[video] Reuters : Spy-in-bag case baffles UK police

Spy-in-bag case baffles UK police

Reuters | April 28, 2012

British investigators try to work out how the body of a spy ended up inside a locked sports bag with the keys to the padlock with him. Paul Chapman reports.

It's a mystery that's still baffling British police. How did a spy whose body was found in a locked sports bag like this get inside it. Gareth Williams had the keys to the lock with him inside the bag and there was no sign of a struggle. So did somebody else put him there? This police reconstruction shows a yoga expert trying to lock himself into a similar bag. He tried 300 times without success. A lawyer for Williams' family has told an inquest hearing they believed a secret service agency removed evidence from the scene relating to his death. British intelligence officials have denied the 31-year-old's unexplained death was linked to his work or that it had covered up the episode. One of the detectives investigating the death has said she believed someone else had helped him into the bag because there were specks of unidentified DNA on it. Williams' body was found in the bag at his apartment a week after he failed to show up for work with Britain's MI6 foreign intelligence agency. Paul Chapman, Reuters

National Post : MI6 denies cover-up in British ’spy-in-bag’ case

MI6 denies cover-up in British ’spy-in-bag’ case

Reuters | April 26, 2012

Gareth Williams death: MI6 denies cover-up in British ’spy-in-bag’ murder case

LONDON — Britain’s MI6 foreign intelligence service denied on Thursday that the mysterious death of one of its agents whose naked body was found in a padlocked bag had anything to do with his work or that it had covered the episode up.

The decomposing body of Gareth Williams, 31, was found in August 2010 inside a red sports bag in his bathtub at his central London flat, a week after he had failed to show up to work.

A lawyer for his family has said it was their belief that “a member of some agency specializing in the dark arts of the secret services” was involved in removing evidence related to his death, stoking media speculation that he was murdered by foreign spies.

But in testimony given from behind a screen to protect her identity at his inquest, an MI6 employee known only as “F” said there was no evidence to suggest the agency was involved in a cover-up of Williams’ death or that his death was work-related.

“There was no reason to think his death was in any way connected to his work,” the witness said. Nor, she added, was there any evidence that Williams’ identity as an MI6 officer had been discovered by any foreign agencies.

Williams, a mathematics prodigy on a three-year secondment from the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) in western England, did technical work for MI6.

His role was to “think up and design technology that could be used by others” in his four-person team, said “F”.

He had successfully completed a training course for conducting operations within Britain, but was still involved in relatively low-risk activities, she added.

AN APOLOGY

Williams’ body was discovered inside his Pimlico flat on Aug. 23 two years ago.

He had been scheduled to attend a work meeting on Aug. 16 but did not show up, and there were several other meetings that week that he had been expected to attend but did not.

If normal agency procedures had been carried out, “F” said that action would have been taken within two to four hours after he had failed to show up for work.

“It took far too long,” she said. “There are chains of steps one can take upon non-arrival within the second hour.” She added: “We are very sorry for that.”

Witness “F” said he understood that the delay in finding Williams’ body had made it more difficult for his family to come to terms with his death.

As far as she knew, there had been no disciplinary action taken against anyone responsible for the delay in the discovery of the body, she said.

Williams’ death has puzzled investigators, who have struggled to understand how he ended up in the bag, which also contained keys that would have unlocked its padlock. There were no signs of a struggle.

On Tuesday, Jackie Sebire, a detective on Williams’ case, testified she believed someone had helped him get into the bag. Specks of unknown DNA were found on it.

Inside the flat, police also found women’s clothing and make-up. Witness “F” said Williams’ job did not require him to dress in women’s clothing.

The inquest heard on Wednesday that several years earlier, he had been found tied to his bed at his lodgings unable to free himself. He told his landlady at the time he had wanted to see if he could free himself.

