Mirror : Was body-in-the-bag spy betrayed by a double agent? Mole theory over MI6 codebreaker's death

Was body-in-the-bag spy betrayed by a double agent? Mole theory over MI6 codebreaker's death

In a throwback to the dark days of the Cold War, a worrying theory has emerged about the death of body-in-the-bag spy Gareth Williams

March 10, 2012

In a throwback to the dark days of the Cold War, a worrying theory has emerged about the death of body-in-the-bag spy Gareth Williams

The expert codebreaker’s decomposing body was found locked in a large sportsbag in the bath of his London flat in 2010.

There were no obvious signs of how he died or who was responsible – with many claiming a “wall of silence” surrounding his death points to a cover-up at the very heart of the British establishment.

And now it has been revealed Gareth may have been betrayed by a British double agent.

Security bosses are trying to establish if a mole somewhere within intelligence revealed his identity to foreign assassins.

The brilliant mathematician, 31, was working for the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) and would have been a high value target – vital in producing hi-tech defences to prevent cyber attacks on our most secret government departments.

He was one of only a handful of spies launching effective counter attacks to stop enemy hackers infiltrating British networks.

Williams had been seconded from the top-secret Government Communications Headquarters in Cheltenham to MI6 in the capital.

He was making clandestine visits to Washington to team up with US espionage agents and share intelligence in operations to fend off hostile hacking infiltrations by Russia and China.

Eighteen months after his bizarre death, investigators are still piecing together his every move to try to get information which could lead them back to a British double agent.

Sir Malcolm Rifkind, chairman of the Parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee, refuses to rule out the possibility that British national security has been breached by the death.

He said: “Reassurance can only be given if it’s based on some new information, and only those who have the skills and the responsibility to carry out such an investigation can take that forward. There have been exhaustive inquiries but they have been unable to reach a conclusion.”

North Wales-born Williams’s parents, Ian and Ellen, hope more will be revealed when a full inquest is opened next month.

They have been told by MI6 chiefs not to talk about his death, while police and security officers have also remained tight-lipped – fuelling speculation the British establishment does not want to reveal what happened to one of its most valued agents.

It was 4.40pm on August 23, 2010, when his naked, contorted body was found by police, zipped and padlocked in a red, 140-litre-capacity North Face hold-all in the bath of his top-floor apartment owned by MI6.

There were no signs of a struggle within flat 4, Alderney Street, Pimlico, less than a mile away from MI6’s HQ, across Vauxhall Bridge.

The key to the bag’s Yale lock was in the hold-all and police said forensic tests showed at least one other person was involved but have not been able to prove it was murder and do not think he killed himself.

Williams, a 9st cycling enthusiast, had not showed up at work for days when an officer went to the flat. Police said he probably died eight days earlier – just weeks after a man and woman of Mediterranean appearance had called at his flat.

Mystery also surrounds a break-in at the flat in the months before – while more twists and turns in the story led to lurid tales about his private life.

One claimed he was a transvestite who police thought may have been murdered by a gay lover.

And the most extreme claim was that he may have died in an auto-erotic asphyxiation sex game gone wrong.

Police also revealed he had £15,000 worth of unworn women’s designer clothing, shoes and wigs in his flat, but his friends believe many of these stories were planted to cloud the investigation.

Crispin Black, an intelligence analyst and former adviser to the Government, says the most likely explanation is that Williams was murdered.

“The thing has a professional air – it’s neat, it’s tidy, it’s organised,” he said.

“A bath is where you put things if you don’t want any forensic residue to be left behind – because you know where the body’s been and you can clear up after it.”

The fact the body was found locked in a holdall, with the key inside, provides the strongest indication he was executed by a foreign death squad.

Investigators believe the team were so expert at their deadly trade, they left no obvious signs of the cause of death.

A security source said: “This has all the hallmarks of a state-sponsored assassination. If you’ve got a problem with your codes being broken, the only solution is to remove the codebreaker.

"They’re incredibly hard to replace because they are recruited for having the sharpest mathematical brains.

"There’s always suspicion about the Russians because in many ways the Cold War never completely ended.”

The possibility of a British intelligence mole has to be a huge worry for national security.

Professor Anthony Glees, director of security and intelligence studies at the independent University of Buckingham, said: “Sir Malcolm himself says he could not give the public reassurance that national security had not been breached by Gareth Williams’s death.

"I think we need an answer, especially in light of the fact that this year, with the Olympics and Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, we are clearly a target.

“It’s a possibility that there is a spy and that someone betrayed Gareth Williams.

"It’s by no means unthinkable he was targeted by intelligence officials from other countries who believed he was targeting them.”

The police have not spoken publicly about the death for a year.

And Williams family friend Trefor Lloyd Hughes, 64, said: “I have no doubt some higher influences will be involved here which may stop certain information from getting through, but the family need peace.”

Even before his secondment to MI6, his work in signals intelligence at GCHQ would have put him on the front line in the international cyber war, helping to combat insurgent bombers in Iraq and Afghanistan. Codebreakers, phone and radio interceptors and internet experts fight the triple threat of terrorism, espionage and organised crime.

At Williams’s funeral at the windswept Bethel Chapel in Holyhead, Anglesey, his family were consoled by MI6 chief Sir John Sawyers, who said: “Gareth did really valuable work with us in the cause of national security.”

Back in Anglesey, those who knew Gareth Williams would no doubt like to know if it was that cause which he ended up giving his life for.

BBC : Gareth Williams MI6 death: police inquiry questioned

Gareth Williams MI6 death: police inquiry questioned

By Iolo ap Dafydd | BBC Wales correspondent | April 5, 2011

A close friend of MI6 worker Gareth Williams whose body was found in a locked bag in a bath has questioned suggestions his death was linked to his private life.

The body of the code-breaker, from Holyhead on Anglesey, was found in his London flat in August.

Police revealed he had £15,000 of designer women's clothes in the flat.

But Sian Lloyd-Jones denies speculation he was gay and wants police to broaden their inquiry.

Detectives say the key to the mystery lies in Mr Williams' private life.

Press speculation has centred on him dying during a "bizarre sex game gone wrong".

That speculation was fuelled last December when police revealed Mr Williams had the women's clothes and that he had visited a drag show at a cabaret club; that he was allegedly seen at a gay bar; and that had "limited" access to bondage sites on his mobile.

But an investigation by BBC Wales raises questions about the police investigation, and asks if the key to his death really does lie in his private life.

His close friend Sian Lloyd-Jones, told Week In Week Out: "I think it's really important here for everything to be investigated - absolutely everything. I think it's about time now that the investigation is broadened.

"I feel the police did wrong around Christmas time when they released information about the clothing, but didn't reveal that there was £10,000 of mountaineering equipment as well."

Ms Lloyd-Jones denies suggestions Mr Williams was gay or a cross-dresser, saying the women's clothes were too small for him, and were probably intended for her, or his sister, Ceri.

