BBC : Profile: MI6 spy Gareth Williams

Profile: MI6 spy Gareth Williams

May 8, 2012

The inquest into the death of MI6 employee Gareth Williams, whose body was found in a padlocked sports bag in his central London flat in August 2010, found that he was "on the balance of probabilities" unlawfully killed.

But what is known about the 31-year-old code-breaker - described by his family as "a very private person"?

Mr Williams, originally from Holyhead, north Wales, worked as a communications officer at government listening post GCHQ, in Cheltenham, but was on a three-year secondment to MI6 in London.

Police officers went to his MI6-owned top-floor flat at 36 Alderney Street - in a part of Pimlico described by a neighbour as "a very mixed area of bankers and politicians" - on Monday 23 August.

They went there after colleagues contacted the police earlier that day saying they had not seen Mr Williams for at least 10 days.

They found his naked body, which had been padlocked inside a zipped-up large red North Face sports holdall, in the empty bath of an ensuite bathroom of the master bedroom.

Police, who have repeatedly said the death remains "suspicious and unexplained", now believe he died in the early hours of Tuesday 16 August.

Mr Williams, a keen cyclist who often took part in road races and time trials, was brought up on the island of Anglesey and attended Bodedern High School.

A talented pupil, he graduated from Bangor University with a first class degree in maths aged 17 after beginning his university studies while at secondary school.

His maths teacher at Bodedern, Geraint Williams, has praised Gareth as an "exceptional" pupil who was "the best logician" he had met.

"If you explained something once to Gareth he remembered it, you didn't have to explain it again," he said.

"It didn't surprise me at all that he was very interested in codes and ciphers and it didn't really surprise me that he was recruited by GCHQ.

"He was definitely going to go into something like that, with his brain."

'Loving son'

Mr Williams went on to study for a postgraduate certificate in mathematics at St Catharine's College, Cambridge, in 2000, but dropped out a year later before taking up the job at GCHQ in Cheltenham.

His boss there has spoken of him as a "world-class" intelligence officer and "something of a prodigy".

Stephen Gale said it was "quite remarkable" that Mr Williams - who joined GCHQ aged 21 - had achieved what he had at such a young age.

Mr Gale said: "Colleagues recall a young man who was very close to his father - he spoke about their climbing trips together.

"They remember him as a keen cyclist. One colleague said it was like a red bullet flying around the place."

In the days after his death, his family described Mr Williams in a statement as a "generous, loving son, brother, and friend" whose loss had devastated them.

They remembered him as "a great athlete" who "loved cycling and music", and as "a very private person".

He often returned home to Anglesey to mother Ellen and father Ian, who works at the Wylfa Nuclear Power Station.

Keith Thompson, of Holyhead Cycling Club - joined by Mr Williams at the age of 17 - said he had last seen the "lovely young man" at a club meeting on Boxing Day.

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

And a cyclist at Cambridge University's bicycle club described Mr Williams as "a shy chap" with a "peculiarly memorable laugh and smile".

Mr Williams' uncle, Anglesey councillor William Hughes, meanwhile, said his "very talented" nephew "would never talk about his work - and the family knew not to ask, really".

A neighbour in Pimlico said he and others had never seen Mr Williams, adding: "It's not like you'd tell your neighbours if you were a spy."

Police 'did wrong'

In late December 2010, police revealed some "embarrassing, hurtful and distressing" details about Mr Williams which they said was necessary in the search for evidence.

They said he owned £15,000-worth of unworn women's designer clothing, which were kept in six boxes at his flat, and that he had visited a drag cabaret in east London four days before his death and had tickets to two more.

Police said he occasionally spent between 30 minutes and an hour on bondage sites.

They also said a witness had reported seeing him in a gay bar but that they did not know for certain he was gay.

However, in April 2011 Mr Williams' close friend Sian Lloyd-Jones questioned suggestions his death was linked to his private life and called on police to broaden their inquiry.

She told the police "did wrong" by releasing information about women's clothing "but didn't reveal that there was £10,000 of mountaineering equipment as well".

Ms Lloyd-Jones said he was not gay and the women's clothes were too small for him and may have been intended for her or her sister.

Elizabeth Guthrie - the second friend to appear before the coroner - described her friendship with Mr Williams as based on their mutual love of history, art, Japanese Manga cartoons, travel and humorous anecdotes.

Ms Guthrie remembered his "brilliant sense of humour" and "enormous intellect".

She also said the women's clothing found by police "certainly would not be for him" - that he had no interest in cross-dressing and she believed he was "straight".

Mr Williams' sister, Ceri Subbe, said she believed the items of women's clothing were possibly intended as gifts.

She also told the inquest her brother's enthusiasm about his job had begun to fade.

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

Ms Subbe added that Mr Williams had "encountered more red tape than he was comfortable with" in his role.

The inquest into the death of the MI6 officer later heard he was once found tied to his bed by his former landlady in Cheltenham.

Jennifer Elliot said she once found him tied to his bedstead in his boxer shorts in what she thought was a "sexually motivated" act. She said he had called for help when he could not untie himself.

'Dark arts'

Mr Williams returned to his flat - half a mile from MI6 headquarters on the banks of the River Thames - on Wednesday 11 August 2010 after a fly-drive holiday to the west coast of the US.

Police say he had been shopping in London's West End and Knightsbridge areas a number of times since then.

CCTV images captured on Saturday 14 August showed him entering Holland Park tube station at about 1500 BST.

On Sunday 15 August, he went to Harrods after visiting a cash machine and, at about 1430 BST, CCTV images showed him in Hans Crescent, heading towards Sloane Street, near the Dolce & Gabbana store.

A post-mortem examination and 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 believe that Mr Williams, whose family think may have been killed by an agent "specialising in the dark arts of the secret services", was helped into the bag.

Coroner Fiona Wilcox said it was unlikely he got into the bag by himself but doubted his death would ever be explained.

London Evening Stardard : End our agony: Plea of family of spy in the bag Gareth Williams

End our agony: Plea of family of spy in the bag Gareth Williams

Kiran Randhawa | April 20, 2012

The grieving family of the MI6 spy found dead in a locked bag broke their silence today as they called for their agony to be brought to an end.

Relatives of Gareth Williams said they still felt “very raw” and demanded to be told the truth about his death, which they are convinced was murder.

The GCHQ codebreaker’s naked and decomposing body was found in a holdall in the bath of his Pimlico flat in August 2010. The family hope his inquest, which begins on Monday, will help to end their suffering and at last give them some answers. More than 18 months on, police are still unable to explain what happened to the talented 31-year-old mathematician and recently revealed that their investigation has been hampered by blunders.

His aunt Judith Thomas, from the village of Trearddur Bay in Anglesey, North Wales, said: “We could fill newspapers with words to describe Gareth. You couldn’t find enough paper in this world to say how we feel about him. It’s a distressing time for us, especially with the inquest starting.”

Her husband Dafydd said: “Our feelings are still very raw. This was not a body in a bag — he was our nephew, a wonderful young man.” At a pre-inquest review, the family’s barrister told how they believe that he was murdered by a member of “some agency specialising in the dark arts of the secret services”.

Another uncle, William Hughes, 62, a councillor from Bodedern, said the family were keen to see the end of the five-day hearing at Westminster coroner’s court.

He said: “We just want all of this over and done with now.” The coroner, Dr Fiona Wilcox, is considering ordering a live demonstration at the inquest.

This may involve a police expert getting into an identical bag to see whether Mr Williams could have climbed into the holdall by himself.

Foreign Secretary William Hague this month ordered that key evidence must be heard in secret. He signed an order to prevent the disclosure of details about the spy’s work with both British and US secret services. The Foreign Office said: “It was right to seek a public interest immunity certificate. We would always seek to protect the identities of intelligence personnel and details of their operational work.”

Mr Williams is reported to have been sent to the National Security Agency — the Pentagon’s listening post — to work on encryption programmes that filter millions of communications every day.

BBC : Talented MI6 spy Gareth Williams 'never spoke of work'

Talented MI6 spy Gareth Williams 'never spoke of work'

December 22, 2010

An MI6 spy who was found dead in his central London flat was a talented young man who was close to his family, but would never speak to them about his work.

Gareth Williams, 31, from Holyhead on Anglesey, north Wales, was found dead in a padlocked holdall in his central London flat in August.

The death remains suspicious and unexplained with no conclusive cause found.

Mr Williams regularly went home to north Wales to visit his family.

His parents, Ian and Ellen, live in Valley, Anglesey, while his father works at Wylfa nuclear power station. His grandmother and grandfather lived in Holyhead.

His uncle, William Hughes, said his nephew had never spoken about his work.

"He was very, very talented," he added.

"He would never talk about his work and the family knew not to ask really."

Mr Williams' academic talent was evident at an early age, when he was a pupil at Bodedern Secondary School in Anglesey.

His maths teacher Geraint Williams said he had been an "exceptional" pupil.

'Very modest'

"He was probably not the best mathematician I have seen, but the best logician," he said.

