The First Post : Did spy Gareth Williams die in bizarre art accident?

Did spy Gareth Williams die in bizarre art accident?
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Police now believe MI6 man zipped himself in holdall as art project

By Eliot Sefton | January 16, 2011

In a theory which seems so totally bizarre it might just be true, police now believe MI6 officer Gareth Williams zipped himself into a holdall in the bath in his flat as research for an art project - but suffocated before he could get out again.

A GCHQ codebreaker on secondment to MI6, where his work made him privy to highly classified anti-terrorism material, Williams was found dead on August 23 last year in a government safe house where he had been living.

At least a week after he had last been seen alive, his body was discovered in a North Face holdall in the bath at his top-floor apartment in Pimlico, a short walk from MI6 headquarters.

Problematically for investigators, no cause of death could be determined. Theories about Williams's death have since ranged from polonium poisoning by foreign agents to bizarre sex games gone wrong.

Now, the Sunday Mirror says, police have come up with the strangest theory yet.

Investigation of Williams's laptop revealed he had paid £695 to join a 10-week part-time course at Central St Martin's College in London titled Fashion Design for Beginners.

St Martin's is an illustrious place to study fashion, with alumi among the world's top designers, including Alexander McQueen, John Galliano and Stella McCartney - so it is evident that the thorough codebreaker had done his research and was serious about the course.

The fashion course also explains the presence of £15,000-worth of designer dresses, including some by Stella McCartney, and pairs of shoes in Williams's flat. It had earlier been claimed he was a cross-dresser - though the clothes were still wrapped.

Police also discovered Williams had visited bondage websites on his laptop. The new theory suggests there may have been no sexual motive for this.

A police source told the newspaper: "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."

Why? Because, police believe, he had been given a project by his St Martin's tutor titled 'Living Spaces'.

They now think the holdall may have been an attempt by Williams to research a project on exactly how little living space it is possible to exist in - research that went horribly wrong when the fit 31-year-old found himself trapped and suffocated in the August heat.

The theory is so bizarre it's tempting to believe it: and it certainly should provide comfort for Williams's family, who have made public their dismay at the suggestion he was leading secret double life as a cross-dressing, gay, bondage enthusiast.

Williams's close friend Sian Lloyd-Jones said last month: "It would have been fine [by us] if he was [gay] but he had too much ­interest in women.

"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."

But at least one person close to story seems to find the new theory less than convincing: Williams's fashion tutor, Cheryl Eastap. She told the newspaper: "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."

And security analysts reacted with extreme scepticism to the suggestion that Williams could have zipped himself into the holdall when it was first mooted in September. At the time it was thought he had zipped himself in for sexual reasons.

But if the theory is bunk, where did it come from? Could it be a clumsy attempt to atone to Williams's family and friends for the earlier slurs - while the truth of his death remains an espionage-shrouded mystery?

Daily Mail : 'Spy in the bag' inquest delayed as police chase new leads

'Spy in the bag' inquest delayed as police chase new leads

By Mail On Sunday Reporter | January 16, 2011

The mystery over the MI6 spy found locked in a sports bag has taken a new twist after his inquest was delayed.

The hearing into the death of Gareth Williams, 31, was due to take place at Westminster Coroner’s Court on February 15, but it has now been adjourned and no new date has been set.

The postponement to allow further investigations by police will raise fresh questions about the baffling case.

Detectives are following new leads about a couple who called at his flat before he died. They have received several possible names for the man and woman who visited the codebreaker’s MI6-owned flat in Pimlico, London, in June or July last year.

Mr Williams’s body was found at the apartment inside a padlocked North Face holdall on August 23. Two post-mortems failed to establish how he died, while toxicology tests found no evidence of drugs, alcohol or poisons in his system.

At a Press conference last month, detectives issued e-fit pictures of the man and woman, both believed to be in their 20s and of Mediterranean appearance.

They were let into the block of four flats by a tenant on the ground floor. The couple told her they had keys to Mr Williams’s flat, number four, but said they were there to visit someone called Pier Paolo.

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.”

This Is London : New leads for police in hunt for mystery pair who visited spy

New leads for police in hunt for mystery pair who visited spy

Justin Davenport, Crime Editor | January 4, 2011

Detectives investigating the bizarre death of spy Gareth Williams are following a number of new leads suggesting the identity of a couple who called at his flat before he died.

Police have been given several possible names for the man and a woman, who visited the MI6-owned flat in Alderney Street, Pimlico in late June or July last year.

The naked body of the 31-year-old codebreaker was found on 23 August padlocked inside a large North Face holdall. He is thought to have suffocated.

Murder squad detectives believe a second person padlocked the holdall but has failed to come forward.

They issued E-fit pictures of the man and woman, described as being in their twenties and of Mediterranean appearance, who were let in by a tenant on the ground floor of the building.

They told her they had keys to the flat where Mr Williams lived but said they were there to visit someone called Pier Paolo. They went upstairs to the top floor flat and did not re-appear.

One source close to the inquiry said: “There has been a good response to the appeal and a number of names [for the couple] are being explored.”

The inquiry is examining the possibility that Mr Williams, a GCHQ codebreaker who was on secondment to MI6 in Vauxhall, used an alias for possible secret liaisons.