"The things that have been in the papers have been so hurtful. To read what has been written about him has completely broken my heart, and I know it would have broken Gareth's as well," she said.

Police still don't know how Mr Williams died, and are calling his death "unexplained and suspicious".

But Crispin Black, an intelligence analyst and former advisor to the government, says the most likely explanation is that Mr Williams was murdered.

"The thing has a professional air: it's neat, it's tidy, it's organised," he said.

"A bath is where you put things if you don't want any forensic residue to be left behind. Because you know where the body's been and you can clear up after it."

Mr Black also questions the ability of the investigating police to do their job properly.

Murder squad detectives have to interview Mr Williams's former colleagues at the Secret Intelligence Service (also known as MI6) and GCHQ, the agency in Cheltenham which provides intelligence and information for the government through another team of officers from counter-terrorism.

"One of the weaknesses of the investigation, is the murder squad are interviewing friends, or colleagues, at one remove," said Mr Black.

"Interrogation, even of completely innocent people, relies on nuance, checking the story over and over again, and eye contact.

"That's how policemen decide if you're telling the truth, or not. Even if interviewing colleagues to rule them out, it should be done by the people in charge of the investigation - not somebody else,."

Week In Week Out has also uncovered new information relating to a mystery couple detectives want to find.

Police are still trying to trace a couple of "Mediterranean appearance" who visited Mr Williams' London flat a month or two before his death and had a key to the property.

The Metropolitan Police wasn't prepared to discuss that but insists it's looked into all aspects of his life, and has received full co-operation from the intelligence agencies.

As yet there's still no date set for an inquest, when the full circumstances of Gareth Williams death may eventually be explained.

Daily Mail : Body-in-bag spy's teacher says lurid police claims about his private life were a 'decoy'

Body-in-bag spy's teacher says lurid police claims about his private life were a 'decoy'

By Abul Taher | January 23, 2011

A former tutor of the MI6 spy found dead in a padlocked sports bag has claimed that lurid allegations about his private life were a ‘decoy’.

Cheryl Eastap said suggestions from anonymous police and security sources that Gareth Williams was gay and a cross-dresser – denied by his family and friends – were ‘hurtful’.

And she hinted that the leaks may have been made to make it appear that his death was an accident rather than something more sinister.

Ms Eastap taught the 31-year-old GCHQ code-breaker at Central St Martin’s College in London, where he completed a part-time course in clothing design weeks before his body was found at his flat.

‘The police should not have leaked all these things about him. It was hurtful to his family and it was a decoy. I don’t think he was gay or a cross-dresser. Maybe he collected dresses – fashion students do,’ she said, referring to the fact that £15,000 of designer costumes were found in Williams’s Central London flat.

Ms Eastap said Williams did not need the outfits for her course. ‘Students have to buy their own materials, but the dresses they found in his flat had nothing to do with my course. He did not need them.’

Although Williams’s body was found five months ago, no one has been arrested over his death or questioned as a suspect, despite a high-profile investigation by Scotland Yard, with the assistance of MI5 and MI6.

In the days after Williams’s body was discovered, lurid reports appeared quoting unnamed sources which alleged he was a secret homosexual who visited the capital’s gay bars.

The sources said bondage equipment was found in his Pimlico flat as well as telephone numbers for gay escorts. The claims were later officially denied by the Metropolitan Police.

But last month police revealed that they had found women’s clothing and wigs at his flat. They added that Williams visited bondage websites and had a ticket for a drag comedy night.

Last month The Mail on Sunday interviewed Williams’s childhood sweetheart Sian Lloyd-Jones, 33, who said Williams usually bought expensive dresses for her and his younger sister, Ceri.

Miss Lloyd-Jones said the dresses could not have been for Williams as they were too small for him, and that he would have told her or his sister if he was gay.

Ms Eastap also dismissed news¬paper reports last week that Williams might have locked himself in the North Face holdall as some kind of ‘homework’ for her course, which was exploring confined spaces.

A Scotland Yard spokesman declined to comment on whether the leaks came from police, MI5 or MI6. He added: ‘The investigation is ongoing.’

Mirror : MI6 spy death could be bizarre art course accident

MI6 spy death could be bizarre art course accident

By Susie Boniface, Sunday Mirror | January 16, 2011

MI6 spy Gareth Williams – whose body was found naked in a padlocked bag – may have died while taking part in a bizarre experiment for an art project.

Police now believe the codebreaker could have accidentally killed himself while doing research for a part-time art and fashion course after being set an assignment entitled Living Spaces.

In the weeks before his death it is feared he was trying to push the ­boundaries by existing in a confined space.

The development would come as a comfort to Gareth’s family, who have endured months of speculation that he was secretly gay, indulged in bizarre sex games and was a cross-dresser.

The superfit maths genius, 31, had joined a weekend class at prestigious Central St Martin’s College in London to learn about clothes design.

Gareth’s body lay undiscovered for more than a week in a padlocked North Face holdall in the bath of an MI6 safe house in Pimlico, central London, where he was living.

It has now emerged that, in marked contrast to his work in the staid world of the secret services, he paid £695 to enrol on a part-time course run by ­lecturer and designer Cheryl Eastap called Fashion Design for Beginners.

Every Saturday he cycled or took the Tube three stops to join 17 other students from 10am to 4pm on the intensive 10-week course.

The college’s list of illustrious ­graduates reads like a Who’s Who of British art and fashion including punk maverick Malcolm McLaren, designers ­Alexander McQueen, John Galliano and Stella McCartney, whose clothes Gareth collected.

Gareth also enrolled on an arts evening class as part of a secret life away from ­being a spy.

The macabre discovery of his body prompted a massive police inquiry in which murder or ­manslaughter were two prominent theories.

But officers are now working on the basis that the death was a bizarre ­accident NOT related to a sex game – and was not foul play.

A source close to the investigation said: “Gareth was exceptionally ­talented at what he did and took it very ­seriously. Alongside cycling, fashion and art was a big obsession of his.

“It was typical of Gareth to throw everything he had into a project so certainly one avenue we are now ­looking at is whether he was experimenting with his art work. It would make a lot of sense.

“We’re still looking at whether anyone else was there at the time of his death and continue to appeal for more ­information, but it is looking more like a tragic, freak accident than a ­murder.”

The spy’s death posed awkward ­problems for police because his body had no sign of injury and post-mortems found no cause of death.

His blood was checked for poisons and he was even checked for exposure to radioactive elements such as ­Polonium-210, which was used to ­assassinate former Russian spy ­Alexander Litvinenko.

Gareth, from Holyhead, Anglesey, had been living at the £1million flat while on secondment to MI6.

He was working on encrypted ­computer systems used to analyse ­international intelligence on suspects ranging from al-Qaeda to cyber-terrorists attacking the banking system. As they investigated his death, ­detectives searched his belongings and found £15,000 of untouched women’s ­designer clothes and shoes, still in their wrapping, from high-end labels including Diane von Fürstenberg, Christian Louboutin and Stella McCartney.