© Thomson Reuters 2012

National Post : Unknown DNA found on bag containing British spy’s corpse

Unknown DNA found on bag containing British spy’s corpse

Yeganeh Torbati, Reuters | April 25, 2012

Gareth Williams case: Unknown DNA found on bag containing MI6 agent's corpse

The bag in which a British MI6 agent’s corpse was found in his London home in 2010 had small bits of unknown DNA, a detective testified on Tuesday, fueling speculation about who may have been behind the mysterious death.

The nude body of Gareth Williams, 31, was found folded in the fetal position inside a padlocked bag in his bathtub at his Pimlico flat, not far from the headquarters of MI6, the British foreign spying service, where Williams worked.

Jackie Sebire, the detective handling Williams’s case, said on Tuesday police found blood believed to be that of Williams as well as “small components of another contributor’s DNA”.

One of the central questions of the case, she said, was whether Williams could have placed himself in the bag and locked the padlock or whether someone else was responsible.

“It is my opinion … that a third party was involved in that padlock being locked, and Gareth being placed in the bag,” Sebire said. “No stone has been unturned. I’ve tried to do everything I can to understand what’s happened.”

The bag in which Williams was found showed no signs of a struggle, such as torn netting or stitches, Sebire said, and keys that could have opened the padlock were found inside the bag with Williams, underneath his buttock.

Details revealed at the inquest have only added to the mystery surrounding the circumstances of the macabre death.

Inside Williams’s flat at the time of his death were about 20,000 pounds in women’s clothing. Some of the clothing included high-end shoes from Christian Louboutin, Chloe, Christian Dior, and Stella McCartney, including one pair of shoes worth about 1,000 pounds, Sebire said.

Police also found a woman’s wig and new makeup inside the home.

Williams’s close friend Sian Jones said she did not think the clothing was unusual, because Williams often gave her gifts of expensive clothing. Jones said she did not believe Williams was a transvestite or gay.

“He was truly such a generous person and through the gifts that he’s bought me in the past, it wouldn’t surprise me if they were gifts,” Jones said.

Jones said that although Williams did not have many other close friends, he was close to his colleagues at the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), the state eavesdropping service based in Cheltenham, northwest of London.

Williams was on a three-year secondment from GCHQ to MI6 at the time of his death, and on Monday his sister Ceri Subbe testified that he had complained of office tensions there.

Her comments added to speculation that the MI6 was somehow involved in Williams’s death, a theory stoked by a lawyer for Williams’s family when he said last month that “a member of some agency specializing in the dark arts of the secret services” might be responsible.

Jones said Williams had left her a voicemail before his death in which he sounded all right and said he was moving back to Cheltenham.

Inside Williams’s apartment, police found a newspaper clipping entitled “The Top Five Regrets of the Dying,” including not having the “courage to live the life true to myself” and working too hard.

© Thomson Reuters 2012

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.

Wired : Police Publish Images of Two Sought in Codebreaker’s Death

Police Publish Images of Two Sought in Codebreaker’s Death

By Kim Zetter | January 6, 2011

In an effort to identify two people who may be connected to the mysterious death of a top British codebreaker, authorities have published images of a man and woman who entered his apartment building weeks before his death.

Gareth Williams, 31, was found dead and naked in a North Face duffel bag in the bathtub of his flat last August. The sports bag was padlocked on the outside.

The two, said to be in their 20s and of Mediterranean appearance, were let in to Williams’ building by another tenant in late June or July. They told the tenant they had keys to Williams’ flat but indicated they knew him as Pier Paolo.

Williams, described by those who knew him as a “math genius,” worked for the U.K.’s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) helping to break coded Taliban communications, among other things. He was just completing a year-long stint with MI6, Britain’s secret intelligence service, when he died. The flat where he lived was part of a network of flats registered to an offshore front company and rented out to GCHQ workers.

Williams had been dead for at least a week when his body was found. His mobile phone and a number of SIM cards were laid out on a table near the body, according to news reports. There were no signs of forced entry to the apartment and no signs of a struggle. The keys to the padlock on the duffel bag were found inside the bag beneath Williams’ body.

The codebreaker reportedly had made repeated visits to the United States to meet with the National Security Agency and worked closely with British and U.S. spy agencies to intercept and examine communications that passed between an al Qaeda official in Pakistan and three men who were convicted last year of plotting to bomb transcontinental flights.