"If you explained something once, he remembered it, you didn't have to explain it again."

While he was a secondary school pupil, Mr Williams was also being coached at Bangor University and graduated with a first class degree in maths at just 17.

In 2000, he took a postgraduate certificate in mathematics at St Catharine's College, Cambridge.

He was then offered a job at the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) in Cheltenham.

"It didn't surprise me at all that he was very interested in codes and ciphers," Geraint Williams said.

"It didn't really surprise me that he was recruited by GCHQ."

Mr Williams worked as a communication officer at GCHQ before being sent on secondment to MI6 for a year.

The head of MI6 Sir John Sawers described Mr Williams as a "highly talented person" who was "very modest and generous as well".

He added that Mr Williams had done "really valuable work with us in the cause of national security".

Mr Williams grew up as a keen cyclist and joined Holyhead Cycling Club when he was 17.

Keith Thompson, from the club, said: "He was a really lovely young man.

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

"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."

An inquest will be held at Westminster Coroner's Court on 15 February.

Guardian : Who was Gareth Williams?

Who was Gareth Williams?

When the bagged body of an MI6 agent was found in a bathtub, speculation went into overdrive. Was it suicide? Murder? A professional hit, or a sexual game gone wrong?

Cathy Scott-Clark and Adrian Levy | November 20, 2010

Three months after his body was found in a holdall in the bath of his Pimlico flat, police still seem no closer to finding out what happened to Gareth Williams.

On Tuesday 24 August, a storm was brewing off the North Wales coast. As gusts reached 50mph in the village of Valley, on Anglesey, two sodden police officers stood at a front door on a close of modern bungalows above the beach. They knocked and knocked. Eventually someone ran out into the rain to tell them that Ellen and Ian Williams were away on holiday in the US. While detectives tried to locate the Williams abroad, someone found Ellen's father, John Hughes, who lived around the corner and broke the news: his 31-year-old grandson Gareth, a boy who had always been fit and healthy, was dead. Grandpa John was so distraught that he tripped, cut his head and had to be taken to hospital.

Then Gareth's uncle, William Hughes, who lived on a farm in nearby Trefor village, got the call. "Gareth couldn't be dead? Surely not?" Uncle William sat numbly with Gareth's 86-year-old great aunt before their open fire, staring at the porcelain figures on the mantelpiece. Gareth had been an exceptional boy, selected to work as some kind of analyst for GCHQ, the government's secret listening station in Cheltenham, but the family never talked about it. And neither did Gareth. He'd been home just three weeks earlier, recalled Hughes, cycling the lanes on his race bike before the whole family had got together. But his life was "now being lived a long way from the family in Anglesey," Hughes said, "so some things we couldn't know."

On 25 August, Ian and Ellen Williams touched down at Manchester airport and were met by police, who officially broke the news that two days earlier in London, a man believed to be their son had been found dead. The body had been found padlocked inside a sports bag in the flat where Gareth was staying. It could have been there for up to a fortnight. As they were escorted to the capital, to join their daughter Ceri, there were news reports everywhere: "British spy murdered." Apparently he had been "stabbed to death". According to stories, Gareth was a brain-box, a techie who "worked with codes", as far as they knew. Was he also a spy, they wondered?

For Ellen and Ian, Gareth's death was a horror story that "destroyed" them. For the rest of the world, it was a rare glimpse into the clandestine world of espionage. His death was compared to that of Georgi Markov, the Bulgarian dissident killed by a poison-tipped umbrella in London 32 years before, and the 2006 murder of Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko. Cold war details increased public fervour. The building in which the body was found was owned by a private company, registered offshore, called New Rodina. Rodina was Russian for "motherland". Did real spies read John Le Carré too?

In the midst of lurid speculation, Ian and Ellen Williams reached London. In normal circumstances, they would be required to make a physical identification. However, given the degree of decomposition, police would rely on family photos. Was Gareth murdered, his distraught family asked. Despite launching a major investigation – Operation Finlayson – Scotland Yard were finding it a hard question to answer. One major problem facing investigators was the length of time that the body had lain undiscovered. Another was that they were being blocked by the security services from probing too deeply into Williams's life. Detectives had no idea what Gareth Williams really did or who he was, and had been unable as yet to find anyone close to him. They needed the family's help.

Gareth's sister Ceri, a physiotherapist, and her husband Dr Chris Subbe, a senior registrar at Wrexham Maelor Hospital, told police they had seen Gareth in June, when he had taken them for tea at the Ritz in London to celebrate their second wedding anniversary. He'd been in the capital for more than six months, but couldn't say what he was doing.

The three spent that afternoon "laughing and joking", and afterwards continued to talk frequently by phone. Ceri last spoke to her brother on 11 August, after he returned from a short trip to the US. He now intended to "tidy things up", before returning to GCHQ in Cheltenham on 3 September.

Ceri's dates matched what police learned from Gareth's former landlady, Jenny Elliot, who had rented him a room in her house near Cheltenham for the 10 years he had worked for GCHQ, before transferring to London last year. Gareth had called her in August, asking if he could return. "Like we were going to say no," Elliot says. "He was about the best lodger you could ever have. I mean, you never heard a word from him. He had no TV, record player, or anything."

Ceri had called her brother again about a week later. No answer. She tried repeatedly, becoming worried. Gareth was like a Swiss watch. Now she contacted the police; the security services were already concerned, as Gareth had failed to show for work. On 23 August, at 6.30pm, a uniformed officer was sent to Williams's top-floor flat in a Georgian townhouse in Alderney Street, Pimlico. It was only a few hundred yards from the MI6 headquarters at Vauxhall, and was used by the Secret Intelligence Service as a safe house. A lettings agent who held a spare key showed the policeman in. He was asked to wait downstairs as the officer went up and entered the curtained rooms. The place was "spotless": two iPhones, some sim cards and an Apple notebook sat on a table. Then he entered the bathroom, and found a holdall in the bathtub. Red liquid seeped from it. Inside was a body, in such a contorted position that he thought its "legs and arms had been cut off". Radioing for assistance, the policeman noted that there were no signs a struggle. This was not a robbery or home invasion. It was a "neat job", a euphemism for a professional kill.

Given his clearances and access to classified material, Williams's death triggered alarm across Whitehall. MI5 agents swept through the Alderney Street flat, followed by detectives from the Homicide and Serious Crime Command, assisted by SO15, Scotland Yard's Counter Terrorism Command. Alderney Street was cordoned off as Home Office scientists began processing the scene. Once the spooks had departed, it was down to the murder squad to study the evidence. So far, they had a body in an "advanced state of decay". There was no weapon and no sign of forced entry or a struggle.

Concentrating on the holdall and its contents, detectives established that Williams had not been stabbed, shot or hacked to pieces. On August 25, Home Office pathologist Dr Ben Swift carried out a post-mortem that, together with the first batch of toxicological tests, came back "inconclusive". "If we don't know what to look for, and are not guided by what we see or smell on the body, we cannot find it," says a forensic scientist who worked on the Litvinenko case. "We do 50 obvious poisons. Fifty rare. We can do the isotopes. Litvinenko alerted us to that. But in the absence of a specific direction, the possibilities are as limitless as a killer's imagination… and we cannot test for that."

Detectives set out their theories. One reading of the crime scene pointed to a forensically aware hit man. Slender 5ft 7in Gareth had been stuffed inside the near-airtight red North Face sports bag and placed in the bath, containing any spillage and minimising odours, too. The heating was on, increasing the rate of decomposition, which significantly lessened the chances of retrieving evidence from the corpse.

Or perhaps the body in the bag was evidence of a stage-managed "personal event", masterminded by a controlling individual. Was this a suicide (with Williams acting on his own)? Or a sadistic or masochistic sexual act gone wrong (with Williams engaging in some kind of auto-erotic asphyxiation?). "If you can imagine it, then we are investigating it," a detective said in late August. But what would shape police inquiries was the dawning realisation that Gareth Williams had not been alone.

Returning to the holdall, studying the zips and lock, police became certain that he could not have locked himself inside. And there was further proof that someone else must have been in the flat with him: his front door had been locked from the outside.

Criminal psychologists studied the case. One, who spoke anonymously, thought his death might have been a masochistic ritual that had gone wrong: "For a retentive individual with an ever-green mind like Gareth Williams, always on duty and in control, the bag could have been a furtive release."

The Williams family was adamant that the Gareth they knew would not have behaved this way. And, for now, the family was all the police had, since they had found no close friends or lovers. Another pressing problem with their theories was that detectives had failed to turn up any other suspects or accomplices.

Police, pathologists and forensic investigators agreed on one thing only. They would have to focus on the 12 days between the last call Gareth made to Ceri and the discovery of his body on 23 August. Pulling mobile phone records and credit card transactions, scouring hours of CCTV footage, the Operation Finlayson team dug deep, as ever more lurid stories circulated.