His laptop computer had been used to access websites linked to bondage ­practices and there were unfounded reports that £18,000 had gone missing.

A man and woman of “Mediterranean appearance” were also hunted after being seen entering the building but have never been found, causing some to suggest they were either agents of a foreign power sent to kill Gareth or involved in sex games with him.

It was discovered that it was possible for someone of Gareth’s size and trim build to climb into the bag and padlock the zip shut from inside.

The source said the laptop, on which Gareth stored his coursework, led them to quiz his college tutor Cheryl Eastap about the module she was teaching and whether her pupil might have gone beyond the boundaries of what was expected. It hasn’t been suggested Ms Eastap instructed her students to take part in any dangerous experiments.

The police source added: “It’s most likely he was using the dresses as part of his studies, rather than being a cross-dresser. He had also visited websites linked to bondage although he may have simply been looking up ways to lock himself up and then unlock himself.”

One of the fellow pupils on Gareth’s course said the spy was not known to be gay and had a series of girlfriends.The student added: “Gareth was ­passionate about clothes and everyone assumed this is what he wanted to do as a career.

“No-one knew he was a spy or ­working for MI6 but he was very polite and quiet. He was extremely clever, good at what he was doing and had clearly ­researched his subject.

“The police came to the college and took all the work he had produced for the course and any projects he was involved in.”

The brochure for the course says: “We will cover the basics of fashion design including inspiration, ­research, developing your ideas, figure illustration and portfolio preparation.”

Ms Eastap confirmed she had been questioned by police over the ­possible links between his death and a project called Living Spaces.

However, she insisted the death must have been caused by ­something, or someone, else.

She said: “The police did come to see me. The idea that his death and his work on the course was linked is a crazy idea that the police dreamed up. They said it might relate to it but I can’t see how it relates at all.”

Last month Sian Lloyd-Jones, Gareth’s childhood sweetheart and best friend, said he often bought her designer clothes and that all those found in his flat were a size 6 or 8. They would not have fitted him but may have been intended for her or his ­sister.

She added: “He was really open with his friends and family about his ­personal life and I truly believe if he had any interest in homosexuality he would have spoken to his sister and to me as well.

“I’m not in denial and nor are ­Gareth’s mum, dad or sister. It would have been fine if he was but he had too much ­interest in women.”

s.boniface@sundaymirror.co.uk

This Is Gloucestershire : Dead spy 'had been learning a new identity'

Dead spy 'had been learning a new identity'

December 28, 2010

GCHQ spy Gareth Williams was training to take on a new identity eight months before he was found dead, it has emerged.

And a close friend has insisted the Cheltenham man was not gay after detectives suggested he may have died at the hands of a mystery bondage sex partner he met on London's gay scene.

Sian Lloyd-Jones, 33, told the Mail on Sunday that before he died, Mr Williams was studying for a new identity as he visited her central London flat.

She said: "He said he was learning his new identity. It was all so relaxed."

And she said Dr Williams was a straight man who was looking for a girlfriend.

She said: "He was open with his family and, if he was gay and had any temptations, he would have spoken about them."

Dr Williams, 31, was on secondment at MI6 from GCHQ in Cheltenham when he was found dead in a padlocked holdall in his flat in London four months ago. He had worked in Cheltenham for 10 years and rented a flat in Bouncers Lane.

Police have said it would have been impossible for the dead man to lock himself in the holdall where his naked body was found.

The death has sparked a frenzy of speculation after postmortem tests and a police inquiry failed to determine how he died.

Sun : Spy in a bag set for 'MI6 mission'

Spy in a bag set for 'MI6 mission'

By MIKE SULLIVAN, Crime Editor | December 27, 2010

THE codebreaker found dead in a sports bag was being prepared for an undercover assignment by MI6, it was claimed yesterday.

Gareth Williams - on attachment to the secret service from GCHQ - had two passports and had been given a new identity, a close pal said.

Fashion stylist Sian Lloyd-Jones insisted Mr Williams was not gay.

She refuted police suggestions the 31-year-old died after a bizarre sex game - which involved him being locked in the bag by another person - went wrong.

And she insisted 15,000-worth of unopened designer dresses and shoes found at his flat in Pimlico, central London, were intended as gifts for her and his sister Ceri.

Ms Lloyd-Jones, 33 - a friend of the maths genius since they were at school together in North Wales - said: "He was so generous you wouldn't believe."

Referring to the gay hints, she added: "I'm not in denial and nor is his mum, dad or sister.

"I truly believe if he had any interest in homosexuality he would have spoken to his sister and to me as well."

Mr Williams accessed five bondage websites before he died, several featuring claustrophilia, in which people are aroused by confined spaces. And cops remain convinced his death was connected to his sex life.

A source said: "Ms Lloyd-Jones' comments appear designed to salvage the reputation of her friend Mr Williams.

"They also tend to suggest the motive for his death could have something to do with his professional life. We do not believe that is the case."

Independent : Dead MI6 spy 'was to assume new identity'

Dead MI6 spy 'was to assume new identity'

By Chris Corbishley | December 27, 2010

The MI6 spy Gareth Williams was training to take on a new identity eight months before he was found dead, a friend claimed yesterday. Sian Lloyd-Jones, 33, also insisted that he was not gay, after detectives had suggested the 31-year-old may have died at the hands of a mystery bondage sex partner.

Ms Lloyd-Jones told The Mail on Sunday: "He said he was learning his new identity... [One] night he came over with his box file and started going through it. He had two passports." Police have said it would have been impossible for Williams to lock himself in the holdall in which he was found dead in his flat in Pimlico in August.

Evidence indicates other people were in his flat, but detectives have been unable to trace them. An inquest will be held at Westminster Coroner's Court on 15 February.

UKPA : Friend: Suitcase death spy was not gay

Friend: Suitcase death spy was not gay

UKPA | December 26, 2010

MI6 spy Gareth Williams was training to take on a new identity eight months before he was found dead, it has been reported.

And a close friend also insisted he was not gay after detectives suggested the 31-year-old may have died at the hands of a mystery bondage sex partner he met on London's gay scene.

Sian Lloyd-Jones, 33, told the Mail on Sunday that before he died, Mr Williams was studying for a new identity as he visited her central London flat.

She said: "He said he was learning his new identity. It was all so relaxed.

"He often came round with his work. That night he came over with his box file and started going through it. He had two passports."

And she said Mr Williams was a straight man who was looking for a girlfriend.

She said: "He was open with his family, and if he was gay and had any temptations he would have spoken about them, especially to his sister.

"Hand on heart, there were no innuendos about him."

She added: "He cherished the time he had with his sister and with me and he wanted that with other girls."

Police have said it would have been impossible for the dead man to lock himself in the holdall where his naked body was found.

Copyright © 2010 The Press Association. All rights reserved.

Express : WAS MI6 GENIUS KILLED BY COUPLE SPYING ON HIM?