One theory is that Mr Williams took the name Pier Paolo from the Italian poet and film director Pasolino, whose works include Salo, which was based on the novel 120 Days of Sodom by the Marquis de Sade.

Pasolino was murdered in 1975, run down in his own car near Rome.

Detectives believe Mr Williams's death is linked to his private life but have not ruled out a link to his work. He is known to have visited several bondage websites.

Anyone with information should ring police on 020 8358 0200 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.

Sun : Sex film alias of spy in bag

Sex film alias of spy in bag

By MIKE SULLIVAN, Crime Editor | January 4, 2011

THE spy found dead in a bag at his flat is believed to have used the alias of a notorious movie maker for kinky sex liaisons.

An unknown man and woman who visited the home of MI6 codebreaker Gareth Williams weeks previously told a neighbour they were there to visit someone called Pier Paolo.

Police suspect it was a bogus identity assumed by 31-year-old Mr Williams using the first two names of Italian director Pier Paolo Pasolini, who made films featuring explicit sexual violence.

The pair also appeared to have a key to Mr Williams' flat in Pimlico, South West London - where Mr Williams was believed to have died inside the 32in-long sports bag after a kinky sex game went wrong.

A police source said: "The use of the name Pier Paolo suggests the couple were there for unorthodox sexual reasons. Did they leave him in the bag a few weeks later with tragic consequences?"

Police were keen to speak to the pair, of Mediterranean appearance. Mr Williams was found dead on August 23 last year. An inquest will be held on February 15.

Express: BAG SPY VISITED DRAG SHOW JUST BEFORE HE DIED

BAG SPY VISITED DRAG SHOW JUST BEFORE HE DIED

By James Murray | January 2, 2011

POLICE piecing together the last hours of spy Gareth Williams’s life have revealed he visited a drag cabaret show just days before his bizarre death.

Scotland Yard murder detectives said the 31-year-old MI6 codebreaker visited the Bistrotheque in London’s Bethnal Green on August 13 last year, a few days after flying back from a holiday in the US.

He vanished two days later and his naked body was discovered in a holdall in his bath on August 23.

The club he visited has an upstairs restaurant and bar and a downstairs cabaret stage.

The Sunday Express has established that Cambridge-educated Mr Williams booked the ticket for the cabaret before going there and decided not to eat at the restaurant or hang around in the bar when he arrived in the evening.

Instead, he went straight to the downstairs cabaret room and sat to watch the one-hour show featuring Jonny Woo, pictured above left, often described as the queen of the ­capital’s drag scene.

Woo, a popular entertainer at the venue, performed a short skit from Les Miserables and dressed in several outrageous costumes during the show. As soon as it ended, Mr Williams got up and left.

His family and friends vehemently deny accusations he was living a secret life as a gay man in central London. The club’s co-owner, Pablo Flack, said Mr Williams was not known to staff and no one could recall seeing him before.

Despite the drag cabaret, he said the venue was popular with straight couples and none of the regular gay customers could recall speaking to him.

Mr Flack, a flamboyant figure in the fashion world, said: “I think the public may have got the wrong impression from the reports about this man.

“He did not spend long here and he is not someone people remember.

“We think he just came along to see the show. Jonny Woo does have a good reputation as an entertainer, especially in the fashion and artistic world.”

Mr Williams obviously enjoyed the performance because he bought tickets to see two other shows but there is no suggestion he knew Mr Woo.

Detectives have revealed that Mr ­Williams had £15,000-worth of women’s designer clothes, including dresses, shoes and wigs, at his flat in Alderney Street, ­Pimlico, London.

Shortly before Christmas they also revealed he was studying fashion for beginners at the Central St Martins ­College in Clerkenwell and had visited bondage websites.

One theory that police are ­considering now is that he had visited the Bistrotheque as part of his interest in fashion. Shortly after his body was found in his flat in a zipped-up and padlocked ­holdall, detectives went to Bistrotheque when they discovered he had bought the drag cabaret tickets. Mr Flack said: “They asked to see some CCTV on the relevant date and we burned off a disc for them but the footage was only showing the outside.

“It is pretty dark in the cabaret area so if there were pictures you wouldn’t be able to see much anyway.”

Detectives are trying to discover if Mr ­Williams went to the venue to meet a mysterious Mediterranean-looking man and woman who had called at his home in the ­summer but there is nothing to suggest at this stage that they were there.

Last week Sian Lloyd-Jones, 33, a ­childhood friend of Mr Williams, said he showed no inclinations of being gay and thought he would have given his designer clothes to her and his ­sister, Ceri, because he was so generous with gifts. However, questions remain about why Mr Williams would spend so much of his ­salary on women’s clothes.

Ms Lloyd-Jones, who was given £760 Stella McCartney PVC ­trousers from Mr Williams, claimed he was learning a new identity for an assignment with the intelligence service before his death but did not know what his ­undercover ­operation would be.

East London Advertiser : East End link to body in bag spy death

East End link to body in bag spy death

Julia Gregory, Senior reporter | December 29, 2010

Detectives investigating the death of M16 agent Gareth Williams would like to speak to anyone who may have seen him at an East End cabaret evening.

The 31-year-old’s body was found in a bag in his flat in West London in August.

Detectives are anxious to hear from anyone who may have met Mr Williams at a drag cabaret act at Bistrotheque in Wadeson Street on Friday August 13. He had also bought tickets for two other shows at the Bethnal Green venue.