"Murdered MI6 worker Gareth Williams was a secret transvestite who may have been killed by a gay lover, detectives said yesterday… Cops found women's clothing that would fit him at his Pimlico flat in central London." The Sun ran with this version of events, while other newspapers, quoting similar unnamed sources, reported that cocaine had been found, a cache of gay pornography, a small armoury of S&M paraphernalia. Williams was also said to have frequently paid for male escorts.

Senior detectives angrily rebutted the stories. Uncle William in Anglesey thought they read like a concerted smear, and wondered why anyone would want to destroy Gareth's reputation after he was dead.

Like most well-constructed character assassinations, however, this one was founded on a grain of fact that made it that much harder to quash. Detectives had been quietly investigating whether Gareth Williams was gay. They had canvassed witnesses in the Vauxhall Cross village of gay clubs and bars, a short walk from Alderney Street. They had also studied Williams's computers and reading matter, his journals, magazines and computer cache. Despite outright denials from his family, detectives were privately certain that Gareth was gay, although they had been unable to find trace of any sexual encounters. They had also come to believe that his sexual orientation was not central to the inquiry (although his sexual preferences might be). There was no evidence of Williams paying for escorts, buying S&M equipment, using porn or drugs of any kind. "This man didn't really even drink," one frustrated detective said.

The police felt they were being hurried along by other parties, keen for the scandal to go away. "Someone, somewhere, who has access to case material, is saying, 'He's queer and asked for it', rather than waiting for the outcome of the case," one veteran detective said.

In North Wales, the family lit their fires, closed their curtains and privately pondered if anyone had ever understood the real Gareth.

At Ysgol Gynradd Morswyn, Gareth's primary school, a short hop between Valley and Holyhead, head teacher Islwyn Williams remembers him as an exceptional pupil. At five, Gareth made a beeline for the school computer and never left it. While most of his classmates were still playing with Lego, Gareth had a GCSE in maths. At the age of 10, he went to secondary school, gaining A grades in A-level maths and computer science at 13. The school contacted Bangor University, which accepted him as a part-time student on a maths degree course. "He was the best logician… with the fastest brain I have ever met," said Geraint Williams, his maths teacher.

Fellow pupils remember Gareth as a loner. Dylan Parry, 34, thought him "isolated" by his intellect. His abilities shut him off from everyone else. He was naive. Parry believed someone "could easily take advantage of him". He recalled Gareth travelling by train each week to university, while still living at home with Ian and Ellen. Too clever for school. Too young for university.

The family downplay his isolation. They point to their closeness and his sporting prowess. By the time he was 17, Gareth had followed his father into competitive cycling. Keith Thompson, of Holyhead Cycling Club, with whom Ian and Gareth rode, says: "He was a really lovely young man, but wasn't a great conversationalist. Gareth wasn't the sort to go to the pub after a race."

In 1997, aged 18, Gareth left home to begin a PhD at Manchester University, acquiring an advanced level of learning that sat uneasily with his elementary life skills, although his academic mentor, professor Terry Hewitt, believed he could take it: "He was very private and worked well on his own. He was certainly not a 'geek' even if he was reserved." His dissertation focused on computer games. They had always been a private passion, with him achieving an online reputation as unbeatable. Three years on, aged 21, Gareth was approached by the British security services, who the university believes had spotted his precocious online gaming abilities. Hewitt recalled: "In 2000, Gareth came into my office and said, 'I'm going to GCHQ'. He had to tell me, as I was his referee for his vetting." Gareth left Manchester and Anglesey behind to sign the Official Secrets Act.

Williams began an advanced maths course at St Catharine's College, Cambridge, but withdrew the following year, torn between academia and the demands of his new employer. At GCHQ, he was seen as stable, reliable and potentially brilliant, according to a contractor who worked there at the time. Speaking on condition of anonymity, he recalled that GCHQ was a world in which Gareth fitted, working alone, or in small teams, waist-deep in mathematical problems, challenged by cutting-edge technology and real-time problems. Possibly for the first time, he was part of a community of similarly focused individuals who were taken on for their discretion as well as for their brains, intercepting, monitoring and analysing email and telephone calls from around the world. He did feel the pressure, constantly, according to the contractor, who noted that at GCHQ many technicians were as clever or cleverer than Williams.

Work became his life. There was little time for much outside it, something evidenced by how he chose to live, renting a modest room in the Prestbury area of the town. Inside was a single, child-sized bed, a small chest of drawers, three upright wooden chairs and a gas heater – all furnished by Jenny Elliot. Over the decade he spent there, Williams introduced no luxuries, accumulated no clutter. He brought no one back. He rarely even went out after work, excepting an occasional "drink with colleagues". He worked late into the night and rose early. There was something oppressively austere about him, those colleagues thought, something they used to call his "GDR sensibility". So serious and quiet was he that when he did become animated, he "alarmed people with his unusual laugh".

Due to the nature of his work, it is hard for those who met Gareth to describe what he did, and those who talked to us did so having already left GCHQ. But all agreed that, although very capable, Williams was "a middle-ranking" technician "asserting himself in a number of sensitive areas, any one of which could theoretically have brought him into contact with enemies of our state". While GCHQ gathers intelligence from Europe, Africa and Russia, its partners in the US National Security Agency (NSA) also had access to British and European signals traffic at Menwith Hill, a top-secret RAF base near Harrogate, in Yorkshire.

When Williams arrived at Menwith, shortly after the invasion of Iraq in March 2003, GCHQ and the NSA were increasingly focused on the threat of Islamist violence at home and abroad. "Between the UK and the US, we were deluged by the chatter from radicals here and over the Atlantic as they talked on landlines, satellite or mobile phones – with contacts in hot countries like Pakistan and Afghanistan, as well as with Saudi, and hubs like Dubai," one former GCHQ security consultant said. "A group around Williams worked on software to assemble, search and analyse the data, drawing out patterns and meanings."

Williams's elevation within GCHQ came with the "Liquid Bomb" plot, where a group of British radicals of Asian origin were found to be planning to detonate home-made explosives on board seven flights to major north American cities. Intercepting emails and phone calls between these plotters and their contacts abroad, Williams flew between the UK and the US, working at Fort Meade (the NSA HQ, in Baltimore).

Williams was brought into close proximity to US intelligence, Islamic radicals and Middle Eastern agents. He would rub shoulders with the Russians, too, according to a foreign intelligence analyst based in the UK, who described how technology and software honed by GCHQ was deployed in tracking a Moscow-backed sleeper cell to which Britain had been alerted as early as 2003. The case blew up in June 2010 when 10 people were arrested in the US and accused of being part of an espionage ring. One of them, a glamorous 28-year-old called Anna Chapman, had lived for five years in the UK. According to the former GCHQ contractor, "Williams had been obsessed by the case, its methodology and characters."

He was now on secondment to MI6, with its focus on foreign targets and intelligence-gathering, becoming more of a spy than a desk-bound technician, although Williams would shortly be called back to GCHQ to work on a new and ambitious project.

He had been liaising again with counterparts at the NSA, who were part of an effort to create an American cyber defence policy, to prevent the siphoning off of secret or commercially sensitive data or a military style assault on defence or civil systems. Its importance was alluded to last month in a speech by home secretary Theresa May, in which she identified cyber crime as among the pre-eminent future threats facing the UK. A cyber crimes specialist who knew Williams revealed that at the time of his death he was researching British vulnerability to Russian, Turkish and Chinese gangs: "He was already on top of it."

Rogue individuals and nation states, Islamist terror groups and radical loners, extortionists and organised criminals – these were just some of those Williams had observed, investigated, disrupted and provoked. Any one of them was capable of reciprocating, lethally.

Back at the Yard, Operation Finlayson detectives were looking at a vast range of potential threats, but still had few clues, no accomplices or even a plausible denouement for a man whose personal and professional inclinations were to camouflage everything he did.

By September, an exhaustive trawl had come up with some CCTV footage. In the frames released to the public, Gareth Williams saunters by Holland Park tube station in west London at 3pm on 14 August, three days after he had last spoken to his sister.

Staff at the nearby Valerie's Patisserie said that in the week before, a man fitting Gareth's description had spent several hours in the cafe on consecutive days, sitting at the rear with a laptop, receiving occasional visitors. One security source said that he believed Williams was "working" in west London – monitoring one of the many foreign embassies in the area – just as he had been "working" while on his recent "holiday" to the US.

Police released footage of Williams on 15 August, too. At 2pm, he was filmed at a cash machine, visiting Harrods, walking at 2.30pm via Hans Crescent in Knightsbridge towards Sloane Street. Soon after he vanished.

By the end of September, after a second barrage of toxicology tests proved inconclusive, Gareth Williams's body was released and laid to rest in North Wales. On 26 September, the extended Williams clan gathered outside the Bethel chapel in Holyhead to bid farewell. Given the florid rumours that had circulated around his death, they were surprised by the appearance there of Sir John Sawers, head of MI6. Williams had been with his service for less than a year, yet Sawyers told reporters, "I wanted to be here today as the only public face of the Secret Intelligence Service. My deepest sympathies go to the family. Gareth was a hugely talented person, and he was very modest and generous as well. He did really valuable work with us in the cause of national security."