WAS MI6 GENIUS KILLED BY COUPLE SPYING ON HIM?

Detectives believe Gareth Williams was not alone in his flat when he died.

By James Murray | December 26, 2010

MI6 codebreaker Gareth Williams may have been murdered because he was becoming suspicious of a ­mystery couple befriending him.

Spy chiefs have been forced to ­consider the theory that the young, Mediterranean-looking couple seen at his home weeks before he died could have been foreign agents targeting him because of his superb encryption skills.

They are considering the possibility that Williams, whose naked body was found locked in a bag in his bath, was under surveillance because he was living at an address known to be used by security ­service staff in Alderney Street, Pimlico, central London.

Experienced foreign agents would have quickly built up a ­profile of the 31-year-old keen club cyclist’s double life and then worked on a plan to get close to him by exploiting his weaknesses: drag cabaret, gay bars and expensive women’s clothing and wigs. They could have befriended him by striking up conversation in one of his regular haunts.

Their approach would have been ­tailored to appeal to his fantasies. Once they had gained his confidence, they would have tried to see what secrets they could get from him.

If the couple were foreign agents trying to unearth secrets, they would have kept the relationship going for as long as ­possible. Williams may have been murdered because he started to question his new friends and they, in turn, feared being unmasked as spies.

A security source said: “With more details emerging it is obvious to see why his bosses at MI6 and GCHQ are asking more and more questions about this couple.

“If they had an innocent relationship with him and perhaps shared some of his private interests then you think they would have come forward by now just to clear themselves.

“Experienced spies would not leave a trail, which could explain why the police are seemingly banging their heads against the wall.”

Police are trying to find out who ­Williams was socialising with and want to hear from ­anyone who was at the ­Bistrotheque in London’s East End on August 13, 10 days before he died. He bought two ­tickets for two other shows at the same venue, which suggests he may have struck up friendships there.

They also want to speak to anyone who saw him at the Barcode gay bar in Vauxhall, south London, in May, when there was an unconfirmed sighting of him. Inquiries are also ­continuing at the Central St Martins College in Clerkenwell, where he had enrolled on a fashion course.

Williams’s wardrobe contained £15,000 worth of women’s designer clothes, including shoes by Christian Louboutin and items by Stella McCartney and Christopher Kane. Police want to know where he bought the clothes and why.

The mystery woman who went to his flat with a man one evening in June or July could have bought or worn some of the clothes.

Detectives believe Mr Williams was not alone in his flat when he died.

On August 23 he was found naked in a zipped and padlocked red North Face holdall which was in an empty bath in the en‑suite bathroom. The keys to the bag were under his body inside the bag.

Detective Chief Superintendent ­Hamish Campbell said: “We are very sure someone else was in the flat so we need to know the circumstances where you leave someone in that ­position by accident or design. It is unexplained and suspicious.”

There were no traces of drugs, ­alcohol or poisons in his body. An inquest will be held at Westminister Coroner’s Court in February.

France 24 : Dead spy was in training for new identity: report

Dead spy was in training for new identity: report

December 26, 2010

AFP - A British spy whose body was found padlocked inside a bag at his London flat in August had been training to take on a new identity in the months leading up to his death, a newspaper reported Sunday.

A close friend of Gareth Williams, 31, a codebreaker for Britain's foreign intelligence service MI6, also told the Mail on Sunday paper he was not homosexual and wanted a girlfriend.

Police have suggested his death was linked to London's gay or bondage scene and thousands of pounds worth of women's clothing was found in his flat following his death.

"He said he was learning his new identity," said Sian Lloyd-Jones, 33, a close childhood friend from Wales, referring to an evening earlier this year when Williams paid her a visit.

"He often came round with his work. That night he came over with his box file and started going through it. He had two passports."

Speculation over how the intelligence agent met his mysterious death had been shifting away from his work and towards the idea it was linked to his private life.

Earlier this week, police said investigators believed someone involved in the bondage or gay scene had "linked in" with Williams.

London's Metropolitan Police revealed Williams had been logging onto bondage websites and had visited a drag cabaret in the British capital four days before his death.

But fashion stylist Lloyd-Jones, dismissed suggestions he was homosexual and said the 15,000 pounds worth of unworn designer clothes were likely a gift for her and the spy's sister, Ceri.

"I truly believe if he had any interest in homosexuality, he would have spoken to his sister and to me as well," she said.

"It would have been fine if he was but he had too much interest in women. He wanted a girlfriend and he wanted a wife and family."

On the stash of clothes, she said: "I truly believe that Ceri and I were going to receive the clothing. He was so generous you wouldn?t believe."

Police have said that an expert who examined the red North Face bag in which Williams's naked body was found on August 23 had concluded that he could not have locked it himself. The keys were found inside the bag.

Police said on Wednesday they were trying to trace a couple of Mediterranean appearance known to have visited his flat in late June or July.

Williams was last seen alive around a week before his body was discovered.

He died just days before completing a one-year secondment to MI6 from GCHQ, Britain's electronic "listening post" which monitors communications for intelligence purposes, located in Cheltenham.

Sky Valley Chronicle : BRITISH POLICE SEARCH FOR MYSTERIOUS COUPLE

BRITISH POLICE SEARCH FOR MYSTERIOUS COUPLE

As bondage websites may hold key to spy’s death

December 23, 2010

(INTERNATIONAL) -- In a strange set of circumstances that read like a pulp fiction spy novel, London police detectives believe the mysterious death of spy Gareth Williams may be solved by gaining more information about his private life after they earlier revealed he had visited bondage websites and a drag club and had £15,000 worth of unworn designer women’s wear in his wardrobe.

Williams's decomposed body was discovered in a padlocked satchel in his apartment, which is less than a mile from MI6 headquarters in London where he was a senior analyst.

Police think he had died a week earlier in the early hours of August 16th.

They also believe someone else was present at his death although they say tests show no signs of a struggle or forced entry into the apartment and no sign that he was drugged.

So far police have released the following information about the spy’s death.

• Williams used his smartphone to visit websites on bondage (and escape from bondage) in the months before his death.

• He had been padlocked into the satchel by someone else as police say it was impossible for him to have locked himself inside.

• Once padlocked in the bag, with the keys inside, he could only have survived for about 30 minutes before suffocating.

• Police are trying to locate a mysterious couple, a man and woman of Mediterranean appearance, who visited his block and claimed to have a key to his apartment weeks before Williams's death.

• Just four days before he died, Williams went to a drag club in east London to see an act called Jimmy Woo, and had tickets for two similar performances at a pub close to MI6 headquarters.

• A witness told police that Williams had been seen at a gay bar in Vauxhall months before his death.

When Williams's decomposing body was found August 23rd police also discovered £15,000 of unworn women's designer clothing, wigs and shoes in his closet.

It is now believed Williams had been leading a secret life of a gay man in his off hours unknown to family, friends or coworkers.