Investigators haven’t ruled out the possibility that Williams was killed over something related to his work but believe his death may have been related to his personal life. Investigators believe Pier Paolo was an alias Williams may have used that was borrowed from Pier Paolo Pasolini, a controversial Italian filmmaker who made films that included sexual violence. According to recent reports, Williams had accessed five bondage websites prior to his death.

Williams flew up to four times a year to the United States to the NSA’s headquarters at Fort Meade, according to the British paper the Mirror. His uncle, Michael Hughes, told the paper that Williams would mysteriously disappear for three or four weeks.

“The trips were very hush-hush,” Hughes said. “They were so secret that I only recently found out about them — and we’re a very close family. It had become part of his job in the past few years. His last trip out there was a few weeks ago, but he was regularly back and forth.”

Williams was said to have worked with the NSA on e-mails intercepted between Abdullah Ahmed Ali and Assad Sarwar and Rashid Rauf, a British national in Pakistan who was allegedly director of European operations for al Qaeda. The e-mails, intercepted by the NSA in 2006, allegedly contained coded messages.

The NSA shared the e-mails with British prosecutors but wouldn’t allow them to use the evidence in an early trial of the suspects out of fear of tipping off Rauf that he was under surveillance. It was only after Rauf was reportedly killed in a U.S. drone attack that the NSA allowed prosecutors to use the e-mails to convict the other suspects.

It’s never been known whether the NSA intercepted the messages overseas or siphoned them as they passed through internet nodes on U.S. soil as part of the NSA’s controversial and unconstitutional warrantless wiretapping program.

An unidentified Western intelligence source told the Mirror that Williams’ job would have had him participating in “crucial high-level meetings with American intelligence officers. His job would have been crucial to the security of the U.K. and our interests abroad — and also to America and Europe. Although not particularly high up the GCHQ ladder, the importance of his role should not be underestimated. The man was a mathematical genius.”

His landlady, Jenny Elliott, told the Telegraph, “Occasionally, you could hear tapes whirring from his flat, which must have been audio cassettes he used for work, but he never told me what they were.”

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

Police probe dead Welsh MI6 spy’s bondage links

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

AFP : Dead spy was in training for new identity: report

Dead spy was in training for new identity: report

AFP | December 26, 2010

LONDON — 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.

Copyright © 2010 AFP. 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.

Montreal Gazette : Dead male, British spy owned wardrobe of women's clothes

Dead male, British spy owned wardrobe of women's clothes

By Duncan Gardham, Daily Telegraph | December 23, 2010

A British spy whose naked body was found padlocked in a sports bag had been visiting bondage websites and drag clubs and had $25,000 collection of women's clothing, police have disclosed.

Officers investigating the death of Gareth Williams, a code-breaker who was on secondment to MI6, have released details of his unusual private life and explained the extraordinary riddle that surrounds his death.

While the death is officially described as "suspicious" rather than murder, officers also released photos of a Mediterranean couple who visited the apartment a few weeks later and let themselves in with a key.

Detective Chief Superintendent Hamish Campbell, the head of Scotland Yard's murder squad, said he was aware that the details would be "embarrassing, hurtful and distressing" for Williams's family but said they supported the appeal for anyone who had encountered him in the nightclubs, online or at women's clothing shops to come forward.

"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," he said.

Detective Chief Inspector Jacqueline Sebire, who is leading the inquiry, described Williams, 31, from Anglesey in Wales, as an "intensely private person" who kept his way of life hidden from friends and family.

His body was found in a red North Face bag on Aug. 23 after he failed to turn up to work at MI6's headquarters in London.

Inside his flat in central London, police found half a dozen boxes with neatly folded, apparently unused women's designer clothing and shoes, along with a number of wigs.

The clothing had been bought online and in London's West End, starting in 2008 and up until a few weeks before Williams died.

They were in small sizes that would have fit Williams, who was five-foot-eight and weighed around 126 pounds.

