Gulf Times (Qatar) : Secret service ‘withheld’ evidence on spy’s death

Secret service ‘withheld’ evidence on spy’s death

London Evening Standard/London | May 2, 2012

The MI6 examined memory sticks owned by “body in the bag” spy Gareth Williams without telling the police, the inquest heard yesterday.

The intelligence service did not even inform the officer in charge of the case that the memory sticks existed until yesterday — 20 months after the death. In a dramatic move as the inquest was about to conclude, the coroner ordered MI6 to send another senior officer to court to be questioned.

A witness, known as SIS D, was summoned to give evidence anonymously. He will be the fourth witness from the intelligence service granted such protection on the grounds of national security.

Westminster coroner Fiona Wilcox also revealed she had only just been informed that a second North Face sports holdall had also been found in Williams’s office at MI6 headquarters at Vauxhall Cross. Even though the bag was similar to the one his body was found inside, it was not seized by police and no inventory taken of its contents.

MI6 made its own inventory of all Williams’s belongings in his office but did not pass it to the police until Monday. Mobile phones and laptops found in the code breaker’s Pimlico flat were taken by the police.

But police were unaware of the existence of “nine assorted memory sticks” in his locker at his MI6 office.

Detective chief inspector Jackie Sebire, the senior investigating officer, told the court that she had been unaware that any of Williams’s electronic media had been examined before it was passed to the police.

“I was not surprised that memory sticks were found but I would have expected the relevant information to be sent to our team,” she said.

She agreed that she should have been informed about the memory sticks back in August 2010, when Williams died. The second holdall has now been requested by the police and will be produced in court.

Detective Colin Hall told the court he had been taken to Williams’s office by his superintendent Michael Broster, and two MI6 officers. He said that it was Broster who told him not to take the bag found under Williams’s desk but to search it and then leave it. Asked by the coroner if he did not think such a bag was relevant, he replied: “He was a superintendent and I’m a detective and I do what I’m told.” The inquest continues.

The Week : Spy-in-bag death can be solved if police are allowed to do their job

Spy-in-bag death can be solved if police are allowed to do their job

Crispin Black | May 2, 2012

THE WESTMINSTER Coroner investigating the death of GCHQ mathematician Gareth Williams in 2010 has delivered a narrative verdict after listening to the evidence of 39 witnesses over seven days. This means that the circumstances of a death are recorded without attributing the cause to a named individual. But it’s a narrative verdict with a twist. She has made it clear that she believes that ‘on the balance of probabilities’ Gareth Williams was unlawfully killed.

She has shown both ingenuity and common sense in framing her formal verdict in this way. But it’s not a surprise. It was clear from the outset that Madam Coroner suspected foul play - she referred in court to the police investigation a number of times as a "Category A Murder Investigation". Technically, it is only an investigation into a ‘suspicious death’.

Towards the end of the process, her own dissatisfaction with the police investigation became abundantly clear. In an electrifying moment mid-afternoon yesterday she snapped. Visibly wearying of the answers of Detective Superintendent Michael Broster, the counter-terrorism officer acting as liaison between MI6 and the police investigation, she suggested angrily that he had not been "totally impartial".

He was coming to the end of a rough hour or so in the witness box trying to explain why he hadn't passed nine memory sticks found in Gareth Williams's locker at MI6 to Detective Chief Inspector Jackie Sebire, the detective in charge of the investigation.

The spooks had apparently assured him they were not relevant.

He hadn't seen fit to mention to anyone that a black North Face holdall similar to the one in which Williams was found dead had been found beneath his desk at Vauxhall Cross. It didn't help that Broster's account of the search of the locker didn't seem to tally with the account given earlier in the day by an equally evasive and unimpressive subordinate who had assisted him.

Broster's uncomfortable experience in the witness box - he looked absolutely furious as he left the building - made embarrassingly clear the shortcomings in the police investigation.

Because DCI Sebire and her team do not have the security clearances to deal with Top Secret matters of national security, they have not been allowed to enter MI6 HQ or question any of Gareth Williams's colleagues at either GCHQ or MI6. These aspects of the investigation have been undertaken by officers from Counter Terrorism Command like Broster who have been security vetted.

Quite why Sebire and her team can't be put through the 'developed vetting' procedure isn't clear. It does not take that long and she and her team have been on the case for 20 months now. The absurdity of this was underlined in court on Tuesday.

