “The suggestion there is terrorism or national security links to this case is pretty low down the list of probabilities.”

The Alderney Street flat is about half-a-mile from the riverside headquarters of MI6, the Secret Intelligence Service.

A childhood friend of Mr Williams described him as academically gifted but socially naive.

Dylan Parry, 34, said the GCHQ codes and cyphers expert was an isolated child fascinated by mathematics and computers.

Mr Parry, a volunteer at Westminster Cathedral, went to school with Mr Williams at Uwchradd Bodedern secondary.

He said Mr Williams travelled to Bangor University every week aged 16 to study for a mathematics degree part time. He graduated with a first class mathematics degree from Bangor aged 19.

He said: “It was clear he was going to go far, but we all assumed he would end up in academia.

“Finding out he became a spy was a shock.”

He graduated with a first class mathematics degree from Bangor University aged 19.

He continued his studies with an elite course at St Catharine’s College but dropped out.

The university is one of the traditional hunting grounds for recruiters looking for bright young things to join the intelligence community.

Ronald Jones, 86, who lives with his wife Eileen, a few doors away from the Williams family on Anglesey, said: “The whole family keep to themselves very much.

“We’ve never had a discussion with them.

“I don’t remember ever seeing Gareth’s mother but the father runs every day.

“They’ve lived here for about 18 years.”

Mrs Jones, 85, said: “They were polite and always greeted you but further than that I don’t think they bothered with anyone.”

One neighbour, who asked not to be named, described the family as “really lovely people”.

Keith Thompson, of Holyhead Cycling Club, said he had known Mr Williams since he joined the club at the age of 17.

He said: “I heard the news in a text message yesterday morning and it was a shock.

“We are a small club, only 20 members, and all of us knew Gareth.

“We are totally devastated. He was a really lovely young man.

“Of course, once he moved to Cheltenham, he joined the club there and we didn’t see much of him.

“I last saw him on our Boxing Day meeting last year.

“He was his usual self really.

“It’s true that he was very quiet. He wasn’t a great conversationalist.

“We were club mates but Gareth wasn’t the sort to go the pub after a race so he didn’t have any close friends in the group.

“I never spoke to him about his job or his private life. Nobody did with Gareth.

“It was his cycling that we knew about. He was known for being very good on hill races but a couple of times he won the club’s best all-rounder award.

“He was also a good runner but that was to be expected, his whole family is very sporty.

“His father was a member of this club and Ceri was an athlete. We’ll be getting in touch to offer our condolences when they are home.

“We have also cancelled a club event we had planned for tonight. Nobody feels up to it now.”