What a difference 30 days make. After an investigation that had failed to turn up the smallest vice, Williams was no longer lampooned but celebrated as a very British spy: modest, capable and known well by no one.

As they buried Gareth, Dr Chris Subbe, speaking for his wife Ceri and the family, recalled how they had laughed and chatted with him at the Ritz, celebrating their marriage and his brilliant career. "The world was ours for the taking," he said. "Yet here I am three months later to the day, trying to describe your rich life with my poor words."

San Francisco Examiner : Was British code-breaker assassinated?

Was British code-breaker assassinated?

By Barbara Hollingsworth, Local Opinion Editor | September 10, 2010

Jeff Stein, the Washington Post’s SpyTalk blogger, says that unnamed “U.S. intelligence officials” have downplayed the possibility that British code-breaker Gareth Williams – who worked closely with the U.S. National Security Agency at Fort Meade and American intelligence officials in Kabul – was assassinated.

But back in London, where the naked, decomposing body of the 31-year-old “math genius” was found August 23 in a padlocked duffel bag in the bathroom of an apartment kept as a “safe house” by Britain’s M16, police are not so sure. “Murder detectives say they are still looking at whether Gareth Williams may have been killed by a foreign intelligence agency seeking to stop his work on intercepting messages and code-breaking,” according to the Daily Telegraph.

Williams was “on loan” to M16 from Britain’s top-secret Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), and reportedly played a “key role” overseeing Echelon, a secret electronic network that links satellites and super computers in Britain, the U.S. and other Western allies that eavesdrop on terrorist networks.

There was no sign of forced entry at the Cambridge-educated mathematician’s Pimlico address. William Hughes said his nephew had recently returned from a summer visit to the U.S. (presumably to NSA). And according to the Daily Mail, investigators were also looking for Williams’ personally configured laptop, which is reportedly still missing.

Misinformation released at the time Williams’ body was discovered, including initial rumors that he had been stabbed, were later refuted. British officials also backed away from earlier reports that “bondage gear, gay contact magazines and male escorts’ phone numbers” were found at the scene.

The cause of death has still not been established. Toxicology tests found no alcohol or recreational drugs in Williams’ system. Scotland Yard called the death “suspicious and unexplained,” and announced it was looking for a “young Mediterranean couple” who visited Williams a month or two ago, but haven’t been seen since.

Detective Chief Inspector Jacqueline Sebire of London’s Homicide and Serious Crime Command, who is leading the investigation into Williams’ murder, told reporters: “This remains a complex unexplained death enquiry.”

So ruling out the possibility that Williams was assassinated by a foreign intelligence agency would seem to be slightly premature.

Wigan Today : Police search for spy-murder clues

Police search for spy-murder clues

September 4, 2010

Detectives investigating the murder of a British spy said they are picking over his private life for clues that could identify his killer.

The decomposing body of codes expert Gareth Williams, 30, was found in a bag in the bath of his London 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 are being carried out to determine how the fitness fanatic died because a post-mortem examination was inconclusive. They could determine if Mr Williams was strangled or asphyxiated, as well as if drugs or alcohol were present in his system.

Police believe Mr Williams's 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. His family said he was an extremely private person.

Investigators suspect Mr Williams, who was originally from Holyhead, North Wales, might have known his killer as there was no sign of forced entry at his top-floor flat in Alderney Street, Pimlico.

William Hughes, the cousin of Mr Williams's wife, said the family is deeply shocked.

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."

Mr Hughes added: "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."

Investigators said the death is "suspicious and unexplained".

Copyright (c) Press Association Ltd. 2010, All Rights Reserved.

Sun : Spook had to be ID'd by photo

Spook had to be ID'd by photo

By ANTHONY FRANCE, Crime Reporter | September 1, 2010

THE body of murdered MI6 spook Gareth Williams was in such an "advanced state of decay" it had to be indentified from a family photo, a court heard yesterday.

The brilliant code breaker, 31, was found padlocked in a holdall in his bath.

Police spared his family the ordeal of seeing his body by asking for a recent snap instead.

An inquest was told that despite two post mortems police still don't know the cause of his death.

Mr Williams was found in the en-suite bathroom of his £400,000 flat in Pimlico, Central London on August 23 — half a mile from MI6's HQ on the Thames.

Police broke into his flat after colleagues said they had not seen him at work, Westminster Coroner's Court heard.

Mr Williams who worked for GCHQ, the Government's eavesdropping base in Cheltenham, was on secondment to the Secret Intelligence Service.

Detective Chief Inspector Jackie Sebire, who is leading the murder investigation, was asked by coroner Dr Paul Knapman whether the police needed the public's help to solve the case.

DCI Sebire replied: "This remains an unexplained death. We would appeal for any witnesses who saw Mr Williams in any circumstances after August 11 onwards until the 23rd when he was discovered."

Earlier, the coroner had outlined the brief facts of the case.

He said: "I have a résumé here which says to me that on Monday August 23, police were called to check on the welfare of Gareth Williams at his home address as he had not been seen at work.

"At about 6.30pm that evening I understand police entered the premises. They found a large holdall in the bath in the en suite bathroom of the main bedroom.

"The holdall was padlocked shut and inside was a lifeless body, and it appeared that the body was in an advanced state of decay.

"Following this various specialist departments of the Metropolitan Police were called and it was confirmed it was a male and, as we have heard, the description matched Gareth Williams.

"The Homicide and Serious Crime Command were much involved."

He added: "A post-mortem was carried out at that time. We will call that the first post mortem. It was performed by Dr Ben Swift on Wednesday August 25th.

"This failed to establish the cause of death and so further tests are being carried out."

Mr William's parents Ian and Ellen and sister Ceri, 28, were not in court for the opening.

Coroner's officer Kim Bedwell said: "I'm satisfied that the deceased is Gareth Wyn Williams, aged 31. He was a single man, a civil servant.

"Identification was confirmed by comparison of the deceased with a recent photograph that was supplied by the next of kin."

Dr Knapman concluded the hearing by saying to DCI Sebire: "As always the family will be anxious to have the body released following post mortem.

"We have talked about this and I am not inclined to allow this to occur at the present time. What I'm going to do is adjourn this case for one week.

"No doubt we can be in touch about how any tests and enquiries are going."

Mr Williams' parents who live in Anglesey, North Wales, believe he was murdered.

Uncle William Hughes, 61, said: "I saw Gareth a couple of months ago when he came home for a cycling event and he was in good spirits.

"He was just the same as he always was — friendly, happy and well balanced.

"From the family's point of view, we'd be absolutely amazed if he had any suicidal thoughts. He just wasn't that kind of person.

"He was always very steady. He was a quiet person, but he was a happy one. There'd been no shift in his personality."

Telegraph : Spy Gareth Williams 'in good spirits' before death, family say

Spy Gareth Williams 'in good spirits' before death, family say

By John Bingham | August 31, 2010

The family of a British spy found dead in a bag in his bath insisted last night he was “happy and in good spirits”, casting doubt on claims his personal or financial problems played a role in his death.


Relatives of Gareth Williams described him as “steady, quiet and well balanced” and said he had shown no sign of any change in recent months.

It came as one former friend of the MI6 codebreaker claimed that he had been plagued by his own “demons”.

Pathologists have been unable to explain how the 31-year-old, whose body was found in a sports bag in the bath of a flat in Pimlico, central London, last week, died.

Remembered by school mates as a “maths genius”, Mr Williams was on a one-year secondment to MI6 from GCHQ, the government’s “listening post” in Cheltenham, Glos, where he worked for almost a decade.

His position regularly took him to the US where he liaised with the National Security Agency and the CIA and he is also reported to have made a number of visits to Afghanistan.

There were no obvious injuries on his body, which is thought to have lain undiscovered for more than a week and further tests are being carried out after a post mortem examination proved inconclusive.

Although detectives are working on the assumption that he was murdered they have not ruled out the possibility that Mr Williams died in a bizarre accident, from an overdose or even suicide.

One theory is that someone who was present at the time panicked and put his body in the bag but failed to remove it.

William Hughes, 61, Mr Williams’s uncle, insisted there was “no way” he could have taken his own life.

“He just wasn't that kind of person,” said Mr Hughes, who lives near the home of Mr Williams's parents, Ian and Ellen, in Anglesey, north Wales.

“He was always very steady. He was a quiet person, but he was a happy one, there'd been no shift in his personality.”

He added: “I saw Gareth a couple of months ago when he came home for a cycling event and he was in good spirits.

“He was just the same as he always was – friendly, happy and well balanced.”

Police have been interviewing friends and family in an attempt to find possible clues in his background.

But detectives have played down lurid claims that Mr Williams, remembered as a solitary figure despite his heavy involvement in competitive cycling, could have died in some form of sexual game.