A police spokeswoman said: “We would like to hear from anybody who was there who spoke with him or had any interaction with him.”

Two days after he visited Bistrotheque Mr Willams was spotted on CCTV shopping in the West End. His body was discovered in his flat on August 23.

Anyone who met Mr Williams should contact the incident room in Hendon on 020 8358 0200 or anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

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.

Isle of Man Today : Friend: Suitcase death spy was not gay

Friend: Suitcase death spy was not gay

December 28, 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 (c) Press Association Ltd. 2010, All Rights Reserved.

The Age [Australia] : British bondage spy a sleeper

British bondage spy a sleeper

London | December 27, 2010

A British spy whose body was found inside a padlocked bag at his London flat in August had been training to take on a new identity in the months before his death, a report says.

A close friend of Gareth Williams, 31, told the Mail on Sunday the MI6 code-breaker was not homosexual.

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

''He said he was learning his new identity,'' said Sian Lloyd-Jones, 33, a close childhood friend from Wales.

''He had two passports.''

London's Metropolitan Police revealed Williams had been logging on to bondage websites and had visited a drag cabaret four days before his death.

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."

Express : MI6 SPY LOCKED IN BAG GARETH WILLIAMS ‘WASN’T GAY’

MI6 SPY LOCKED IN BAG GARETH WILLIAMS ‘WASN’T GAY’

The mystery over MI6 spy Gareth Williams’ death deepened yesterday

By Cyril Dixon | December 27, 2010

THE mystery over MI6 spy Gareth Williams’ death deepened yesterday after a friend said he was not gay and was about to begin a new tour of duty.

Sian Lloyd-Jones claimed the maths genius, 31, was set to take on a new identity for an assignment with the intelligence agency.

The 33-year-old former school friend of Mr Williams claimed £15,000 worth of women’s clothes and accessories found in his flat were gifts for someone else. The naked body of Mr Williams, a Cambridge-educated codebreaker, was found inside a padlocked holdall at his flat in Pimlico, central London, last August.

Last week police revealed details of the unworn designer clothes and wigs in his wardrobe, and released images of a couple they wanted to trace.

But Miss Lloyd-Jones said the outfits were probably gifts for herself or his sister Ceri.

“He said he was learning his new identity,” she said. “It was all so relaxed. That night he came over with his box file and started going through it. He had two passports.

“He was open with his family, and if he was gay and had any temptations he would have spoken about them.”

Police say it would have been impossible for him to lock himself in the holdall.

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.

Gulf News : Spy found dead at home was assigned new identity

Spy found dead at home was assigned new identity

Details of the 31-year-old's role within the secret services are disclosed in an interview with his confidante and childhood sweetheart, Sian Lloyd-Jones

By Daniel Boffey, Daily Mail | December 27, 2010

London: The spy found dead in a sports bag had been given a new identity by his MI6 bosses in the months leading up to his mysterious death.

Gareth Williams, a GCHQ codebreaker on secondment to MI6, had two passports and told his best friend that he was preparing for an undercover operation.

Details of the 31-year-old's role within the secret services are disclosed today in an interview with his confidante and childhood sweetheart, Sian Lloyd-Jones, 33.

In an interview with The Mail on Sunday, she said: "I find it difficult to see anything in his personal life which could lie behind this."

Williams was training to take on a new identity eight months before he was found dead, she said.

The maths genius was found dead two days before he was due to visit Paris with his sister.

The revelations shed new light on Williams' work which, until now, had been regarded as highly technical and carrying little risk.

Training exercise

His body was found inside a zipped and padlocked North Face holdall in the bathroom of his MI6 flat on August 23. A post-mortem was inconclusive.

"He said he was learning his new identity," Lloyd-Jones said.

"In February he said he'd be unavailable for nine days because he was on a training exercise. He'd often go away, so I didn't think any more about it."

She added that she last heard from Williams on the day he was last seen alive when he was "happy and warm and the same as he always was".

Herald Scotland : [Letter] Echoes of the Devil’s Music

Echoes of the Devil’s Music

December 26, 2010

You raised the possibility that Mossad had secretly "signed off" its handiwork by including the Latin word "myrtus" in the computer code that recently disabled Iran’s nuclear facilities (Assassins, cyber worms and Iran’s nuclear ambitions, News, December 5). You report that the Hebrew word for myrtle is Hadassah, also the birth name of the Jewish Queen Esther, famous for persuading her husband to execute a pre-emptive strike against their enemies.

The probability that this Mossad signature was deliberately planted is strong. The intelligence services have a high conceit of themselves, and secret agents naturally look for forms of recognition that are normally denied them.

For example, the recent enquiry into the death of the British code breaker, Gareth Williams, was named "Operation Finlayson". Why? The explanation may be simple. There is an old story in Highland Scotland about a Mary Finlayson, who at a dance in Ross-shire announced she would dance any man in the hall – even the devil himself – off his feet. All night, Mary Finlayson danced with a tall dark stranger whom nobody knew – to the tune Bog an Lochan, known as the Devil’s Music. "Next morning they found the girl – lying cold, spread-eagled – on the floor of the hall". This story was told to me by Alec John Williamson, the last great Traveller Gaelic tradition-bearer on the mainland of Scotland and is an allegory of the dangers facing anyone who challenges the dominant order.