The labels included Stella McCartney, Christopher Kane and Christian Louboutin shoes, and the collection came to around $25,000.

Williams was not in debt, police said, and there were no signs that unaccounted for sums of money had been paid in to or left his bank account.

Unknown to his family and colleagues, Williams had attended two short courses in fashion design, one in 2010 and one in 2009.

Examination of his personal laptop and personal mobile phone showed that he had visited five separate bondage websites, beginning with a search on the online encyclopedia site Wikipedia and followed up with specialist bondage websites.

Keys to the padlock on the sports bag in which Williams was discovered were lying underneath the spy's naked body, police say.

An expert on rescuing people from confined spaces told investigators it would be impossible to lock the North Face bag from the inside.

© Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal

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.

Mirror : Body in the bag spy Gareth Williams spent £15,000 on women's clothes and visited bondage websites

Body in the bag spy Gareth Williams spent £15,000 on women's clothes and visited bondage websites

by Jon Clements | December 23, 2010

THE MI6 codebreaker found dead in a padlocked bag had researched bondage websites – and spent £15,000 on women’s clothes, police revealed yesterday.

Maths genius Gareth Williams, 31, had visited four bondage sites and looked into how people escape after tying themselves up.

Det Chief Supt Hamish Campbell, investigating his bizarre death, said: “We’re trying to see if it was as a direct result of what we’ve seen on the net – bondage sites and escape.”

Officers released the details with the consent of the spy’s grief-stricken family as part of a new appeal for information.

They also said Mr Williams owned Stella McCartney dresses and Christian Louboutin designer shoes. He kept his interest in the clothes and wigs a secret – but there is no evidence he wore any of them.

Scotland Yard believes Mr Williams, who was found naked in his flat, died in a weird sex game which went wrong when both keys to the padlock were accidentally left in the bag.

Detectives say someone else must have been involved because it would have been impossible for Mr Williams to lock himself inside.

Det Chief Supt Campbell said: “We’re sure someone else was in the flat so need to know the circumstances where you leave someone in that position by accident or by design. It’s unexplained and suspicious.”

As police issued e-fits of a Mediterranean couple suspected of having a key to Mr Williams’ flat in Pimlico, Central London, other revelations about his private life were revealed. While he worked tracking al-Qaeda suspects at the government listening post at GCHQ in Cheltenham, Gloucs, Mr Williams took two evening courses in women’s fashion.

He saw drag queen Jimmy Woo at East London bar Bistrotheque three days before he died and bought tickets to two similar acts at a gay pub.

Police also said Mr Williams is not known to have had any sexual partners and there is no evidence he was gay.

The inquiry continues to focus on the man and woman buzzed into the block of flats a few weeks before he died.

An intelligence officer at the GCHQ-owned apartments spoke briefly to the couple and was told a man called Pier Paulo had given them the key. They went upstairs towards Mr Williams’ flat but were not seen going inside.

Det Chief Insp Jackie Sebire, who is leading the inquiry, said: “Gareth was an intensely private person and would not give his key to anybody, so the fact they had the key for his flat could be a very important detail in unlocking a part of his private life we’ve yet to uncover.”

Mr Williams, of Holyhead, Anglesey, is believed to have died on August 16, a week before his body was found inside the North Face bag. He was lying on his back with his legs bent under him and with his hands on his chest.

An expert in confined spaces from the National Policing Improvement Agency estimates that anyone inside the waterproof holdall would have run out of oxygen after half an hour.

Mr Williams was uninjured apart from small bruises on his elbows, and tests found there were no drugs, poison or alcohol in his system. His inquest takes place in February.

There were no signs of a disturbance at the apartment and nothing was missing.

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.

News dot com [Australia] : Bondage link to spy found dead in bag

Bondage link to spy found dead in bag

By Kat Higgins, Sky News Online | December 23, 2010

AN MI6 spy found dead in a bag in his bathroom visited a series of bondage websites before his death, police say.

Officers say 31-year-old Gareth Williams viewed sites showing people bound and tied, which included guides on how to do it and escape.