The high fashion women’s clothing found in the apartment was in original boxes or wrapping paper and appeared unworn.

Williams had enrolled in two fashion design courses in London in 2009 and 2010.

Scottish Daily Record : Revealed: MI6 spy found dead in a holdall loved bondage and had £15k hoard of women's designer clothes

Revealed: MI6 spy found dead in a holdall loved bondage and had £15k hoard of women's designer clothes

By Jon Clements | December 23, 2010

THE MI6 spy found dead in a padlocked bag lived a double life - spending £15,000 on women's clothes and visiting bondage websites.

Codebreaker Gareth Williams, a 31-year-old maths genius, owned Stella McCartney dresses, tops by Christopher Kane and Christian Louboutin shoes.

There is no evidence that Williams wore the clothes or some wigs he had bought - but he hid his interest in women's clothing from spy chiefs at the Government listening post GCHQ.

Detectives have found out that while tracking al-Qaeda suspects and countering Chinese hackers, Williams took two evening courses in ladies' fashion.

Drag Yesterday, police issued e-fits of a Mediterranean couple suspected of having a key to Williams's flat.

They revealed Williams visited bondage websites and researched tying himself up and escapology.

He also watched drag queen Jimmy Woo at east London bar Bistrotheque three days before he died and bought tickets for other acts at the gay pub.

But he is not known to have had any sexual partners and there is no evidence that he was gay.

Scotland Yard detectives believe Williams died in a sex game which went wrong when both keys to the padlock were left inside the bag. Officers released the details with the consent of the spy's grief-stricken family as part of a new appeal for information.

Detective Chief Super-intendent Hamish Campbell said: "We are trying to say if his death is a direct result of what we have seen on the internet, bondage sites, escape - that is not a wide community.

"This is trying to set out the plain facts, unpalatable as they are, embarrassing as they are, to someone in that world. It may be they meet on the net or at Bistrotheque and maybe someone came back to the flat with him."

Williams is believed to have died early on August 16 - a week before his body was found naked inside a waterproof North Face duffel bag. He was lying on his back with his legs bent under him and hands on his chest.

Dcs Campbell said: "We are very assured someone else was in the flat so we need to know the circumstances where you leave someone in that position.

"It is unexplained and suspicious."

Herald Scotland : Plea to gay community for help in explaining spy’s death

Plea to gay community for help in explaining spy’s death

Chris Greenwood | December 23, 2010

Mystery death spy Gareth Williams visited a series of bondage websites in the months before his bizarre death, police have revealed.

The MI6 codebreaker, whose naked, decomposing body was found in a padlocked holdall with the keys inside in the bath of his central London flat four months ago, had viewed sites showing people bound and tied. They included do-it-yourself guides to the fetish.

Police also found a £15,000 collection of unworn women’s designer clothing including tops, dresses and shoes in his wardrobe and revealed Mr Williams, 31, had visited a drag cabaret in east London four days before his death and held tickets to two more such events.

Detective Chief Inspector Jackie Sebire, who is leading the inquiry that has been delving into the life of the intensely private man, yesterday said she remained convinced someone else helped put him in the bag.

She told a news conference that a witness had seen him at a gay bar several months before his death, but police did not know for certain if he was gay.

She added that police believe they will get to the bottom of the spy’s death.

She said: “We remain completely open-minded about how he died. We are appealing today to someone who is out there to come forward and tell us more.”

The Government Communications Headquarters intelligence officer had been on a year-long secondment to the spy agency from the Government’s eavesdropping headquarters in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, which was due to end days after he was found dead on August 23.

He was discovered by police after he was reported missing. The discovery immediately sparked lurid speculation that included unfounded media reports he may have targeted by people with links to al Qaeda and the Taliban. Theories were put forward that he was killed by those who wanted to steal state secrets.

However, there were also a suggestion from the outset that he died following a sex game that had gone wrong and police have been concentrating on this line of inquiry.

No evidence of drugs, alcohol or poisons were found during a battery of tests conducted by toxicologists, said Ms Sebire, who also revealed police have forensic evidence that other people whom they have been unable to trace were in the flat.

Mr Williams, of Anglesey, North Wales, was last seen alive on August 15, eight days before he was found dead in the £400,000 property.

Mrs Sebire said the six boxes of unworn designer clothing found in a wardrobe included pieces by Stella McCartney, Christopher Kane and Christian Louboutin that had been bought at London boutiques and online.

She said the clothing was in various sizes, all small, and a number of women’s wigs were also found. The items had not been worn or hung up, the buttons were done up and items were still wrapped in paper.

However, Ms Sebire said Mr Williams attended two fashion design courses at Central St Martins College in the capital. His employers did not know he had taken part in or that he was interested in fashion.

She said it was a possibility the clothing purchases were linked to the diploma courses for beginners, which Mr Williams had passed.

Ms Sebire said analysis of Mr Williams’s phones and laptops revealed he visited no more than five bondage websites and had spent between 30 minutes and an hour on the sites from the end of last year until July, shortly before his death on August 16.

However, he did not appear “obsessed” with the subject and no other pornography was found in Alderney Street, she added.

She continued: “The sites primarily feature women and there are guides on how to do certain things.”

On the dead man’s sexuality, the lead officer said: “We do not have any evidence to suggest that he was gay. We have not spoken to any past or present sexual partner, whether male or female.

“We know he was intensely private, and however difficult this might be for someone who has had any interaction with Gareth, it would really help us if they came forward so we know if that side of his life had any relevance to his death.”

Mr Williams attended Bistroteque in the east end of London on Friday August 13. Police said the restaurant, bar and theatre venue hosted Jimmy Woo, a drag cabaret act, that night and the spy went alone.

Others who were at the event have told police Mr Williams chatted amicably with some of the audience.

Mr Williams, who lived alone, also held tickets for drag shows that took place after his death.

Detective Chief Superintendent Hamish Campbell said police hope that revealing some details of Mr Williams’ private life may encourage people to come forward.

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

Mr Campbell added that investigators were sure someone else involved with the bondage or gay scene had “linked in” with Mr Williams.

He said: “We are very sure that someone else was in that flat. We want to know the circumstances when you would leave somebody in that position, by accident or design. Maybe, by explaining to the public, someone will think: ‘I get it and I can explain.”

Visiting pair are sought by detectives

MI6 spy Gareth Williams may have died at the hands of a mystery bondage sex partner he met on London’s gay scene, detectives have suggested.

Police have released two e-fits of a couple who they said they were visiting Mr Williams’s home in late June or July. The casually dressed Mediterranean couple, in their twenties, were buzzed through the communal entrance by another resident at the property in Pimlico.

They suggested they had been given a key by “Pierre Palo” and were on their way to flat four.

Detective Chief Inspector Jackie Sebire said that an expert brought in to examine the red North Face holdall in which Mr Williams was found concluded he could not have locked it himself. The zip was held shut by a common travel-style Yale padlock through holes in two zip fasteners.