When Williams's overall boss at MI6 'Witness D' gave evidence, it was entirely proper that he did so from behind a screen. He is a spook and therefore his identity should be protected. The Coroner, the family and the lawyers could all see him face to face but court officials and journalists could not. We could hear the questions and answers but not see anything. Sitting with us also unable to see anything was DCI Sebire. One wonders what she made of Witness D's evidence. His memory didn't seem to be too good - unusual in a spook.

‘Witness G’, Williams’s immediate superior, also giving evidence from behind a screen earlier in the inquest – failed to impress. In her summing up the Coroner described his evidence as beginning ‘to stretch bounds of credibility’.

This is much more serious than just a slightly unwieldy protocol to protect national security. It is hard not to conclude that MI6 is being protected in some way from a proper investigation. Sebire hasn't been able to interview any spooks and she has had to rely on the judgment of others about physical evidence.

As the Coroner said to Broster, "Don't you think the murder inquiry and those responsible for it should have been investigating that evidence and not the person providing the evidence to you?" The Coroner's implication was clear and you could see the penny dropping with Broster as she said it. A few minutes later under heavily sarcastic questioning from Anthony O'Toole, the lawyer for the Williams family, he let slip: "I am not saying a member of SIS is not involved, I don't know."

Although I greatly admire the way Fiona Wilcox has conducted the inquest I don't agree with her pessimistic summing up that it is "unlikely" that Gareth Williams's death "will ever be satisfactorily explained". The answer is out there somewhere.

The way the police investigation has been conducted does not command public confidence and as currently organised seems unlikely to unravel the mystery. DCI Sebire, who has been convinced all along that "a third party was involved" has clearly done her best in difficult circumstances, but a whole avenue of investigation dealing with Williams's work colleagues has been deliberately closed off to her. As she made clear throughout the inquest she is convinced she can unravel the mystery. Let her do her job.

BBC : MI6 failed to hand police dead spy Gareth Williams' belongings

MI6 failed to hand police dead spy Gareth Williams' belongings

May 1, 2012

MI6 failed to pass police a lot of Gareth Williams' belongings during the probe into his death, an inquest heard.

Officers discovered on Monday that MI6 withheld computer memory sticks found in his office and a North Face bag similar to the one he was found in.

Secret services also searched his "electronic media" without informing police, a leading detective said.

The body of the 31-year-old code-breaker from Anglesey was found locked in a bag in his London flat in 2010.

Det Ch Insp Jackie Sebire, who is leading the investigation, told Westminster Coroner's Court that she "would have expected to have been told" about the belongings in 2010.

"What I knew was that Gareth's email accounts had been checked, but I did not know that other media had been checked," Ms Sebire said.

She added that she was not surprised that Mr Williams had left memory sticks at his office, "given his line of work".

Search 'not completed'

Scotland Yard's Det Const Colin Hall, of the counter-terror SO15 branch, was questioned about his search of Mr Williams' MI6 office on 26 August 2010, saying he did not seize computer memory sticks because he was told they contained material "of a sensitive nature".

Asked why he had failed to seize a black North Face bag discovered under the spy's desk, Mr Hall said: "I was told there was nothing there about Gareth's death."

"The bag was looked through and searched but nothing was seized... it contained work related items, it contained personal items."

Mr Hall was accused by the barrister for the Williams' family of failing to take the task as seriously as he should have done because the work was linked to the secret services.

But Mr Hall said that his team "had not completed our search" of the Vauxhall HQ because it was called off on the orders of senior detectives.

"I will do what I'm told," said he added.

Coroner Fiona Wilcox ordered Mr Hall to re-examine the missed evidence of the black bag in front of the courtroom.

Det Supt Michael Broster of the counter-terror SO15 branch was recalled later to give further evidence about the search of Mr Williams' office.
'Neglected'

Mr Broster told the inquiry he may have "neglected" to tell exhibit officer Det Const Hall to log details of a seized work phone and that, in hindsight, his team should have examined the memory sticks instead of passing them to MI6.

He also said he had not checked if a set of keys found in Mr Williams' work locker fitted his flat, but accepted they were for the office, as he was told by MI6.

Mr Broster insisted he had taken what he believed was relevant material, and that he had acted impartially.

The inquest into the death of Mr Williams is hearing a final round-up of evidence from the case, following a 21-month police investigation. A verdict is expected on Wednesday.

His body was found naked in a padlocked holdall in the bath of his flat in Pimlico, central London.

Three pathologists who conducted post-mortem examinations gave evidence at Westminster Coroner's Court, have been unable to reach a firm conclusion on how Mr Williams died.

But they said poisoning and asphyxiation are the foremost contenders as the cause of death.

The inquest will hear again from the forensic scientist Ros Hammond, as well as a new witness from MI6 known as Witness D.