Detectives also found a £15,000 ($23,000) collection of unworn women's designer clothing in his wardrobe, Sky News reports.

Mr Williams' decomposing body was found in a padlocked holdall in his flat on August 23, and police are convinced someone else was involved.

A survivability expert concluded it would have been impossible for the GCHQ codebreaker, who was on secondment to MI6, to have locked himself inside the bag.

The keys were also inside.

The mysterious circumstances of Mr Williams's death sparked an international frenzy of speculation.

The Metropolitan Police have issued e-fit pictures of a man and woman they want to speak to in connection with the death.

They are described as being of Mediterranean appearance, aged between 20 to 30-years-old.

They called at Mr Williams' Pimlico home one evening in June or July of this year and were buzzed through the communal entrance by another resident.

The pair suggested they had been given a key by "Pier Paulo" and were on their way to flat four.

Detective Chief Inspector Jackie Sebire, who is leading the inquiry, said police believe they will get to the bottom of the intensely private spy's death by studying his private life.

She said there was no evidence Mr Williams was suicidal and he had recently returned from a fly-drive holiday to America's west coast.

Mrs Sebire said analysis of Mr Williams's phones and laptops revealed he visited no more than five bondage websites.

she added there was no evidence he was "obsessed" with bondage and no other pornography was found.

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.

Met Police said on Wednesday: "Gareth's family are still struggling to come to terms with the loss of their son and brother, they urge anybody to come forward with any information that can assist the police investigation."

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.

Sydney Morning Herald : Bondage link to dead spy

Bondage link to dead spy

December 23, 2010

A British spy whose body was found padlocked inside a bag at his London flat in August visited bondage websites before his death and had a huge stash of women's designer clothes, police said on Wednesday.

Police probing the mysterious death of Gareth Williams, 30, a codebreaker for Britain's foreign intelligence service MI6, said they remain convinced that someone else had helped to put him inside the holdall.

The revelations come after the inquiry increasingly focused on the reclusive intelligence agent's private life and moved away from speculation that his death was linked to his job.

Scotland Yard detective Hamish Campbell told reporters that investigators believed someone involved with the bondage or gay scene had "linked in" with Williams.

"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," he added.

Williams's had visited five bondage sites - including hogtie.com, boundanna.com and artofconstriction.com - between the end of 2009 and last July, said detective Jackie Sebire, who is leading the inquiry.

"The sites primarily feature women and there are guides on how to do certain things," Sebire told reporters.

No bondage equipment was found in the flat, she added.

Williams also visited a drag cabaret in east London four days before his death and held tickets to two more, she said.

In addition, Williams had £15,000 ($23,230) worth of unworn women's designer clothing including tops, dresses and shoes in his wardrobe, plus a number of women's wigs, said Sebire.

Labels included Stella McCartney and Christian Louboutin.

She said the clothes could have been linked to two fashion courses he attended at the famed Central St Martin's College in London in 2009 and 2010 - neither of which British intelligence knew he had attended.

Sebire 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 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 on August 15.

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, southwest England.

AFP

Edmonton Journal : Dead male, British spy owned wardrobe of women's clothes

Dead male, British spy owned wardrobe of women's clothes

By Duncan Gardham, Daily Telegraph | December 23, 2010

A British spy whose naked body was found padlocked in a sports bag had been visiting bondage websites and drag clubs and had $25,000 collection of women's clothing, police have disclosed.

Officers investigating the death of Gareth Williams, a code-breaker who was on secondment to MI6, have released details of his unusual private life and explained the extraordinary riddle that surrounds his death.

While the death is officially described as "suspicious" rather than murder, officers also released photos of a Mediterranean couple who visited the apartment a few weeks later and let themselves in with a key.

Detective Chief Superintendent Hamish Campbell, the head of Scotland Yard's murder squad, said he was aware that the details would be "embarrassing, hurtful and distressing" for Williams's family but said they supported the appeal for anyone who had encountered him in the nightclubs, online or at women's clothing shops to come forward.