Reports that a series of payments into and out of his bank account remain unaccounted for have also been dismissed as “speculation”.

Express : DEAD MI6 SPY ‘NOT SUICIDAL’

DEAD MI6 SPY ‘NOT SUICIDAL’

By Daily Express Reporter | August 31, 2010

GARETH Williams was not suicidal at the time of his death, his family insisted last night.

The MI6 worker’s uncle said there is “no way” Mr Williams would have taken his own life.

The 31-year-old’s body was found at his flat in Pimilico, central London, last week.

Last night William Hughes, 61, said: “There’s absolutely no way Gareth would have killed himself.”

Mr Hughes, who lives near Mr Williams’ parents in Anglesey, north wales, added: “I saw Gareth a couple of months ago and he was in good spirits. He was the same as always – friendly, happy and well balanced.

“We’d be amazed if he had any suicidal thoughts. He just wasn’t that kind of person. He was very steady.

“He was a quiet person, but he was happy. There’d been no shift in his personality.”

Independent : Police reject rumours surrounding MI6 man found dead in flat

Police reject rumours surrounding MI6 man found dead in flat

By Mark Hughes, Crime Correspondent | August 30, 2010

Police took the unusual decision yesterday to step in and deny increasingly lurid reports about the private life of the murdered GCHQ officer Gareth Williams.

Scotland Yard sources said that reports of bondage equipment found at his flat and a "ritualistic" arrangement of his possessions were untrue. A spokesman later added that the detective team investigating the death, had clarified the accuracy of the reports "out of respect" for Mr Williams' relatives.

Mr William's body was found stuffed into a holdall in the bathroom on his home in Pimlico, central London, last week. Since the discovery suggestions regarding Mr Williams' private life and sexual tendencies have been rife.

Reports included the suggestion that the 30-year-old was, variously, a male escort or a transvestite; that bondage equipment had been found at his flat; and that a dozen mobile phone SIM cards had been laid out in a ritualistic manner in his home.

His family said they feared there was a smear campaign. Mr Williams' uncle told newspapers: "The family are concerned it may have been an attempt to put false, unkind details about Gareth's private life into the public domain to diminish him and take attention away from the security services he worked so loyally for."

All police have previously confirmed is that they are investigating a "suspicious death" – preferring that term to murder – and that the last known sighting of Mr Williams was in London on Sunday 15 August, eight days before his body was found. Initial reports said he had not been seen for a fortnight.

His body was discovered when police were called to check on him after a colleague voiced concerns.

Those scant details aside, little is known about precisely when, why or how Mr Williams died. As is usual in such cases, police have not confirmed any potential motive they are investigating. Early speculation suggested that Mr Williams' job may have been the reason for his death. But latterly, the focus has shone more on his personal life. Last week a pathologist was unable to establish a cause of death. Toxicology tests will determine if he was poisoned, or if drugs or alcohol were a factor. But the report suggested he was not stabbed.

On Saturday night Channel 4 News claimed that the initial police report had stated that Mr Williams' death was a "neat job", suggesting that he was killed by someone who knew what they were doing.

There are also suggestions that Scotland Yard detectives have become frustrated with the interference of colleagues in the intelligence agencies who are not used to their own organisations or employees being the subject of investigations. Police are also said to be investigating payments and withdrawals of thousands of pounds into and out of Mr Williams' bank account in the days leading up to his death.

Express : SPY FAMILY’S FURY AT BLACKMAIL ‘LIES’

SPY FAMILY’S FURY AT BLACKMAIL ‘LIES’

By John Twomey | August 30, 2010

THE family of murdered spy Gareth Williams yesterday dismissed claims that he was being blackmailed.

Relatives hit out at “untrue rumours” as detectives probed money transfers totalling £24,000 to and from the code breaker’s accounts.

The biggest single movement of cash is believed to be £18,000 withdrawn from one of his accounts eight weeks ago.

Three sums of £2,000 paid in and then out of the 31-yearold’s accounts on consecutive days are also being examined. Two bundles of £500 – one in an envelope and the other tied with an elastic band – are said to have been found in the flat where he died.

But relatives of the brilliant mathematician are convinced the transfers and the bundles of cash all have totally innocent explanations. They say the allegations of blackmail and rumours about his private life have now become “intolerable”.

Mr Williams’ uncle, Bill Hughes, said: “We know nothing of this. It’s another example of unsupported rumours being allowed to circulate. To the best of our knowledge, Gareth wasn’t gay and wasn’t being blackmailed.” Mr Williams was found dead in the bath of his top-floor flat in Pimlico, central London, last Monday.

His body had been stuffed into a sports holdall and may have lain there for up to eight days. The bag was padlocked. One theory that detectives are working on is that Mr Williams knew his killer and let him into the flat. A post-mortem examination last week proved inconclusive. Further tests are being carried out.

Forensic experts returned to the scene of the murder on Friday in a bid to find clues which will solve the mystery. Mr Willaims worked for the Government’s listening post GCHQ in Cheltenham and was on secondment to MI6. He made frequent trips to America, including visits to the National Security Agency’s Fort Meade base in Maryland.

He is said to have played a key role in the world’s most sensitive electronic intelligence gathering system, linking satellites and super computers in Britain, the US and elsewhere. Murder squad detectives are trying to piece together a detailed picture of the last days of the spy’s life.

He was last seen alive on August 15 in London. Inquiries have include tracing the spy’s neighbours and previous tenants of the flat where he lived. Police are also understood to be asking about another GCHQ worker who used to live in the same house as the murdered man.

Daily Mail : Investigation into death of British spy Gareth Williams takes another mystifying turn: What happened to 18K in spy's bank?

Investigation into death of British spy Gareth Williams takes another mystifying turn: What happened to 18K in spy's bank?

* Forensic accountants called in to examine Gareth Williams's bank account
* Detectives question staff at Thames boating club
* Police increasingly frustrated at lack of help from MI6

By Ian Gallagher And Abul Taher | August 29, 2010

The investigation into the death of British spy Gareth Williams took another mystifying turn last night with the claim that £18,000 disappeared from one of his bank accounts two months ago – and cannot be immediately traced.

According to a source close to the invest­igation, forensic accountants have been called in by detectives to try to establish where the money, apparently moved by ‘complex means’, ended up.

The Mail on Sunday has been told that the sum was moved from Mr Williams’s
Barclays online deposit account. It is understood that his salary was paid into a Cheltenham & Gloucester account.

Last night there was no independent confirmation of the claim which, if correct, will inevitably fuel speculation that the 31-year-old cipher and codes specialist may have been blackmailed.

It has been reported that he may have been selling information and was seeking to hide the money, possibly offshore. Scotland Yard declined to comment last night on either allegation.

The source said that police acknowledge it is equally possible that there is an innocent explanation for the money’s disappearance. Mr Williams reportedly led a frugal lifestyle – a passion for cycling apparently dominating his life outside work – and it simply may be that he was an assiduous saver.

Other reports have claimed that three sums of £2,000 were paid into Mr Williams’s bank account on consecutive days and then withdrawn on consecutive days in the weeks before his death.

However, sources suggest that it is likely that these deposits were the £2,000 tax-free monthly allowance the spy received while he was in London on secondment to MI6 from GCHQ, the Government listening post in Cheltenham.

The Mail on Sunday has also been told, meanwhile, that two bundles of cash – £500 in each – were found in the London flat where Mr Williams was found dead last week. One bundle was in an envelope, the other was said to have been bound with an elastic band.

There is nothing to suggest a sinister reason for their presence, but sources say they may be significant because they were left behind. Police would would not comment on this claim last night.

Investigators suspect Mr Williams may have known his killer as there was no sign of forced entry at his top-floor flat in Pimlico, where police forensic officers in white protective suits were working yesterday. At 4pm they took away two bags of evidence.

'He also said that the Government met his rent, that’s how he could afford to live in Pimlico. He was a loner.’

In another intriguing development, The Mail on Sunday has been told that police have been making inquiries about another GCHQ worker who used to live in the same flat. They are said to be examining CCTV footage taken from a boating club this man belonged to on the Thames, near MI6 headquarters.

Detectives visited the Westminster Boating Base, which helps children learn sailing and kayaking, two days after Mr Williams’ body was found – and interviewed its manager Kevin Burk for more than an hour. They also looked at video of sailing trips which the man went on. It is believed that the detectives may have taken some of the recordings with them for further analysis.

Detectives then called Mr Burk the following day, interviewing him for another hour by telephone. They gave him strict orders not to talk to the Press or the public. It is understood he was asked detailed questions about the former colleague of Mr Williams, who The Mail on Sunday has agreed not to name. The man is thought to have moved out of the flat six months ago.

Neighbour Stephen Barnes, who first met the man two years ago, said: ‘This chap told me he worked for the civil service, in the technology side. He also said that the Government met his rent, that’s how he could afford to live in Pimlico. He was a loner.’

Mr Barnes, who runs a medical supplies company from his home, was also interviewed and detectives asked him to supply all the information he had on the man.