Now we know that the intelligence operative, Gareth Williams, was a brilliant mathematician and code-breaker from the Isle of Anglesey, the great centre of British druidism. We also know that it was in Anglesey that the Romans slaughtered "the last" of the Druids; that it was where Edward Langshanks slaughtered the remnants of Welsh druidism, and it is where the body of Gareth Williams now lies. At his funeral, Sir John Sawers, head of MI6, made a surprise appearance.

Is it possible that Gareth Williams, like Mary Finlayson, overstepped the mark and suffered death not just as a personal reward but as a clear signal to others that political hubris will not be tolerated?

Timothy Neat

Wormit, Fife

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.

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.

Observer : MI6 codebreaker's bizarre death provides fodder for conspiracy theories

MI6 codebreaker's bizarre death provides fodder for conspiracy theories

Gareth Williams, whose body was found inside a sports bag four months ago, joins a list of unexplained deaths that fuel conspiracy theories

Jamie Doward | The Observer | December 26, 2010

MI6 codebreaker Gareth Williams, whose decomposing body was found locked inside a sports bag four months ago, is the latest addition to a small group whose unexplained deaths provide fodder for conspiracy theorists.

An early entrant to the club was Lionel "Buster" Crabb, an MI6 diver who in 1956 was dispatched into Portsmouth harbour to reconnoitre a Russian ship and was never seen again. A headless and handless corpse was found in the vicinity a year later, but there was no proof it was Crabb.

One of the most famous unsolved deaths is that of Roberto Calvi, found hanging from Blackfriars Bridge in 1982. Suggestions that the Italian financier, who is alleged to have had links to the Vatican, the mafia and freemasonry, took his own life were dispelled and his death was classed as murder. Five people were tried in Rome in 2007 for the killing, but no one was convicted.

In 1978, Georgi Markov, a Bulgarian communist defector living in London, died after being stabbed in the thigh by a man holding an umbrella. A postmortem examination established that he had been killed by a tiny pellet containing the poison ricin. No one was charged and the subsequent deaths of those believed to have sanctioned the killing helped to perpetuate interest in the case. Markov's death bore similarities to the murder of Alexander Litvinenko, who was poisoned in 2006 by suspected Russian agents but, again, no one was charged.

The police have cooled towards the idea that Williams's death was linked to his job, but if he had not worked for MI6 it would have gained little attention. Fascination with his demise will end only if the case is proven conclusively to have had nothing to do with his secret service activities.

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.

Daily Mail : No more leaks about this spy Gareth Williams... just the truth

MAIL ON SUNDAY COMMENT: No more leaks about this spy Gareth Williams... just the truth

By Mail On Sunday Comment | December 26, 2010

A spy dies in sad, complicated circumstances during the summer doldrums, causing grief for his family and triggering a welter of media speculation.

Five months later, despite intensive efforts by the police and security ser­vices, we are no nearer to discovering why the body of Gareth Williams ended up in a sports bag in an MI6 safehouse.

Lurid claims have been made about his lifestyle and alleged sexual proclivities – many traceable to sources in the investigation – only to be swiftly repudiated.

The aim appears to be to suggest that his demise was linked to his private life.

Now we are told that he was not a GCHQ analyst who spent his time geekily buried in his books: he confided to his (female) best friend that he was in the process of acquiring a second identity, which suggests that his professional life was far more hazardous than we have been led to believe.

As with the death of weapons inspector David Kelly – which has never been the subject of an inquest – the suspicion ­lingers that we are being denied the full story. The rash of conspiracy theories has been the inevitable result.

Next month there will be an inquest into the death of Gareth Williams, when we should be entitled to hear the truth about how and why he died. At least we hope that is what will happen. The recent record is not encouraging.

The hearing into the death of barrister Mark Saunders, killed by the police two years ago, was undermined by the fact that the police gave their evidence anonymously. They treated it so casually that some officers even incorporated song lyrics into their testimony.

Too often ‘security concerns’ are cited as a reason to limit access to the truth, undermining the basic constitutional principle that the Judiciary should operate separately from the Executive.

In the case of Mr Williams, we owe it to him, his family and his colleagues who risk their lives daily in the interests of our country, to hold a rigorous and fully independent inquest into his death.

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.

Guardian : MI6 agent Gareth Williams was not gay, says friend

MI6 agent Gareth Williams was not gay, says friend

Sian Lloyd-Jones tells Mail on Sunday that codebreaker was preparing to take on new identity before his death

Press Association | December 26, 2010

MI6 agent Gareth Williams was preparing to take on a new identity eight months before he was found dead, it was reported today.

A close friend insisted the Williams was a straight man 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, 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."

She said Williams had been looking for a girlfriend. "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," she said. "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.

They also say forensic evidence indicates other people were in Williams's Pimlico flat, but they have been unable to trace them.

Scotland Yard said it was impossible to say whether Williams was already dead when he was put in the bag or suffocated once zipped inside.

The spy also hoarded unworn women's designer clothes worth £15,000 in his wardrobe alongside several wigs.

Lloyd-Jones, who went to primary school with Williams before renewing their friendship four years ago, said the outfits were probably gifts for her or his sister Ceri.

