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The biggest single movement of cash is believed to be £18,000 withdrawn from one of his accounts eight weeks ago.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

Express : MI5 CALLED IN ON MI6 SPY RIDDLE

MI5 CALLED IN ON MI6 SPY RIDDLE

By James Fielding and Jane Clinton | August 29, 2010

MI6 and MI5 have joined forces for the first time since the Cold War to solve code breaker Gareth Williams’ murder.

Security chiefs have taken the highly unusual step amid fears Mr Williams was killed by a foreign agent.

Spooks from both intelligence services are shocked that one of their own was killed in their own backyard.

Meanwhile, there was fury in the US last night after FBI attempts to quiz Mr Williams’ best friend, a 25-year-old British woman working for British security in Colorado – were blocked by UK officials.

In a covert operation separate to the official police investigation, MI6 and MI5 agents are now trawling a list of more than 150 suspected “enemy spies” hiding in Britain.

They are tracing their movements over the past fortnight and are compiling a detailed dossier on each one.

The last co-operation between the two agencies was in the Fifties when five Cambridge University-educated spies, including Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean, were found to have passed on information to the Soviet Union after the Second World War.

Agents probing Mr Williams’ death are working on the theory he was killed in a professional hit.

The Sunday Express can reveal the 31-year-old had been devising a firewall to protect British banks from computer hackers. He was based at the Government’s GCHQ ‘listening post’ in Cheltenham, where he had a flat, but was on a year’s secondment to MI6. The job often took him to the National Security Agency in Washington DC, the Pentagon’s GCHQ.

Mr Williams’ body was found on Monday in a sports holdall, which had been left in the bath at his rented £400,000 apartment in Pimlico, central London.

A post-mortem examination was inconclusive but sources close to the police investigation say he was not stabbed, shot, strangled or beaten, leaving suffocation or poisoning as the probable causes.

A source told the Sunday Express: “Mr Williams’ death sent shock-waves shuddering through both MI5 and MI6. The security service is in meltdown.

“The focus is increasingly being centred on his role for the security service and whether a foreign agent is to blame.”

Mr Williams last visited the US earlier this year and American spy chiefs fear that secret US information may have been leaked.

The source added: “The Americans want to know exactly what Mr Williams was doing in the States and whether he let slip any vital information before he died. Not being able to speak to his friends will have made things even worse.”

According to reports, Mr Williams, originally from Anglesey, North Wales, drew £6,000 from his bank account in the days before his death, which could mean he was the target of blackmail.

Mirror : Spy death: Family fury at 'lurid' Gareth Williams lies

Spy death: Family fury at 'lurid' Gareth Williams lies

By Jon Clements | August 28, 2010

The grieving family of codebreaker Gareth Williams fear "dark forces" are at work to smear their son's name over his role in the war on terror.

Devastated parents Ian and Ellen Williams have endured a string of sordid allegations about his life and demanded answers from security services and police.

They fear lurid claims the MI6 worker was gay and his flat was strewn with bondage gear could be an attempt to discredit him to hide the true cause of his death - possibly in the interests of national security.

His uncle Michael Hughes said: "There has been a concerted effort to discredit Gareth that leaves us asking ourselves why?" He said "dark forces" were at work, adding: "We are increasingly concerned that one of the reasons may be to take attention away from other truths about what happened.

"One of those possibilities is that he may have been killed because of his work.

"His job was a sensitive one. Perhaps the way the conspiracy works is that if Gareth's reputation can be destroyed, then any subsequent claims relating to his professional life can be discredited, too. If we're right, then Gareth has been stitched up by the very people he devoted his whole life to." Keen cyclist Gareth, 31, described as a maths genius, played a crucial role in deciphering codes crucial to foiling al-Qaeda plots and regularly flew to America to work with National Security Agency officials. Last night his parents spoke for the first time about his death in a statement from their home near Holyhead, Anglesey. Ian and Ellen said: "Gareth was a generous, loving son, brother, and friend, and a very private person. He was a great athlete, and loved cycling and music.

"His loss has devastated us and we would ask anyone with information to come forward and assist the enquiry."

Police, who have no idea how he died, will investigate if he was the victim of a professional hit or even if it was a bizarre accident or drugs overdose, given the clinically clean nature of his flat in Pimlico, Central London.

Sources said his phone SIM cards had not been left "ritualistically" but had probably been arranged like that by the spy, who was known to be fastidiously neat.

Police also revealed he was last seen alive on August 15 and there were no signs of forced entry or disturbance at his flat.

And claims that bondage gear was found on Alderney Street, where his body was discovered in the bath in a sports holdall, were described as "totally untrue". An insider said: "The inquiry is focusing on the basics starting with 'How did he die?' It will then work its way outwards."

Police had also found nothing to suggest that Mr Williams was gay but his sexuality was still a part of the investigation.

But his uncle added: "We're a close family and Gareth made regular trips back. We'd have known if he was gay. We wouldn't have treated him any differently. He was just a nice, ordinary lad. Exceptionally bright, but in every other way a normal young man."

The family are also angry they were given no warning by officials that rumours of his "secret gay life and love of sado-masochism" would be splashed across newspapers. He said: "Clearly someone briefed the press about his sexuality. It's completely false."

Telegraph : Family fury at private life smears of British spy Gareth Williams

Family fury at private life smears of British spy Gareth Williams

Duncan Gardham, Richard Edwards and Gordon Rayner | August 27, 2010

The family of Gareth Williams, the murdered British spy, have attacked “completely false” smears about his private life.

As police focused inquiries on his close friends and associates, it was disclosed that the 31-year-old MI6 worker’s parents were “furious” about claims that he had a secret double life, including suggestions he was gay, or a transvestite.

Police also dismissed reports of bondage equipment being found in the London flat where Mr Williams was discovered, and claims that his mobile phone contained numbers for male escorts.

Detectives admitted they are baffled by the death and yesterday launched a second forensic sweep of the crime scene after all initial inquiries had failed to turn up a lead.

The key question police are trying to clarify is why the killer — or a partner — placed Mr Williams's body in a large hold-all in the bath.

Police are working on the assumption 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.

The investigation is focused on his immediate circle of friends and associates. One theory is that someone who was with him in his flat when he died panicked and put his body in the bag to disguise what happened.

The spy’s parents, Ellen and Ian, who live in Holyhead, were said to be “absolutely devastated” and “raw with emotion”.

William Hughes, 62, the victim’s uncle, said they were also “very, very angry” about reports of secrets in his private life.

“It is completely false. 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. It's not the picture they have of their son.

“Maybe it's the Government or somebody trying to discredit him.”

The agent, who worked for the GCHQ listening station in Cheltenham and who was on secondment to MI6, was found by police on Monday evening. A post mortem was inconclusive and police are still waiting for the results of toxicology tests which could shed light on how he died.

There was also no obvious sign of him being strangled or smothered and insiders say the circumstances of his death remain “puzzling”.

Detectives are trying to establish Mr Williams's last known movements and speaking to friends and colleagues about his private life.

However initial sweeps of CCTV and telephone records have failed to uncover any clues.

There was no sign of any forced entry at the flat, suggesting that the killer was someone Mr Williams knew.

One source said: "We are treating this as murder but we really have no idea at this stage how he died. There are no obvious marks on the body and we are waiting for the results of toxicology tests.

“All we have right now is a body in a bag in a bath. We have no pre-concieved ideas of what happened but we have been talking to people who knew Gareth to build up a picture of his last movements and carefully piecing things together. Our forensics officers are still in the flat to see if they can get any closer to identifying whether anyone else was with him when he died."