The investigation into Mr Williams’s death has been beset from the outset by a number of difficulties, including claims of a frustrating lack of help from MI6, and unexplained avenues of inquiry.

But the biggest problem faced so far has been the failure to discover how Mr Williams died.

‘We can’t even say for sure that he was murdered,’ said a Scotland Yard spokesman.

The results of a post mortem are not expected for at least another week. And while he was last seen on August 15 in London – and was found in his flat eight days later – it is not known exactly when he died.

‘This has had the effect of elongating the inquiry,’ said a police source.

‘For one thing it means that there is much more CCTV to go through. Everything is taking a lot of time.’

While Scotland Yard has been reluctant to comment on aspects of the crime scene, it strongly refuted suggestions that ‘bondage equipment and gay paraphernalia’ were found in the flat.

‘Those reports are garbage,’ said a spokesman, who also dismissed suggestions that gay contact magazines were found. But he declined to comment on various claims about Mr Williams’s private life, including suggestions that he was gay and a cross-dresser.

Last night his family were said to be ‘furious’ that officers investigating his killing had allowed false claims of a wild homosexual lifestyle to gather momentum, with his parents Ian and Ellen feeling ‘let down’ by the failure to scotch the speculation sooner.

Mr Williams’s uncle, William Hughes, said: ‘Gareth’s name and reputation were being destroyed by these horrible and completely fictitious accounts of his private life.’

After Scotland Yard dismissed the allegations, Mr Hughes said: ‘Of course we are relieved – hugely relieved – that these statements have finally been put out by the police, but what took them so long?

‘The police have known since his body was first found that there was none of this material at the scene. They knew how painful it was for the family to read these untrue, salacious accounts . . . they could have stamped on the speculation on day one, but chose not to. It was devastating for our family to have to read these details about Gareth. It was not the Gareth we knew.

‘To the best of our knowledge, Gareth was not gay and he has never had any interest in the things that were said about him. We hope the denials from the police will now end the speculation.’

Sydney Morning Herald : Family of dead spy furious at smears

Family of dead spy furious at smears

August 29, 2010

LONDON: The family of the British spy murdered in London have attacked ''completely false'' smears about his private life.

As police focused inquiries on Gareth Williams's close friends and associates, it was disclosed that the MI6 worker's parents were ''furious'' about claims that he had a double life.

His family suggested that reports he was homosexual or a cross-dresser were part of a deliberate campaign of misinformation designed to distract attention from the facts of the case.
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Police dismissed reports of bondage equipment being found in the London flat where the body of Mr Williams, 31, (pictured) was discovered, along with claims that his mobile phone contained numbers for male escorts.

Detectives began a second forensic sweep of the crime scene.

The question police are trying to clarify is why the killer ''or a partner'' placed Mr Williams's body in a large sports bag in the bath.

Police are working on the assumption that it is a murder but have not ruled out that Mr Williams could have died in a bizarre accident or from an accidental drugs overdose.

Mr Williams's parents, Ellen and Ian, who live in Holyhead, Wales, were said to be ''absolutely devastated'' and ''raw with emotion''.

William Hughes, the victim's uncle, said they were also ''very, very angry'' about reports of secrets in his private life.

''It is completely false,'' Mr Hughes said. ''The lad had been away from home for a long time. We did not know much about his private life but it has never crossed any of our minds that he could be gay.''

The body of the agent, who worked for the Government Communications Headquarters listening station in Cheltenham and was on secondment to MI6, was found by police on Monday.

An autopsy was inconclusive.

Independent : MI6 death: Murder most strange

MI6 death: Murder most strange

Jonathan Owen tries to determine the facts about the death of intelligence officer Gareth Williams, and asks experts for their views on a real-life spy mystery

Jonathan Owen | August 29, 2010

The Metropolitan Police were under mounting pressure last night to bring in counter-terrorism officers to investigate the death of Gareth Williams, the British intelligence officer whose decomposing body was found stuffed in a sports bag in the bath of his flat in Pimlico, central London, last Monday.

Officers from the Met's Homicide and Serious Crime Command are understood to be furious at being stonewalled by Britain's secretive intelligence agencies. Detectives claim to have been "blocked" from interviewing potentially crucial witnesses, such as Mr Williams's "best friend", a female colleague at the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), who was posted to the US last month.

Counter-terrorism officers are security vetted, which would make it harder for intelligence agencies to withhold information on the grounds of security clearance, say detectives. "It's a big cover-up... The security services obviously don't want the police to pry too deeply," said a police source.

It emerged yesterday that police are investigating three sums of £2,000 paid into Mr Williams's account on consecutive days, and then withdrawn on consecutive days, with the last transaction on the eve of his killing. The money trail has heightened concerns that his death may present a national security risk. Mr Williams was on secondment to MI6 from GCHQ and was a regular visitor to the US National Security Agency HQ, Fort Meade.

His murder is unprecedented in that it took place just a short walk from MI6 and has seen a police investigation undertaken amid a frenzy of public speculation. Even the basic fact that he was murdered has yet to be officially confirmed, with a post mortem failing to discover the cause of death, despite reports he had been stabbed and found dumped in a sports bag in his bath. Police will only describe it as a "suspicious and unexplained death", and tests are under way to establish how the 30-year-old mathematician from Anglesey died. The results are expected this week. And after initially claiming he had been dead for two weeks before his body was found, police said on Friday that he had been in London from 11 August, with the last sighting of him on 15 August.

Mr Williams's family hit out yesterday at speculation in some newspapers that he was a cross-dressing homosexual who may have been killed by a gay lover. His uncle, William Hughes, said: "The family are concerned it may be an attempt to put false, unkind details about Gareth's private life into the public domain to diminish him and take attention away from the security services he worked so loyally for."

Sir Paul Lever, Former chair of Joint Intelligence Committee

"If you want to dispel a suggestion that something is work-related, you inevitably imply it's to do with the person's non-work life... ergo their private life, so you end up perhaps implying things that may distress his family. I would be very surprised if his employers were deliberately setting out to smear him."

Annie Machon, Former MI5 agent

"The trouble is that it's so murky at the moment. It could be misdirection ... towards some sort of sexual thing that went wrong. But there's also the fact that he was working on secure communications... the SIM cards and telephone laid out indicate the killer was aware of where he worked and was letting people know that."

Mark Birdsall, Editor 'Eye Spy' magazine

"The fact that he was in a holdall is a classic indication that the body was going to be moved. There's something not quite right here, but I think the story is being created to give the ordinary man in the street the opinion, 'well, he was involved in some sort of lovers' tiff'... I think the whole background about Mr Williams is being manipulated, possibly to disguise what he was up to, which is natural. You put out a cover story to disguise the real operation."

David Wilson, Professor of Criminology, University of Central England

"In the vast majority of murders you don't look for a Hollywood motive, you look for the most banal motive – the most banal motives are love, rage, and jealousy... I'm absolutely convinced with virtually every serious crime I've been involved with that there's a great deal of misinformation... when one talks to press officers of any government agency they have a line that they try to feed."

'John Smith', A former head of GCHQ

"This is first and foremost a personal tragedy. Clearly it's unwelcome that it is someone working for the intelligence services who might have been working for anyone else, and it isn't yet clear quite what the ramifications beyond that might be. People are going spare [at GCHQ/MI6] because there is a public relations crisis to handle. As a precautionary measure, they will be looking at how much this chap knew and how much he could have communicated to anyone."

Rupert Allason, Espionage author & former Tory MP

"The only security concern regarding Gareth Williams's death would be if there was evidence that classified information had been compromised. Doubtless SIS and GCHQ security staff are pursuing those lines and a search of his flat and laptop would be top of the list. In the absence of any indication that there had been a breach of security there would not appear to be any other issues, apart perhaps from one: which police officer tipped off the media to the link with Vauxhall Cross?"

Prof Anthony Glees, Director, Centre for Security and Intelligence Studies, University of Birmingham

"I don't think he would have been murdered because of what he knew but because of his private life. If his private life brought him into contact with someone who went on to kill him, he was a risk-taker... If you do risky things, you may not be blackmailable but you may still be a security risk because your risk-taking may bring you into contact with people who might try to exploit this trait to get secrets out of you."

James Bamford, Author of three bestsellers on the US national security agency (NSA)

"Rather than a 'spy' in the James Bond sense of the word, he was far more likely a routine cryptanalyst. It is also very unlikely, especially given his sexual interests, that there is any foreign intelligence involvement in his death. Those things happen in the movies but rarely in real life. Nevertheless, I'm sure there is a very intense investigation, both at the NSA and GCHQ, into what accesses Williams had, his travels and his telephone, email and internet communications."

Stephen Dorril, Intelligence expert University of Huddersfield

"GCHQ has been sending people into the field in Afghanistan to monitor communications; they have small units of personnel who are doing field work instead of just being behind the desk, so they have obviously been working closely with MI6."