Tests found the temperature inside the bag would have risen to 30°C within three minutes. An expert on survivability in confined spaces from the National Policing Improvement Agency said he would have suffocated in 30 minutes.

She said Mr Williams probably died in the early hours of August 16, a week before he was found, and there was no sign of injury apart from bruising to his elbows, which might have occurred some time before his death.

Speaking about how Mr Williams ended up in the bag, Mrs Sebire said an expert found it was “quite easy” to fit someone inside. She said: “If he was alive, he got into it voluntarily or, if not, he was unconscious and placed in the bag.

“There is forensic evidence that indicates the presence of other people that we have not been able to eliminate yet.”

Mrs Sebire said there was no evidence Mr Williams was suicidal and no signs of forced entry at the flat. None of his possessions were laid out in a “ritualistic” manner, she added.

Mr Williams had a laptop and four mobile phones, including at least one pay-as-you go handset. The death remains suspicious and unexplained and no conclusive cause of death has been found. An inquest will be held at Westminster Coroner’s Court on February 15.

Express : BONDAGE GAMES CLUE TO SPY GARETH WILLIAMS DEATH

BONDAGE GAMES CLUE TO SPY GARETH WILLIAMS DEATH

by John Twomey | December 23, 2010

SPY Gareth Williams led a secret double life as a women’s fashion designer and visited bondage websites shortly before he died, police revealed yesterday.

The MI6 codebreaker passed two courses in fashion design at a prestige college and had a collection of women’s designer clothes and shoes worth £15,000.

Much of the clothing was still in boxes and none had been worn, Scotland Yard said. He had also bought women’s wigs.

Mr Williams, 31, was found dead inside a zipped and padlocked sports holdall in his top floor flat in Pimlico, London, on August 23. He is believed to have died on August 16.

Despite the female clothing and the occasional visits to gay bars, police have found no evidence that he was homosexual.

But they have discovered Mr Williams had an interest in bondage.

Checks on his personal laptop computer and his four mobile phones have revealed he occasionally logged on to bondage websites.

Mr Williams was found naked. The padlock keys were inside the red North Face bag, which was in the bath.

Detectives are certain that someone else was with Mr Williams when he got into the bag.

It is impossible to zip up and lock the holdall from the inside, or to escape without help.

Detective Chief Inspector Jacqueline Sebire said: “We want that person to come forward and talk to us.”

Police are still trying to trace a young Mediterranean couple who called at Mr Williams’s flat in the weeks before his death and yesterday they released e-fits of the pair.

The pair were let into the communal hallway and said they had a key to the spy’s flat.

It is not known whether Mr Williams was in at the time – or even if they went inside.

The couple, said to be in their 20s, spoke to a neighbour and said they had got the key from someone called “Pier Paulo.”

Neither Mr Williams’s fashion design studies or his fetish for bondage was known to his MI6 spymasters or his family.

The exact cause of death is still unknown, although suffocation is the most likely explanation.

An expert in confined spaces, who was locked inside a similar bag, found the temperature soared to 30C in three minutes.

After half-an-hour, the oxygen level in the bag, which is made of thick, weatherproof material, became dangerously low. DCI Sebire said: “Expert evidence is that it is not possible to lock yourself inside without assistance, or unlock yourself once you’re in the bag.”

Speaking about the website visits, DCI Sebire said: “It was very limited sections of time. It is not like continual browsing.

“It was not every evening or weekend. The sites primarily feature women.”

Mr Williams, who worked for the government listening post GCHQ and was on secondment to MI6, studied fashion design at Central St Martins College in London.

He was awarded diplomas after passing beginners’ courses this year and last year.

Police have spoken to fellow students, but want to hear from anyone who knew him at college or through his interest in fashion. They also want to speak to anyone who met Williams when he visited a drag queen cabaret at the Bistrotheque in Bethnal Green, east London, on August 13.

He had tickets for similar shows at a gay pub in Vauxhall, south London, for dates after his death.

DCI Sebire said: “We do not have any evidence to suggest that he was gay.

“We have not spoken to any past or present sexual partner, whether male or female.

“We know he was intensely private, and however difficult this might be for someone who has had any interaction with Gareth, it would really help us if they came forward so we know if that side of his life had any relevance to his death.”

Anyone with information should call the incident room on 020 8358 0200.

Callers who wish to remain anonymous can ring Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Sun : Dresspionage: MI6 spy found dead in bag had 15,000 of dresses and shoes at his flat

Dresspionage: MI6 spy found dead in bag had 15,000 of dresses and shoes at his flat

By MIKE SULLIVAN | December 23, 2010

THE spy found dead in a bag at his flat had 15,000 worth of women's designer dresses and shoes, cops said yesterday.

MI6 code breaker Gareth Williams, 31, had also been using a string of bondage websites.

Some featured claustrophilia, in which confined spaces are used to get sexual kicks.

Mr Williams is thought to have died after a kinky game went wrong with a mystery partner.

Police yesterday appealed for the unknown person to come forward.

They also released an e-fit of a couple of Mediterranean appearance who visited the spook late at night a few weeks before he died.

The posh clothing - produced by fashion stars including Stella McCartney, Christopher Kane and Christian Louboutin - was inside six boxes.

The garments - all unused - were in small sizes but could have been worn by fitness enthusiast and cyclist Mr Williams, who was 5ft 8in and weighed just over 9st.

Det Chief Insp Jackie Sebire revealed that several wigs were also at the flat.

She said: "The items of clothing by select designers were purchased online and also in West End stores and boutiques.

"We would like to hear from anyone who may have served him to assist in helping us establish what the clothing was for.

"The clothing was all unopened and packed in boxes but we have evidence he bought them."

Ms Sebire added: "We know more than one person was in the flat at the time Gareth died and want them to come forward.

"There is no evidence that he was gay and we have not traced any past or present sexual partners."

Mr Williams's family, from Anglesey, North Wales, gave cops permission to reveal the information in an attempt to establish how he died.

The GCHQ worker, on a year-long attachment to MI6, was found dead in his flat in Pimlico, South West London, on August 23.

Investigators have discovered he attended a cabaret by drag queen Jimmy Woo at the Bistroteque, in Bethnal Green, East London, two nights before he died.

Tickets for two forthcoming drag queen concerts were found in his flat.

A witness claims they saw the maths genius in a gay haunt called Barcode in Vauxhall, South London, three months before he died.

Cops also found that at the end of last year Mr Williams began an eight-week fashion designing course at Central Saint Martins College, Clerkenwell, central London.

Daily Star : MI6 BAG SPY 'DIED IN EX GAMES WITH MYSTERY COUPLE'

MI6 BAG SPY 'DIED IN EX GAMES WITH MYSTERY COUPLE'

By Emma Wall | 23rd December 2010

POLICE are hunting this mystery couple in connection with the death of spy-in-a-bag Gareth Williams.

The e-fits released yesterday show the pair believed to have visited his flat in the weeks before he died.