"He bought me a high-end Balenciaga top, a Gucci bag, a Mulberry bag, an Armani fur. He did the same for his sister. "I truly believe that Ceri and I were going to receive the clothing. We received so many things from him, that wouldn't have been strange," she said.

Lloyd-Jones added that the wigs could have been for a fancy dress party in October, which he planned to attend as a Japanese superhero.

Williams, of Anglesey, north Wales, was found by police at his top-floor flat in Alderney Street, Pimlico, on 23 August.

Investigators believe he died in the early hours of Monday 16 August; he was last seen the previous day returning from a shopping trip to Harrods.

His decomposing body was in a large North Face holdall sealed by a travel-style Yale padlock through the zip fasteners. The keys were inside, under his body.

The mathematician worked as a cipher and codes expert for GCHQ, the government listening station, but had been on secondment to MI6.

Postmortem tests and a police inquiry failed to determine how he died. A spokesman for Scotland Yard said it would not be making any further comment on the investigation.

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

Daily Mail : The secret double identity of murdered spy: Friend insists Gareth Williams was not gay - and was being trained by MI6 for undercover role

The secret double identity of murdered spy: Friend insists Gareth Williams was not gay - and was being trained by MI6 for undercover role

The spy found dead in a sports bag had been given a new identity by his MI6 bosses in the months leading up to his mysterious death.

By Daniel Boffey | December 25, 2010

Gareth Williams, a GCHQ codebreaker on secondment to MI6, had two passports and told his best friend that he was preparing for an undercover operation.

Details of the 31-year-old’s role within the secret services are disclosed today in an interview with his confidante and childhood sweetheart, Sian Lloyd-Jones.

In an interview with The Mail on Sunday, she said: ‘I find it difficult to see anything in his personal life which could lie behind this.’

She reveals:

* He was training to take on a new identity eight months before he was found dead.
* He often purchased designer women’s clothes, but she insists they were gifts for her and his sister.
* The maths genius was found dead two days before he was due to visit Paris with his sister.

The revelations shed new light on Mr Williams’s work which, until now, had been regarded as highly technical and carrying little risk.

His body was found inside a zipped and padlocked North Face holdall in the bathroom of his MI6 flat on August 23. A post-mortem was inconclusive.

Last week police released e-fits of a couple they wish to question and provided intimate details about Mr Williams’s life, including his interest in bondage websites and his extraordinary collection of women’s designer clothes and shoes, worth about £15,000.

But Ms Lloyd-Jones, 33, claims Mr Williams would have confided in her and his sister, Ceri, if he had any homosexual urges. Ms Lloyd-Jones, a fashion stylist, said: ‘I’m not in denial and nor is his mum, dad or sister. It would have been fine if he was [gay].

‘I have seen every item of clothing that was there. I truly believe that Ceri and I were going to receive the clothing. He was so generous you wouldn’t believe.’

She finds it difficult to see anything in his private life which could have led to his killing.

But she reveals his work was more complex than previously believed.

‘He said he was learning his new identity,’ she said. ‘In February he said he’d be unavailable for nine days because he was on a training exercise. He’d often go away, so I didn’t think any more about it.’

Ms Lloyd-Jones added that she last heard from Mr Williams on the day he was last seen alive when he was ‘happy and warm and the same as he always was’.

But it was Mr Williams’s sister – who was due to accompany him on a trip to Paris later that week – who alerted her that something may be wrong when she couldn’t get hold of him on the phone. She said that was when she became worried ‘because he’s like clockwork, he’s so predictable’.

There's no mystery about those women's clothes. He bought them for me and his sister

To Sian Lloyd-Jones, it was just another ordinary evening. A fashion stylist, she was pottering around the sitting room of her Knightsbridge flat organising outfits for the following day’s photoshoot.

Meanwhile her friend, Gareth Williams, was sitting on the sofa leafing through the contents of a black box file. Inside there were documents and notes and two passports.

‘He said he was learning his new identity,’ says Sian now. ‘It was all so relaxed. I was taping up shoes and co-ordinating outfits and he was going through his papers.

‘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. He probably fell asleep on the sofa that night and stayed overnight with all the documents.’

At the time, Sian thought nothing of it. Nor did she think it significant when Gareth said he’d be ‘unavailable’ for nine days the following month as he would be away on a training exercise.

Sian knew her friend was a spy and that his job would often take him away for weeks at a time. She also knew there was a necessary element of secrecy to his life. What she couldn’t know was that eight months later, Gareth would be found dead, and in the most horrific circumstances.

It was on August 23 that police were called to Gareth’s flat in Pimlico, Central London, an MI6-owned safe house. He had been missing for more than a week. They found his decomposed body locked in a large red North Face sports bag.

In the months since, his friends and family have not only had to try to come to terms with their loss, they have had to endure a stream of unsavoury leaks from mysterious sources.

It was rumoured that Gareth, 31, was gay after bondage equipment was allegedly found in his apartment along with phone numbers for gay escorts. This was denied by the police, but by then the damage had already been done. Then there were reported irregularities in his finances, also denied.

And last week there were further lurid allegations after police said they wanted to question a Mediterranean couple who were seen calling at Gareth’s flat before he died. But as well as releasing e-fits of the unknown man and woman, they revealed that Gareth had bought £15,000 of designer clothes and shoes, including labels such as Stella McCartney and Christian Louboutin. They were all stored unopened in their bags and boxes alongside a number of women’s wigs.