Nicholas Anderson, Former MI6 agent and author

"My first gut thought was that he couldn't have been a high-security risk as it took nearly two weeks for the FCO [Foreign & Commonwealth Office] employee assistance head to follow up on why he hadn't been at work. Granted, he may have had a job where he worked alone so he didn't have to report in, but most lone operators, like I used to be, report to somebody on a timely basis regardless."

Roger Graef, Broadcaster and criminologist

"The one thing we won't know is the truth. This is in the category of iconic crimes, when you don't ever expect to be told the real thing, and there are just too many reasons to keep it secret... None of it adds up: if he was such a hot shot at code breaking then presumably he'd have been protected... We are very unlikely to ever know what happened."

Prof Martin Innes, Director of the universities' police science institute at cardiff university

"If they've stuck him in a bag ready to be moved, if that was what happened, then that suggests someone a bit more intent on what it is they're trying to do... If the individual concerned is out there and dismembering the body, there's something else going on. But until we know that it's pretty difficult to say anything useful."

Michael Smith, Author of 'Six: A history of Britain's Secret Intelligence Service'

"No conversation I have had with anyone genuine within the intelligence community has given any information on this guy that would be any use in building up a picture of him other than off-the-record confirmation that he was a GCHQ employee who has been on attachment to MI6."

Guardian : Bondage claims over dead MI6 officer untrue, say police

Bondage claims over dead MI6 officer untrue, say police

Officers who found body of Gareth Williams say it was 'a neat job', leading to speculation that it was a professional hit

by Helen Carter and Richard Norton-Taylor | August 29, 2010

Further questions have been raised over the death of an MI6 officer after police confirmed that reports of bondage equipment found at his flat and a "ritualistic" arrangement of his possessions were untrue.

The body of Gareth Williams was found stuffed in a bag in the bath of an MI6 safehouse in Pimlico, south London, a week ago. Reports have said there was evidence of a break-in, and that sim cards containing the numbers of gay escorts were found at the flat, but police who found the body told Channel 4 News it was "a neat job", leading to speculation that Williams was killed in a professional hit.

The police and security services seem to disagree over precisely what led to Williams' death, with Whitehall sources maintaining that his death was "more to do with his private life than his job".

Claims that 31-year-old Williams was secretly gay appear to be wrong, according to the original police dispatch seen by Channel 4. His family claim Williams has been the victim of a smear campaign to deflect attention from his work within the intelligence service. He is thought to have played a role in gathering intelligence as a code-cracker or cipher, and was seconded to MI6 from GCHQ.

Contrary to some reports, three mobile phone sim cards found in the flat were not arranged in a "ritualistic" manner, a Metropolitan police spokesman told the Guardian.

The police confirmed that Williams was last seen on 15 August, eight days before his body was found. Initial reports said he had not been seen for a fortnight. His body was discovered when police were called to check on him after a GCHQ colleague voiced concerns. Police found no mess and no sign of a struggle.

Williams's uncle, William Hughes, said it was possible the government or another agency might be attempting to discredit his nephew by orchestrating a smear campaign. He said Williams's parents, who live on Anglesey, were "very, very angry" about false reports over his private life. He said his nephew's reputation was being destroyed by the "horrible and completely fictitious accounts".

Last week a pathologist was unable to establish a cause of death. Toxicology tests will determine if he was poisoned, or if drugs or alcohol were a factor.

There have been claims that Williams was killed by someone he knew, after reports that thousands of pounds were paid into and withdrawn from his bank account in the days leading up to his death. Police said such reports were "pure speculation".

Williams is known to have been a private man, a mathematical prodigy who studied at Bangor University for a degree at 13, emerging with first-class honours. He later attended St Catharine's College, Cambridge, where he failed to complete his studies and returned to GCHQ, where he joined a contingent of keen cyclists.

Williams regularly travelled to the United States, where it is understood that he worked at the National Security Agency at Fort Meade in Maryland, the US government's listening post and the largest intelligence agency in the world.

He was sent to MI6's station in Kabul where he is thought to have helped in breaking codes used by the Taliban. Last year he moved on secondment to MI6. He was due to return to GCHQ at the start of next month.

Channel 4 : Exclusive: 'neat job' on MI6 spy's death

Exclusive: 'neat job' on MI6 spy's death

By Channel 4 News | August 28, 2010

Channel 4 News learns the police who found the body of MI6 codebreaker Gareth Williams described his death as a "neat job" - understood to be code for a professional killing.

The evidence obtained by Channel 4 News from the day the MI6 employee was found dead in his central London flat suggests that reports that he was secretly gay or owed bondage equipment are untrue.

The evidence also suggests his mobile phone sim cards were not arranged in a "ritualistic" way and there were no numbers for male escort agencies on them.

This, Channel 4 News understands, is what the police know about the death of the MI6 code breaker, contrary to the speculation which has been in other reports which is apparently based on MI6 briefings.

Channel 4 News reporter James Blake said none of the sexual links or mobile phone details were mentioned in the official police despatch for that day, the CAD.

He also said: "Officers did not touch the body so they were not sure, but one said the apparent murder was a 'neat job', a phrase used by police for a professional killing."

After the police left, the building was locked down and MI5 and MI6 officials rushed to the scene.

The family of code breaker Gareth Williams broke their silence to say they have found speculation over whether his sex life could be linked to his death "very distressing".

Police are still working to establish the cause of Mr Williams' death. They confirmed that he was last seen eight days before his corpse was discovered stuffed into a bag in his flat. His body was discovered on Monday after the police went to do a "welfare check" on him, after a GCHQ colleague sounded the alarm when he was not seen at work.

MI6 and GCHQ inquire into vetting of dead spy

Channel 4 News understands that the government's most secretive intelligence agencies have launched internal enquiries into the vetting of an MI6 employee found dead in his flat.

"There is nothing to suggest a security leak," a source told Channel 4 News. "This is most likely the human tragedy of a private young man who may have had issues."

GCHQ conducts what it called "rigorous security clearance" for potential employees to ascertain whether there is the "the risk of an individual being placed in a potentially compromising position."

The CIA has also been investigating any possible security breach, but British authorities believed that Mr Williams' killer probably did not know about his work.

In a statement, Mr Williams' family 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 that anyone with information to come forward and assist the police enquiry.

"The continued speculation in the press about his private life has been very distressing."

Channel 4 News reporter James Blake said that the evidence he has obtained suggest that the reports are untrue.

When the police entered the flat, he said: "There was no mess, no evidence of a struggle, and, importantly, no overwhelming smell of a body decomposing. When they entered the bathroom, officers described finding a suitcase with red liquid seeping out."

Police confirmed that Mr Williams was last seen alive on 15 August, although they would not discuss whether he was seen on CCTV or via another source.

The investigation is being led by the Met's Homicide Command, with the security-vetted Counter Terror Command also involved.

No national security risk

At this stage, all parties are suggesting that Mr Williams' killer is unlikely to have been aware of his job and his death presents no threat to national security.

Channel 4 News has learned that both MI6 and GCHQ have launched internal inquiries into the vetting of Mr Williams.

Mr Williams was a GCHQ employee on secondment to MI6.

"There is nothing to suggest a security leak," a source told Channel 4 News. "This is most likely the human tragedy of a private young man who may have had issues."

Relative William Hughes, 62, a councillor on Anglesey, insisted there was no evidence the allegations over Mr Williams' private life are correct.

Mr Hughes, a cousin of Mr Williams' mother, Ellen, said: "I have spoken to Gareth's parents and they are not doing well at all.

"They are in a state of shock and struggling to come to terms with what has happened.

"They have seen what has been in the papers and they are very, very upset about these untruths. I don't see any evidence of it.

"It never crossed my mind that Gareth was that sort of person. He left home at a young age and what happened in his private life was his business.

"When you have these rumours in the papers, it is most distressing.

"It is heartbreaking that he has died so young and his family have enough on their plate without having to read these stories."

Mr Hughes said it was possible the government, or another agency, might be attempting to discredit Mr Williams.

Earlier this week a pathologist found Mr Williams was not stabbed or shot, and police are still working to find out how he died. Their investigations have included looking into Mr Williams' private life in an attempt to account for his death.

"Every nation spies on everyone else"

A former intelligence officer from America has told Channel 4 News that spying goes on "every day, 24 hours a day."

Bob Ayres said: "As long as people use codes to protect their communications, there will still be people working to break them.

"Codes now are based on sophisticated cryptographic systems. Spies are used to create and produce cryptographic systems that other people can’t break, and to break the systems used by other countries. These systems are based on sophisticated mathematics, so that is the ideal background.

"Intelligence, spying, these are jobs and business that go on every day, 24 hours a day. Every nation spies on everyone else and everybody spies on them. There is nothing romantic or intriguing about it. It is just a business. In terms of men in raincoats standing under bridges, that is a very small percentage of what actually goes on in the intelligence business."