"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," he said.

Detective Chief Inspector Jacqueline Sebire, who is leading the inquiry, described Williams, 31, from Anglesey in Wales, as an "intensely private person" who kept his way of life hidden from friends and family.

His body was found in a red North Face bag on Aug. 23 after he failed to turn up to work at MI6's headquarters in London.

Inside his flat in central London, police found half a dozen boxes with neatly folded, apparently unused women's designer clothing and shoes, along with a number of wigs.

The clothing had been bought online and in London's West End, starting in 2008 and up until a few weeks before Williams died.

They were in small sizes that would have fit Williams, who was five-foot-eight and weighed around 126 pounds.

The labels included Stella McCartney, Christopher Kane and Christian Louboutin shoes, and the collection came to around $25,000.

Williams was not in debt, police said, and there were no signs that unaccounted for sums of money had been paid in to or left his bank account.

Unknown to his family and colleagues, Williams had attended two short courses in fashion design, one in 2010 and one in 2009.

Examination of his personal laptop and personal mobile phone showed that he had visited five separate bondage websites, beginning with a search on the online encyclopedia site Wikipedia and followed up with specialist bondage websites.

Keys to the padlock on the sports bag in which Williams was discovered were lying underneath the spy's naked body, police say.

An expert on rescuing people from confined spaces told investigators it would be impossible to lock the North Face bag from the inside.

© Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal

MSNBC : Spy death inquiry looks at bondage link

Spy death inquiry looks at bondage link

British police want to question couple in death of intelligence analyst

December 22, 2010

LONDON — A British spy who was found dead in his London flat visited bondage websites and a drag club and had $23,000 worth of unworn designer womenswear in his wardrobe, detectives said Wednesday.

The Guardian newspaper reported that police believe the mystery surrounding Gareth Williams' death will be solved through insights into his private life.

Williams, a 30-year-old official at the code-breaking agency GCHQ, was found inside a red North Face sports bag at his central London apartment on Aug. 23. Williams was working on attachment to the MI6 spy agency, but security officials believe it is unlikely that his killing was connected with his work. Toxicology tests showed there were no traces of drugs or poisons that may have led to his death.

Offering new details, police said they hoped to determine conclusively whether Williams' death was linked to his personal life and to trace two people seen at the communal door of Williams' apartment block in June or July.

The man and woman, described as Mediterranean in appearance 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, The Guardian said. They said they had been given a key and were on their way to the apartment that Williams lived in.

"Gareth was a very private individual, and we know he would not have given his keys to anyone other than close family," said Detective Chief Inspector Jackie Sebire, head of the inquiry into his death.

Sebire said it was still unclear whether Williams died as a result of a sex game gone wrong, and called on any former partners to contact police.

"There is forensic evidence that indicates the presence of other people that we have not been able to eliminate yet," Sebire said.

Experts called in by police have assessed that Williams could not have locked himself inside the bag — which was fastened with a padlock — and could have survived for only 30 minutes inside before suffocation. The keys to the Yale padlock were found inside the bag, The Guardian said.

Detective Chief Superintendent Hamish Campbell said, head of Scotland Yard's homicide command, said police had been reluctant to make public details of Williams's private life, knowing it could prove distressing to his family.

Detectives said Williams used his iPhone to visit websites on bondage in the months before his death, The Guardian reported. Four days before he died, he went to a drag club called Bistrotheque in Bethnal Green, east London, to see an act called Jimmy Woo, and had tickets for two similar performances at a pub in Vauxhall, close to MI6 headquarters.

"We feel there is some small subgroup of the community, or individuals, who may know something about this matter and the nature of Gareth's death," Campbell said.

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

This article includes reporting msnbc.com staff and The Associated Press.

Metro : Bondage spy Gareth Williams had £15k worth of designer gear

Bondage spy Gareth Williams had £15k worth of designer gear

December 22, 2010

The MI6 spy found dead in sports holdall at his London flat last summer had a £15,000 collection of women’s designer clothing, detectives revealed.