Police disclosed that Gareth had visited five bondage websites, which were not pornographic but would give readers advice on how to get in and out of confined spaces. They also said they had found tickets for a number of drag shows.

Gareth devoted his life to serving his country. He was already acknowledged as a talented codebreaker and had worked for the Government listening post GCHQ for ten years before being seconded for a year to MI6. Now, it appears he was rather more than that and was involved in the type of tradecraft more commonly found in a John le Carre novel. There is even a plaque to him at GCHQ in Cheltenham in honour of his work.

'The person everyone talks about .  .  . I don’t recognise him at all. He was the complete opposite of everything that has been said about him.'

Yet the constant drip-feed of sordid allegations has not only destroyed his reputation, it suggests that he is somehow to blame for his own demise. For Sian, and for Gareth’s parents, Ian and Ellen, and sister Ceri, this has caused untold pain at an already heart-wrenching time.

Until now, those close to Gareth have kept their counsel. Yet now Sian, 33, has agreed to speak about the man she has known since she was eight; a man who is very different from the one she keeps hearing about in the media.

A bubbly, garrulous young woman, who also comes from Gareth’s home town of Holyhead, she’s not the sort of girl who would be friends with a ‘strange loner’, as Gareth has so often been painted.

She says: ‘The person everyone talks about .  .  . I don’t recognise him at all. He was the complete opposite of everything that has been said about him. It’s been awful for everyone but particularly his family. They’re at breaking point, to be honest. They’re not celebrating Christmas. They weren’t going to anyway but the latest revelations have just made it even worse for them.

‘They’re completely broken by this because it’s not the true Gareth at all. He was a lovely guy, a true, old-school gentleman. He had an excellent sense of humour and, from the bottom of my heart, he was the most charming, sensitive, gorgeous man. Truly, he was one in a million. He was somebody who really had a sound judgment for life.

‘He was very effortless as a person. Nothing was a bother to him; whether you asked him to call you a cab or do a big deed, he was always the same. He wasn’t a loner and he wasn’t lonely. He had close chums in Cheltenham whom he was very friendly with and whom he spoke highly of, but because of the line of work they do they naturally keep in the background. He loved what he did and he thrived on it. He was a workaholic. That kept him very happy and content.

‘When Gareth was not at work, I was the person he spent more time with than anyone else. I have thought about this every day since he died. I find it difficult to see anything in his personal life which could lie behind this. But I know this is a murder investigation so we must remain open to every possibility.

‘His family respect, 100 per cent, that he worked for MI6. I and the family respect the role he was
in. But personally, I don’t think we’ll ever get an answer as to what happened.’

As for the latest allegations, Sian rejects them absolutely. While most men might not keep thousands of pounds of designer clothes, she says it was merely a sign of his generosity. She told police in the summer that Gareth would often buy her and his sister, Ceri, expensive gifts and she believes the clothes were meant for them.

As if to prove it, she points to her £760 Stella McCartney PVC trousers which were a present from Gareth.

She says: ‘I’ve seen every item of clothing that was there in the flat. There was Diana von Furstenberg, Stella McCartney, all in a size 6 or 8 which he wouldn’t even fit an arm or a leg into. He was small but not that small. And the shoes they found in his apartment were not in his size, but his sister’s. He was so generous you wouldn’t believe.

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

‘The list is endless. He bought me a high-end Balenciaga top, a Gucci bag, a Mulberry bag, an Armani fur. He did the same for his sister. I truly believe that Ceri and I were going to receive the clothing. We received so many things from him, that wouldn’t have been strange.’

As for the women’s wigs, Sian says there is an entirely innocent explanation. ‘He and an American friend were going to a fancy-dress party in October,’ she says. One of his hobbies was Japanese superhero cartoons and they were going to go as two of the characters. They were pink and yellow and those are the only wigs that were found.

‘I didn’t know he went to the drag clubs but I think that was quite a new thing. He spoke in depth to his sister about everything. He mentioned he’d been to the transvestite comedy club so it’s not something he was trying to hide.’

The constant implication throughout all the rumour and counter-rumour is that Gareth was gay. This is something Sian also denies. She says: ‘They said last week that he had been training in fashion, doing night school at Central St Martin’s. I didn’t know about that but I knew he liked fashion. He saw it as art.

‘He had lots of magazines at his flat, Italian Vogue and all sorts, but 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 “innuendoes” about him.

‘His father was his best friend and he adored his mother and his sister. 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. He wanted a girlfriend and he wanted a wife and family. The truth is he wished he was better with women. He had a mild stutter, which was a big barrier as it would get worse when he was nervous.

I don’t know if he ever had a girlfriend. There weren’t any I was aware of but to be honest, we never mentioned it. I know it was my next big project to get him a girlfriend. He felt he lacked confidence with women. He cherished the time he had with his sister and with me and he wanted that with other girls. I know because Gareth had a bit of a soft spot for me.’

Sian and Gareth first met at Ysgol Gynradd Morswyn primary school where her mother, Eleri, was a dinner lady. Her father Alwyn was a BT engineer.

Gareth was two years younger than her, the brilliant child prodigy of Ian, an engineer at Wylfa power station, and Ellen, who worked in education. Sian says: ‘He was moved up two years because he was so clever. He used to read encyclo-pedias at six. Even in primary school, he was doing his GCSEs during lunchtime.