Wall Street Journal : U.K. Spy's Death Remains Cloaked in Mystery

U.K. Spy's Death Remains Cloaked in Mystery

Police Puzzle Over Math Expert's 'Suspicious and Unexpected' Demise; Case Lacks Bond-Like Intrigue of Earlier Sagas

By PAUL SONNE And CASSELL BRYAN-LOW | August 28, 2010

LONDON — When the news broke early this week that a man working for U.K. intelligence services had been found dead, his body discovered in a large duffel bag in the bathtub of his London flat, the British public sensed the start of a new chapter in the country's long history of national-security scandal and intrigue.

But as the land of James Bond fixates on what could have led to 30-year-old Gareth Williams turning up dead in London's posh Pimlico neighborhood, the saga so far hasn't lived up to the secret-scheme legacy left on British soil by the likes of Alexander Litvinenko, Anna Chapman and others, dead or alive, in the intelligence trade.

Police here have yet to determine that Mr. Williams's death had anything to do with his job at Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), a unit of the U.K. intelligence services that intercepts terrorist communications and protects British government data from cyberattacks.

Nor have the authorities declared that Mr. Williams's death was the result of a murder. Police continue to classify the incident as a "suspicious and unexplained death," after a postmortem examination on Wednesday failed to determine the cause of death.

No indications of the cause of death—such as stabbing or gunshot wounds—were apparent at the scene, and there was no clear sign of a break-in, a person familiar with the matter said. The person said Mr. Williams's body may have been in the bathtub for more than a week before the authorities, following up on reports that Mr. Williams hadn't been seen for days, entered the flat to find him dead Monday afternoon. Police say the investigation is continuing.

Meanwhile, a portrait of Mr. Williams is emerging, and it is somewhat different from the sexy, cloak-and-dagger narrative associated with people who wind up being swept up in so-called spy sagas. In the 1960s, U.K. defense minister John Profumo admitted to having an affair with a model who was also the mistress of a Russian spy. In 2006, Litvinenko, a former KGB agent, died in London after being poisoned with radioactive material. This summer, a onetime Londoner, red-haired Anna Chapman, was one of 10 agents involved in a much-publicized spy swap with the U.S.

Mr. Williams was discovered earlier in the week.

Mr. Williams comes from a more obscure part of the intelligence world that is more high-tech than high-gloss. A mathematics expert, he grew up on the island of Anglesey in northern Wales and began attending university at the age of 15 in the nearby city of Bangor to study math, his mother's cousin, William Hughes, said Friday.

Later, Mr. Williams did graduate work in math at the University of Cambridge, and then spent about 10 years working at GCHQ's headquarters 100 miles west of London in Cheltenham, England, said his landlady there, Jennifer Elliott.

Ms. Elliott said he had been in London for work for about a year but was due to return to the house on her property in Cheltenham early next month. He never spoke about his job, Mr. Hughes said, noting that the family was devastated to find out that their son—an avid cyclist—had died in such mysterious circumstances.

GCHQ confirmed that Mr. Williams was an employee and said he was working in London, though a spokesman for the agency wouldn't comment on his role there. A 5,500-strong agency filled with numerical experts like Mr. Williams, GCHQ works closely with the U.K. Secret Intelligence Service, or MI6, which is based in London across the river from Mr. Williams's apartment. The British press has widely reported that Mr. Williams was working at MI6 on a short-term project, but a GCHQ spokesman would neither confirm nor deny that placement.

The police haven't made any leads on the case public. "We have no inkling of what happened," said Mr. Hughes. "Nothing at all so far."

Daily Post : Murdered Anglesey spy was a 'generous and loving' say family

Murdered Anglesey spy was a 'generous and loving' say family

by Our Correspondent, Daily Post | August 28, 2010

THE North Wales family of murdered British spy Gareth Williams last night paid tribute to a “generous, loving son, brother, and friend” as police continued to investigate the death of the GCHQ codes expert.

It came as Scotland Yard detectives revealed the 30-year-old was last seen alive in the capital on Sunday August 15 eight days before his decomposing body was found at his London home.

His relatives, who live in Valley, Anglesey, said in a statement: “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 that anyone with information to come forward and assist the police inquiry.”

The mathematics genius, who was on secondment to MI6, was found dead in a sports holdall in the bath of his Government flat on Monday.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: “We can confirm that Mr Williams was in London from Wednesday August 11, and what officers believe is the last confirmed sighting of him still alive in London was on Sunday August 15.”

Investigators have begun picking through his private life amid claims linking him to a male escort and suggestions that bondage equipment had been found at his home.

In the statement released by police, Mr Williams’ family said the “speculation” had been “very distressing”.

Sources close to the investigation have rejected the claims.

Relative William Hughes, 62, a councillor on Anglesey, insisted there was no evidence the allegations are correct.

Mr Hughes, a cousin of Mr Williams’ mother, Ellen, said: “I have spoken to Gareth’s parents and they are not doing well at all.

“They are in a state of shock and struggling to come to terms with what has happened.

“They have seen what has been in the papers and they are very, very upset about these untruths. I don’t see any evidence of it.

“It never crossed my mind that Gareth was that sort of person. He left home at a young age and what happened in his private life was his business.

“It is heartbreaking that he has died so young and his family have enough on their plate without having to read these stories.”

Mr Hughes said it was possible the Government, or another agency, might be attempting to discredit Mr Williams.

Police turned their focus to Mr Williams’ private life after colleagues discovered his body and raised the alarm.

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

He was due to return to a rented flat in Cheltenham where Government Communications Headquarters, GCHQ, is based.

It is understood Mr Williams also worked for the United States National Security Agency and made regular trips to Washington DC and Fort Meade, near Baltimore.

The mystery over his final hours deepened after a post-mortem examination failed to identify a cause of death.

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

Police have refused to categorise the death as a murder, despite the bizarre circumstances and say he may have died innocently.

Officers believe Mr Williams’ body could have lain undiscovered for many days and are examining his mobile phone and financial records.

Telegraph : Family of dead spy in tribute to 'loving son'

Family of dead spy in tribute to 'loving son'

By Nick Collins | August 28, 2010

The family of Gareth Williams, the British spy found murdered this week, paid tribute to their ''generous, loving son, brother, and friend'' as police investigated whether the GCHQ codes expert had been living a secret double life.

The message came as detectives revealed that the last reported sighting of the 30-year-old was on Sunday, August 15 - eight days before his decomposing body was found at his London home.

His family 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 that anyone with information to come forward and assist the police inquiry.''

The mathematician, who was on secondment to MI6, was found dead in a sports holdall in the bath of his Government flat on Monday.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "We can confirm that Mr Williams was in London from Wednesday August 11, and what officers believe is the last confirmed sighting of him still alive in London was on Sunday August 15."

Investigators have begun examining his private life amid claims linking him to a male escort and suggestions that bondage equipment had been found at his home.

In the statement released by police, Mr Williams' family said the "speculation" had been "very distressing".

Sources close to the investigation have rejected the claims.

Relative William Hughes, 62, a councillor on Anglesey, insisted there was no evidence the allegations are correct.

Mr Hughes, a cousin of Mr Williams' mother, Ellen, said: "I have spoken to Gareth's parents and they are not doing well at all.

"They are in a state of shock and struggling to come to terms with what has happened.

"They have seen what has been in the papers and they are very, very upset about these untruths. I don't see any evidence of it.

"It never crossed my mind that Gareth was that sort of person. He left home at a young age and what happened in his private life was his business."

Mr Hughes said it was possible the Government, or another agency, might be attempting to discredit Mr Williams.

Police turned their focus to Mr Williams' private life after colleagues discovered his body and raised the alarm.

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

He was due to return to a rented flat in Cheltenham where Government Communications Headquarters, GCHQ, is based.

It is understood Mr Williams also worked for the United States National Security Agency and made regular trips to Washington DC and Fort Meade, near Baltimore.

The mystery over his final hours deepened after a post-mortem examination failed to identify a cause of death.

Further tests will determine if the cycling fanatic was asphyxiated or poisoned, as well as if drugs or alcohol were present in his system.

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

Police have refused to categorise the death as a murder despite the bizarre circumstances, and say he may have died innocently.

They were considering whether he became the victim of a sex game that went wrong.

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

But questions remain over why his body was not discovered earlier.

Friends described Mr Williams as an extremely bright, quiet and determined man who did not discuss his private life.

Childhood friend Dylan Parry, 34, said he was academically gifted but socially naive and could be easily-led.

Independent : MI6 officer last seen eight days before his body found

MI6 officer last seen eight days before his body found

By Lewis Smith | August 28, 2010

The last confirmed sighting of the MI6 officer found murdered in his London home was eight days before his body was discovered, police said last night.

Gareth Williams, a GCHQ codes expert on secondment to MI6, is last known to have been alive on Sunday 15 August in London.

His family released a statement paying tribute to him as "a generous, loving son, brother, and friend". It added: "His loss has devastated us and we would ask that anyone with information to come forward."

Earlier, William Hughes, a cousin, had said the family were deeply upset at "untruths" suggesting bondage equipment had been found in the dead man's flat and that he was linked to a male escort.