M16 codebreaker Gareth was found locked in a holdall with the keys inside at his London flat in August.

Investigators believe someone else fastened the padlock on the bag, pictured right, before leaving him in the bath.

The 31-year-old visited a series of bondage websites in the months before he died. Several showed people bound and tied, and included do-it-yourself guides.

A £15,000 collection of unworn women’s designer clothing was also found stashed in his wardrobe.

Police said Gareth visited a drag cabaret four days before his death and held tickets to two more. A witness also claims he was spotted at a popular gay bar.

Detective Chief Inspector Jackie Sebire said she is convinced someone helped to put Gareth in the bag and believes the key to the mystery lies in his private life.

She said: “We are appealing today to someone who is out there to come forward and tell us more.”

GCHQ code-breaker Gareth, who had been on secondment to MI6, does not appear to have taken drugs or alcohol, nor does he appear to have been poisoned.

But forensic tests showed other people were in the flat. Police said the e-fit couple visited his home in late June or July.

The casually-dressed Mediterranean pair, in their 20s, were buzzed through the communal entrance by another resident.

Det Ch Supt Hamish Campbell said investigators were sure someone involved with the bondage or gay scene had “linked in” with Williams.

He said: “We are very sure that someone else was in that flat. We want to know the circumstances when you would leave somebody in that position, by accident or design.

“Maybe, by explaining to the public, someone will think: ‘I get it and I can explain.'”

DCI Sebire said police still did not know for certain that Gareth was gay and appealed for more information about his private life.

An inquest will be held at Westminster Coroner’s Court in February.

emma.wall@dailystar.co.uk

Daily Mail : Did MI6 spy found dead in zipped-up bag die in sex game with this couple? Police reveal agent liked drag clubs and bondage websites

Did MI6 spy found dead in zipped-up bag die in sex game with this couple? Police reveal agent liked drag clubs and bondage websites

By Daily Mail Reporter | December 23, 2010

* Lead detective convinced someone else was involved
* Police reveal e-fits of mystery couple who visited his flat
* £15,000 of designer women's clothes in wardrobe

Murder detectives investigating the death of an MI6 spy found naked in a padlocked bag have released e-fits of a couple they wish to question.

The life-like pictures show a man and woman, possibly of Mediterranean appearance, who were seen calling at the flat of 31-year-old codes expert Gareth Williams before his death on August 23.

Officers also released further intimate details about the dead man’s bizarre and secretive private life in the hope it will prompt someone who knew him to come forward.

Examination of his laptop computers and four mobile phones have revealed that Mr Williams had visited five bondage websites.

The sites – including one called Art of Constriction – were not pornographic but would give readers advice on how to get into confined spaces and escaping from them.

Mr Williams, who grew up in Holyhead on the Isle of Anglesey, had worked for government listening post GCHQ in Cheltenham for ten years but was on a year’s secondment to MI6 in London when he died.

He loved film, music and theatre and went to see a comedy drag act show a few nights before his death.

Officers also found tickets for more drag shows, at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern, a gay venue in Vauxhall close to MI6 headquarters, for the following weekend.

Intriguingly, he had also bought £15,000 worth of women’s designer clothes and shoes, including labels such as Stella McCartney and Christian Louboutin.

All were stored unopened in their bags and boxes in his flat. A number of women’s wigs were also found.

Who are they? Police released e-fits of a couple seen visiting Mr Williams' flat

Unbeknown to his family or work colleagues, Mr Williams – a child maths prodigy who had completed his A-levels by 13 and degree by 17 – had attended several fashion design courses for beginners.

The evening and weekend courses lasted six to eight weeks and the spy had earned diplomas from respected Central St Martin’s College of Art, London.

Officers have found no evidence to suggest Mr Williams was gay and have yet to discover any sexual partners, either male or female.

Detective Chief Superintendent Hamish Campbell, deputy head of Scotland Yard’s murder squad, said it had been a ‘difficult decision’ to disclose the private details and he was concerned about upsetting Mr Williams’s parents Ian and Ellen and his sister, Ceri.

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

Mr Campbell added that investigators were sure that someone else involved with the bondage or gay scene had ‘linked in’ with Mr ­Williams but police could not ‘find that trace’.

He said: ‘We are very sure that someone else was in that flat. We want to know the circumstances when you would leave somebody in that position, by accident or design.’

Police continue to describe the death as ‘suspicious and unexplained’.

One theory is that Mr Williams died in a sex game which went wrong, but so far officers have unearthed no other cases of people being locked in bags for sexual gratification.

They believe Mr Williams’s death is likely to be connected to his ­private life but cannot rule out that he might have been assassinated in connection with his work.

Detectives confirmed that the spy must have been padlocked in the large North Face holdall by one or more people and could not have locked himself in.

His naked body was found curled up on his back with his knees bent and hands on his chest. A set of keys for the Yale travel padlock were at the bottom of the bag, which was in his empty bath.

Police believe the bag belonged to Mr Williams, a cycling fanatic and keen mountain climber.

The couple in the e-fit pictures called at his flat in Alderney Street, Pimlico, London, at about 10pm one Friday or Saturday in late June or July.

They were let into the communal entrance by a neighbour. It is not known if Mr Williams was in at the time.

A post-mortem examination has been inconclusive and one possibility is that Mr Williams suffocated.

A police ‘confined spaces’ expert said the temperature inside the waterproof bag would have reached 86f (30c) within three minutes, making Mr Williams very woozy.

There would have been enough oxygen in the bag to sustain him for around half an hour, the expert said.

The inquest is due to be held on February 15.

Guardian : Couple sought as police say bondage websites could hold key to spy's death

Couple sought as police say bondage websites could hold key to spy's death

• Gareth Williams's death not linked to job say detectives
• Women's designer clothes found in dead man's flat

Vikram Dodd, crime correspondent | December 22, 2010

Senior detectives believe the mystery death of the spy Gareth Williams will be solved by getting an insight into his private life after they revealed he had visited bondage websites and a drag club and had £15,000-worth of unworn designer womenswear in his wardrobe.

Williams's decomposed body was discovered in a padlocked holdall in his flat, less than a mile from MI6 headquarters in London where he was a senior analyst.

Police believe he died a week earlier, in the early hours of 16 August, and that someone else was present. For months they have struggled to answer basic questions about the death. Tests have shown no signs of a struggle or forced entry into the flat, and no sign that he was drugged.

Yesterday, Scotland Yard's detectives gave their best account of Williams's death. They revealed:

• He used his iPhone to visit websites on bondage and escape from bondage in the months before his death.

• He must have been padlocked into the red North Face holdall by someone else as it was impossible for him to have locked himself inside.

• Once padlocked in the bag, with the keys inside, he could only have survived for 30 minutes before suffocating.

• Police are desperate to talk to a couple of Mediterranean appearance who visited his block and claimed to have a key to his flat weeks before Williams's death.