'I was quite naughty at school. I used to sell his homework. He used to have a big list. People used to come, all those who couldn’t do their maths, and he would do it for them.'

‘We were childhood sweethearts at school. Then when we went to Bodedern, our secondary school, he moved on leaps and bounds with his intellect. He really was a genius. I would say a date, say May 15, 1974, and he would count back and then say, yes it was a Wednesday. He could work it out. But if he was here today, he’d hang out and enjoy a chat and a catch up. He was so approachable.

‘I was quite naughty at school. I used to sell his homework. He used to have a big list. People used to come, all those who couldn’t do their maths, and he would do it for them. We only sold it for school dinner money, 70p a time or something like that, and I used to buy magazines. He got nothing, to be honest. He didn’t want anything. That’s how he was, how we were as friends.’

After school the two friends went their separate ways.

Mr Williams gained special permission to leave school for Bangor University aged just 15, and at 18 he left home to study for a PhD at Manchester University. Three years later, he was approached by the British security services, who apparently spotted his precocious online gaming abilities.

Sian left school at 16 to become a window-dresser for Next in Bangor before going on to become a celebrity fashion stylist. She moved to Manchester and worked on Hollyoaks and Coronation Street.

It was in Manchester, four years ago, that she bumped into Gareth again. She says: ‘It was surreal at first. I was coming down the escalators at Selfridges and I spotted him coming up. We took off again. We went out for a drink and chatted. To be honest with you, I think we were both slightly in awe of each other. We were both excited by what the other was doing and amused too. He told me he was working for GCHQ.

‘We talked for a couple of hours and made a pact we would always stay in touch, and we did. We called each other every week from then on. And he would come up roughly once a month. He was hugely into music, from classical to rap. Music was his life. He’d always tie up his visits with a gig at the MEN Arena or the Apollo. I never went with him, I’d meet him afterwards or the next day. He’d often help me with the shopping for my shoots.’

Two years ago Sian moved to London, where she lives with her partner of three years Saul Herd, 37, who runs a corporate flooring company. Gareth also moved to the capital after he was seconded to MI6.

She says: ‘Our friendship deepened. We didn’t have many friends around us – he’d moved from Cheltenham, I’d moved from Manchester – and so we stuck closely together. We’d grown up together and enjoyed each other’s company.

‘We used to go to Nobu Berkeley Square in Mayfair. He always treated me. We just used to hang out.

‘Sometimes we’d go to the Fifth Floor bar at Harvey Nichols and drink cocktails. It would be apple sours for me. He would have a non-alcoholic cocktail. He used to join in with whatever was there, white wine or champagne if there was a group, but he wasn’t a drinker. If it was just me and him he wouldn’t have anything at all.

‘He used to just turn up at any time. He was always welcome. I might have spoken to him and told him I was finishing late and he would pop round. Sometimes he would stay over on the sofa. He would always bring me a bottle of rosé and often some cigarettes. He was a true old-school gentleman.

‘He loved candles. He used to love burning my expensive candles and then we’d have a catch-up and a gossip. There was no one like him, I had such an in-depth relationship with him. He was so knowledgeable about everything from restaurants to cars to maths to politics.’

Sian last saw Gareth in April. She had moved back to Wales for a while to take a break from the pressures of London life, while he was preparing to go on a driving holiday to the West Coast of America during July and August.

She says: ‘Before he went to America, we went down to Trearddur Bay and watched the sunset. We’d spent the whole afternoon together. I was at home with my parents and he stopped by. He was excited about his trip. He seemed very together. There was nothing troubling him. It was just a lovely, completely normal afternoon.’

She had no way of knowing she would never see Gareth again. The couple stayed in touch, as ever, on the phone and he called her on August 14, the day of the last known sighting of him at Holland Park Tube station. She says: ‘He just said, “Hi darling, how’s it hanging?”

‘He said he was leaving London and moving back to Cheltenham, and wondering when we would meet up next. He was happy and warm and the same as he always was. He left the message on the Saturday but I didn’t get it until the Wednesday as I was in Spain for work and couldn’t pick up messages abroad.

‘He was fine, which is why I’m sure he didn’t try to take his own life. And anyway, he’d never do that. He loved his family too much to commit suicide. Then on August 23, the day he was found, Ceri called me at 11am and asked if I’d heard from him. I said, “Yes, a week ago.” He and Ceri were due to go to Paris on the Wednesday of that week. She’d tried to get in touch over the weekend and there was no answer on the home phone or the mobile.

‘It was odd she hadn’t heard from him, particularly as they were going away. She said, “What do you think?” I told her I was sure it was nothing to worry about. But the minute I put the phone down, I knew something was wrong. He was like clockwork, so predictable. It was completely out of character for him.

‘I spoke to Ceri again later and we both admitted we were worried. We thought he must have had an accident or something. She called his work and they said he hadn’t shown up for a meeting on Wednesday.’

That day all their lives changed when Gareth was found dead. A month later, on September 24, they buried Gareth at Bethel Methodist Chapel in Anglesey. The head of MI6, Sir John Sawers, attended.

Sian says: ‘The family were really happy he came. There were around 20 people from his work there. They came in through the back door of the chapel and had a separate area they were guided into. To be honest, I don’t think anyone really noticed as there were so many people there.’