Codebreaker Gareth Williams had also visited several bondage websites in the months before his death on August 23, police confirmed.

The ‘intensely private’ 31-year-old collected designer tops, dresses and shoes, and also visited a drag cabaret club four days before he died.

Items by Stella McCartney, Christopher Kane, and Louboutin had been bought at London boutiques and online. The clothing was in various sizes, all small, and a number of women’s wigs were also found.

His decomposing body was found in a padlocked holdall in the bath of his £400,000 Pimlico flat but the keys were inside. There was no sign of injury – except bruising to his elbows.

Forensic tests have shown that others had been in his flat just before his death. But they have not been traced.

Detective Ch Insp Jackie Sebire, who is leading the inquiry, said: ‘We remain completely open-minded about how he died. We are appealing to someone who is out there to come forward and tell us more.’

No evidence of drugs, alcohol or poisons were found during a battery of tests conducted by toxicologists.

Mr Williams probably died in the early hours of August 16, one week before he was found.

Police have released two e-fits of a casually dressed Mediterranean couple who said they were visiting Mr Williams’s Alderney Street home in late June or July.

They were buzzed through the communal entrance by another resident.

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

Telegraph : MI6 spy Gareth Williams: keys found under body inside the holdall

MI6 spy Gareth Williams: keys found under body inside the holdall

By Duncan Gardham, Security Correspondent | December 22, 2010

Detectives investigating the death of the MI6 spy Gareth Williams have disclosed that keys to the padlock on the sports bag were found inside the North Face holdall, underneath Mr Williams’s naked body.

An expert on rescuing people from confined spaces has told investigators that it would be impossible to lock the bag from the inside, although the keys are not necessary to close the padlock.

Other keys were found in the flat which could have opened the padlock but were not obviously laid out.

The expert got into the bag, which is made of a synthetic rubber called Neoprene, on behalf of the police and discovered that within three minutes the temperature had reached 30 degrees Celsius and after half an hour the oxygen had run out.

A post mortem suggests Mr Williams died in the early hours of Monday August 16 but his body was not found until a week later.

The cause of death remains inconclusive and, although he had some bruising to his elbows, there is no sign that he put up a struggle.

Police believe he either climbed into the bag voluntarily as part of a sex game or was unconscious when placed there.

There was no sign of disturbance in the flat and nothing appears to be missing, however police found four mobile phones, none of which have helped them locate his killer.

Despite that, forensic examination at the flat has found traces of unidentified individuals.

A Mediterranean couple visited the block of four flats in Pimlico late one Friday or Saturday evening and were let into the hallway by a neighbour, to whom they suggested that they were visiting a man called Pierre Paulo in Mr Williams flat and had keys to let themselves into his flat.

DCI Jacqueline Sebire, leading the inquiry, said: “Gareth is an intensely private person and would not give his key out to anyone, even his own family.”

This Is London : Spy in bag: Police seek mystery couple, MI6 man used bondage websites

Spy in bag: Police seek mystery couple, MI6 man used bondage websites

Justin Davenport, Crime Editor | December 22, 2010

Police revealed dramatic details today about the bizarre death of an MI6 spy found in a sports bag - and appealed for help to find a mystery couple who may hold vital clues.

Scotland Yard issued the first images of a man and woman who could make clear how Gareth Williams died.

The couple visited the spy's Pimlico flat several weeks before his decomposing body was found, on August 23, in the bath inside a zipped and padlocked North Face bag. Detectives also revealed:

* The 31-year-old codebreaker had a collection of designer dresses and shoes worth £15,000 in his flat. The clothes by Stella McCartney and Christopher Kane, and Louboutin shoes, appeared unworn, with many still in wrappings.

* He was almost certainly not alone when he died and had bruised elbows, possibly as he tried to escape from the bag. A pair of keys to the padlock were inside under his body.

* He had visited five bondage websites since last year. No pornography was found in the flat. He visited a comedy drag night at a club called Bistrotheque in Mile End on August 13.

* He had passed two fashion design courses at Central Saint Martins.