• Four days before his death, he went to a club called Bistrotheque in Bethnal Green, east London, to see an act called Jonny Woo, and had tickets for two similar performances at a pub in Vauxhall, close to MI6 headquarters.

• A witness told police that Williams had been seen at a well-known gay bar in Vauxhall months before his death.

When Williams's decomposing body was found by police on 23 August, they also discovered £15,000 of unworn women's clothing, wigs and shoes in his wardrobe. The labels included Stella McCartney, Christopher Kane, and Louboutin and were in their original boxes or wrapping paper. Williams had enrolled in two fashion design courses at Central Saint Martins College, in Clerkenwell, London, in 2009 and 2010.

Speculation has been rife that Williams' highly secretive work might explain his death. He worked as an expert on codes at the government's GCHQ eavesdropping centre in Cheltenham before moving to MI6 on a secondment.

But Detective Chief Superintendent Hamish Campbell, head of Scotland Yard's homicide command, said: "This is not linked to his work – it's his private life."

He said police had been reluctant to make public details of Williams's private life, knowing it could prove distressing to his family, but were doing so now because his lifestyle could be key to solving whether his death was a sex game gone wrong, manslaughter or murder.

Police needed information from "a small subset of people" who were into alternative lifestyles and pursuits. "We want to speak to individuals who use these websites about bondage, tying up, linking into the drag world."

Police called in an expert in surviving in confined spaces, who concluded there was no way Williams could have padlocked himself into the bag. That means that someone must have been present to lock him in. The keys to the ordinary Yale padlock were found inside the holdall.

Campbell said: "Somebody must have been there to secure him in the bag on a voluntary or involuntary basis. If someone was there and it was a voluntary activity gone wrong, why not cut him free or call an ambulance?

"The alternative scenario is there is maybe something more sinister to it. We just don't know."

The dead man's body showed only two small bruises on his elbows, probably from him struggling and rubbing against the inside of the bag as he began to run out of oxygen.

Toxicology tests show no signs of drugs, although Campbell said it remained possible he had been stunned by something like a karate chop, which could have left no visible trace by the time the corpse was found. Otherwise any blow heavy enough to render Williams unconscious would have been picked up by tests.

"There is no sign of a struggle, no outward signs of anyone inflicting physical violence, no poisoning," said Campbell, who added: "The absence of violence to the body suggests he placed himself in the bag, unless he was stunned or unconscious. If that was done, it was not through drugs or super-secret injections."

The official cause of death is still inconclusive, but Campbell said: "It is most likely suffocation, but we can't be certain."

He said that Williams was a deeply private man and neither his employers nor his family knew he had enrolled into a course at a fashion college. There was no evidence that he was gay.

Police yesterday released efit images of a man and woman who visited the flats where Williams lived weeks before his death. The Mediterranean couple, who were in their 20s and dressed casually, were buzzed through the communal entrance at the flats in Alderney Street by another resident in late June or July. They said they had been given a key and were on their way to flat four, the property Williams lived in.

Williams, from Anglesey, north Wales, was last seen alive on 15 August, eight days before he was found dead.

An inquest will be held at Westminster coroner's court on 15 February.

• This article was amended on 23 December 2010. The original referred to Jimmy Woo, and Bistrotheque as a drag club. This has been corrected.

Daily Star : OFFICIAL: SPY IN BAG GARETH WILLIAMS DIED DURING KINKY SEX GAME

OFFICIAL: SPY IN BAG GARETH WILLIAMS DIED DURING KINKY SEX GAME

By Paul Robins | October 29, 2010

THE spy found dead inside a padlocked sports bag suffocated during a sex game, police claimed yesterday.

New evidence revealed spook Gareth Williams got his kicks from being trapped in confined spaces, a fetish known as claustrophilia.

But detectives claim things went wrong when he could not get out.

The brilliant codebreaker’s body lay undiscovered for two weeks in the bathtub of his London flat.

But police believe they have solved the mystery after finding links to weird torture websites on the M16 officer’s laptops.

One called Torture Garden gives advice and tips on bizarre fetishes like claustrophilia.

Its believed Gareth, 31, stripped naked before asking someone to snap a padlock shut on the bag’s zip and leave him to find his own way out.

He was stuck in a semi-foetal position and was soon left struggling to fill his lungs with air.

The spy had taken the padlock key into the bag as his “life line” but because the padlock was on the outside he was unable to reach it.

With little oxygen in the bag, he soon passed out and suffocated. Police are convinced the spook would not have been able to lock it from the inside himself.

But it is believed he may have told the person to leave the flat to add to his sexual fantasy.

Erotic asphyxiation is the deliberate restriction of oxygen to the brain for sexual arousal.

Gareth had a small frame and fitted easily in the bag that measures 32 inches by 19.

Detectives are still trying to trace a mystery couple who visited the spy’s flat weeks before he died.

Police have confirmed that tests showed there was no trace of alcohol or drugs in his system.

His flat, in Pimlico, central London, did not appear to have been disturbed before the discovery of his body on August 23.

Police also scotched rumours about his double life as a gay transvestite after women’s clothes were found in his flat.

The cyclist fanatic and maths genius had been recruited by British security bosses after earning a university degree at 17.

He was just days away from completing a one-year secondment to MI6 from GCHQ, Britain’s eavesdropping base in Cheltenham, Glos.

Yesterday a pal said: “What a tragic waste of a brilliant life.”

An inquest will be held next year.

Daily Mail : MI6 spy Gareth Williams had 'no traces of foreign substances' in his body which was found zipped in a sportsbag

MI6 spy Gareth Williams had 'no traces of foreign substances' in his body which was found zipped in a sportsbag

By Daily Mail Reporter | October 28, 2010

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

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

The 31-year-old GCHQ code-breaker's naked and decomposing body was found in a padlocked holdall in the bath of his Pimlico flat on August 23.

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

Police have been mystified since cycling enthusiast Mr Williams was found dead inside his £400,000 two-bedroom flat in Pimlico, half-a-mile from the MI6 HQ in Westminster.

The initial reaction of the police constable who discovered his body was: ‘This is a murder scene.’

There were also rumours that Mr Williams was the victim of a professional ‘hit’. Other theories included the suggestion that he had been murdered by Russian agents.

Tests on his body were ordered to establish whether he was poisoned, as happened when Polonium 210 radiation was used to murder exiled Russian secret agent Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006.

Initial toxicology tests showed no traces of alcohol or rec­reational drugs in Mr Williams’ system.

The MI6 agent’s family have angrily accused the Government of running a ‘dirty tricks’ campaign to blacken his name after reports that he was gay and a cross-dresser.

Police denied claims that gay magazines, bondage gear and the phone numbers of gay escort men were found in the apartment near his body.

Police also dismissed allegations of irregularities in his finances and that a top-secret laptop computer had gone missing from his flat.

Crucially, there was no evidence of violence and no cuts or bruises on Mr Williams’ body, suggesting there had been no struggle.

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

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

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

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