But they can never fully lay Gareth to rest until they have some idea as to how, and why, he died. Sian says: ‘I’m not sure we ever will know but the family need some answers. If anyone has any information about what happened to Gareth, I hope they will come forward. It’s not fair for his family to suffer like this.

Telegraph : New Mossad chief to apologise for use of UK passports in Dubai killing

New Mossad chief to apologise for use of UK passports in Dubai killing

By Gordon Thomas | December 25, 2010

The new head of Israel's secret service, Mossad, is ready to apologise for the use of forged British passports during the assassination of a leading Hamas militant in Dubai.

Tamir Pardo, who took over as Mossad's chief earlier this month, will also promise that Israeli agents will never again be allowed to use fake British documents during operations abroad.

Mossad insiders say he will make the pledges to officials in London and, he hopes, in private meetings with the foreign secretary, William Hague, and the home secretary, Theresa May, as part of an urgent drive to rebuild relations with the UK government, thrown into disarray earlier this year.

In March Britain expelled Mossad's station chief in London, a key foreign posting, after an investigation blamed Israel's secret service for cloning 12 British passports that were found among 26 forged identity documents used by the hit squad that murdered Mahmoud al Mabhouh in January.

David Milliband, then foreign secretary, told MPs that Israel had shown a "profound disregard" for British sovereignty, adding: "The fact that this was done by a country which is a friend, with significant diplomatic, cultural, business and personal ties to the UK, only adds insult to injury."

Mr Pardo, 57, who was deputy director of Mossad for the past three years, is said by a source involved in the planning of the operation to have argued against using British, Irish and Australian passports for the team sent to murder al Mabhouh in his hotel room.

But Meir Dagan, the Mossad chief who stepped aside this month, insisted that with so many visitors from those three countries travelling to Dubai, their passports would not be scrutinised. After the Dubai debacle, the source said, Mr Pardo warned Dagan that the "whole business will come home to haunt us".

Mr Pardo, known as "T" to fellow Mossad officers since he joined the service 30 years ago, is said to regard the expulsion of the service's top official in London as a blow to the organisation. Since then official collaboration between Mossad and the British agencies responsible for security at home and abroad, MI5 and MI6, has been badly dented, to the detriment of both.

But Mr Dagan bluntly refused to apologise over the use of the faked passports – let alone offer the guarantee demanded by Britain that the theft would not recur.

Mr Pardo's apology and pledge during a visit to London that is expected early in January would be the first official acknowledgement by Israel that it was behind the assassination of the Hamas leader in Dubai.

He is expected to brief officials on Mossad's plans to provide Britain and Nato with increased intelligence over Iran's nuclear weapons programme. Mossad has a network of undercover agents in the country.

He also intends to increase Mossad's role in Yemen and to spearhead the hunt for al-Qaeda's new chief of military operations, Saif al-Adel, who Mossad believe is based in Somalia.

At the same time he wants to expand Mossad's watch over the SVR, Russia's foreign intelligence service, which is an increasing presence in Syria and Turkey – and is using both countries as launch pads from which to enter Europe. In his first briefing to senior staff after he took up his new post, Mr Pardo said Mossad had a key role to play in helping the West win what he called "the new Cold War".

He wants to persuade Britain's intelligence chiefs – Sir John Sawers, the head of MI6 and Jonathan Evans, the MI5 director – that it is now essential for the relationship with Mossad to be rebuilt. Sir John and he are said by insiders to have had an exploratory telephone conversation soon after the new Mossad chief took up his new job.

He has already made his first move to mend fences by deploying Mossad's powerful facial recognition technology to assist in solving the mystery of the death of MI6 codebreaker Gareth Williams, whose body was discovered in a padlocked bag in the bath of a flat in London.

The sophisticated system, known as Faces, is being used to sift through Mossad's vast database of faces to try to match e-fit images of the couple of Mediterranean appearance who Scotland Yard detectives believe had visited the flat in previous weeks. The Israeli agency believes the man is likely to be of Greek origin and the woman to have a Lebanese background.

Mr Pardo hopes to negotiate the return of a new station chief - the top Mossad post in London - who, because of Israel's normally friendly relations with Britain, would be formally "declared" to the Foreign Office as a Mossad officer working undercover as a diplomat at the Israeli embassy. The United States and some other countries deemed to be "friendly" have similar arrangements with the Foreign Office, which allows a spy to meet on a regular – and more open basis – Britain's own intelligence chiefs and senior government officers.

Ari Ben-Menashe, a former national security adviser to the Israeli government, has described "declared" positions as the plums among Mossad's foreign postings. "Socially, especially around Christmas, the station chief gets invites to every government party," he said. "The same with national holidays like Australia or Bastille days. A station chief has his membership for most of the exclusive clubs around Whitehall, and he gets to meet all sorts of interesting people."

Mr Pardo is himself an expert in telephone tapping and the discreet photographing of a target who has operated for Mossad all over the world.

He will brief British officials on how Mossad has placed deep cover agents in areas where MI6 cannot easily operate in Asia, Yemen and Iran. It has also established the strength of China's cyber war ability to attack the West. Mossad also has agents in Afghanistan tracking the Taliban.

Gordon Thomas is the author of Gideon's Spies, The Inside Story of Israel's Legendary Secret Service (JR Books)