* He had four mobile phones including some that were pay-as-you-go.

Tests have been unable to explain how Mr Williams died. One theory is that he may have been the victim of a sex game that went wrong.

Police told how they employed a specialist to climb into the North Face holdall and re-enact events that might have led to his death. He found it was impossible to shut the bag and padlock it from inside without help. It was also impossible to unlock the bag from inside on his own.

The mystery couple called at the flat in Alderney Street in June or July. They buzzed the outside door and were let in by a woman on the ground floor. They told her they were visiting flat 4 — Mr Williams's — and had their own key, given to them by someone called “Pier Paulo”, or a similar name.

The couple went upstairs and did not come down, suggesting they entered the flat. They were aged in their twenties or thirties, possibly of Mediterranean or east European appearance.

Despite a number of previous appeals the pair have not come forward and detectives increasingly believe they could hold vital clues.

Detective Chief Inspector Jacqueline Sebire, leading the inquiry, said: “Gareth was a very private individual. We know he would not have given his keys to anyone other than close family. I am asking this man or woman or anyone who recognises them to encourage them to come forward and assist us.”

In a statement, Mr Williams's family said: “We are still struggling to come to terms with the loss of their son and brother, we urge anybody to come forward with any information that can assist the police investigation.”

At the time of the visit, Mr Williams is believed to have been away and detectives say it is highly unlikely he gave his keys to anyone. Tests on his body show he was not poisoned, drugged or under the influence of alcohol at the time of his death. There were no injuries to suggest a struggle and an examination of his computers showed he had a secret fetish for bondage and being confined in enclosed spaces.

There was no evidence of anything missing from his flat and no signs of a disturbance. Detectives have discounted one rumour that the flat was locked from the outside.

Mr Williams, a keen cyclist, was in London on a year's secondment and was due to return to the GCHQ government listening post in Cheltenham. He is known to have made trips on business to the US but he was not a field agent and his spy bosses can find no reason for him to have been killed.

He was last seen eight days before his body was found. CCTV showed him at Harrods and Holland Park Tube.

Anyone with information can call 020 8358 0200 or ring Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.

The unanswered questions

How did he die?

A post mortem has proved inconclusive. But experts can say he was not stabbed or shot, there are no obvious injuries to his body and tests found no trace of alcohol, drugs or poison. It is possible he suffocated inside the North Face bag. Experts say that because of the heat in the flat he could have died within minutes if he could not escape.

Was he alone and why did he not escape from the bag?

Police now believe he was almost certainly not alone. Intriguingly, there is no sign of anyone else being in the flat, but tests have shown that Mr Williams could not have locked himself into the bag on his own. He must have had help and either climbed into the bag as part of a sex game — or, in some way, was forced in. The real question is why he was unable to escape and why the second party did not help him. One possibility is the second man — or woman — left the scene planning to return but when they did the spy was already dead. The second person then panicked and fled. The puzzle is why he or she did not leave any clues. And why, if the explanation was innocent, they have not come forward.

What about his private life?

This remains a mystery. Inquiries have found the spy to be an intensely private individual. He was spotted in a gay bar near the MI6 HQ in Vauxhall and visited a transvestite bar in the weeks before he died but there is no other obvious reference to his sexuality. His computers revealed a interest in bondage and a colourful wig was found in his flat along with £15,000 of high fashion women's dresses and shoes, all of which seem to be still in their wrappers. But there were few, if any, friends who knew him personally.

What was he doing before he died?

His body was found on August 23. It is known he returned from a trip to the US on August 11 and was last seen alive at Holland Park Tube station on August 14 and shopping in Harrods the following day. The post mortem results suggest he died soon afterwards but his body was not found until eight days later.

Who are the mystery couple? 

This is one of the most tantalising questions in the inquiry. No one — including MI6 or his family — can explain why Mr Williams would have given his keys to anyone. They were specific about visiting Flat 4 though they are not thought to have mentioned the spy by name. The codebreaker is not believed to have been in the flat at the time — and the possibility remains the couple could be a red herring.