Telegraph : MI6 spy found in sports bag had been playing sex game, police believe

MI6 spy found in sports bag had been playing sex game, police believe

The spy whose naked body was found in a sports bag in an empty bath in Pimlico was probably involved in an unusual sex game, police now believe.

By Duncan Gardham, Security Correspondent | September 19, 2010

Having ruled out almost every other possibility, officers have come round to the view that Gareth Williams probably died after climbing into the bag which was then locked by another person.

It is unclear whether he did so on instructions from the other person or was locked in at his own request, but detectives believe that he was probably involved in some sado-masochistic game in which he got a kick from being helpless.

It is likely that once locked and left in the bag, he died from a combination of causes including suffocation and dehydration, which have been difficult to identify in a post-mortem.

The red North Face holdall was made from a laminate material and had reinforced seams, making it both hot and almost impossible to escape from. The top floor flat is likely to have heated up in the August weather, causing Mr Williams to pass out.

The bag was padlocked from the outside and officers believe the other person was supposed to return to the flat to release him but when they did so, they found him dead.

Scotland Yard is still seeking a Mediterranean couple aged between 20 and 30, who were let into the spy’s flat in Alderney Street, Pimlico, central London, late one evening in June or July.

“They haven’t come forward and we have to ask ourselves why that would be,” one source said.

Officers have been unwilling to ascribe motives to the killing before investigating all the options, which included the possibility that Mr Williams was murdered to prevent him continuing vital work into intercepting and decrypting messages sent by foreign powers.

But continuing toxicology tests have so far failed to find any signs of poisons in his system and previous tests have ruled out alcohol and recreational drugs. No bruising was found on the body, making strangulation unlikely.

Detectives from Scotland Yard’s Homicide Task Force investigating the case say they did not find any other signs of a sexual fetish at Mr Williams’s flat, although investigations continue into his internet and telephone use.

They have been keen not to jump to conclusions in the interests of pursuing all possible leads but they now believe he took off his own clothes and see a sex game as the most likely scenario.

So far investigators have failed to positively identify whether someone else was in the flat around the time of the death but further fingerprint and DNA analysis is being conducted.

One source close to the inquiry told the Daily Telegraph: “We began with a variety of less probable scenarios, eliminating each one until we ended up with the most likely. “Human beings are funny things and they have all kinds of predilections. These bags have warnings about keeping them away from children because they can cause suffocation.”

Mr Williams, 31, a keen cyclist and maths prodigy from Anglesey, North Wales, was found dead in the MI6 flat where he lived while he was on secondment from GCHQ.

He had returned from a holiday in the US on August 11 and was last seen alive on CCTV footage at Holland Park tube station on August 14 and shopping in Harrods in Knightsbridge the following day.

The post mortem results suggest he died soon afterwards but his body was not found until eight days later when colleagues raised the alarm.

CCTV cameras are not routinely fitted to the homes of the 2,200 spies employed by MI6, sources said.

This Is Gloucestershire : GCHQ man 'died in sex game' - claim

GCHQ man 'died in sex game' - claim

September 19, 2010

GCHQ codebreaker Dr Gareth Williams died during a bizarre "autoerotic" experiment, according to a report.

Dr Williams, who worked at the Government base in Cheltenham for 10 years, was found dead inside a bag in his London flat on August 23.

Now, The Sunday Times has reported an unnamed security official as saying detectives believe his death may have been self-inflicted.

The paper quotes its source as saying: "The emerging background is something almost certainly autoerotic."

WorldNetDaily : Toxins investigated in spy's death

Toxins investigated in spy's death

Analyst: 'Look east: Chinese have history of creating poison'

September 17, 2010

Scientists at Porton Down, Britain's chemical and biological warfare establishment on the edge of Salisbury Plain, have ruled out that Gareth Williams, the GCHQ spy, was poisoned by polonium, the lethal radioactive poison that killed Alexander Litvinenco, a report from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin confirms.

But they have identified a number of lethal fast-acting toxins which would have left no trace in his body long before it was found inside a padlocked holdall inside his MI6 safe house in Pimlico, London.

Porton Down has a special unit housed in the building where government microbiologist Dr. David Kelly had his own research laboratories. The unit specializes in analyzing poisons used by foreign intelligence services.

Last week it was reported that the Russian government had given the Foreign Office a "guarantee" that its intelligence service, SVR, had not murdered Williams. The Foreign Office has refused to discuss the matter. But MI6 insist the Russians were not involved.

An intelligence source close to the Williams investigation suggested "look east: The Chinese have a long history of creating the perfect poison."

China's scientists work in laboratories inside the Ministry of State Security, MSS, complex. Their department is known as the Investigative Bureau, and near the Forbidden City in Beijing.

The bureau has ultimate control over all China's intelligence operations. These including recruiting double agents and paying the fees of Chinese students to study abroad. Graduates are urged to find jobs in the defense industries like Britain and the United States.

© 2010 WorldNetDaily

Channel 4 : Did MI6 spy Gareth Williams commit suicide?

Did MI6 spy Gareth Williams commit suicide?

By Jonathan Rugman | September 14, 2010

One of the greatest mysteries of recent weeks has been the unexplained death of an MI6 employee found in a padlocked and zipped up bag in the bath of his flat. Channel 4 News' Jonathan Rugman analyses the possibility of suicide.
Gareth Williams, one of the last pictures taken of the MI6 spy, who was found dead padlocked into a sports bag (Image: Reuters)

The circumstances of his passing are so bizarre that no conspiracy theory can be ruled out - and nor will anything be ruled out until the police investgation is complete - but one theory currently in play is suicide.

This may sound extraordinary, but when you look at what we know, suicide may be no more extraordinary than any other aspect of this remarkable spy-novel case, which the police are still not confident enough to call murder.

Gareth Williams was found dead by police in Pimlico on August 23rd. The door of his flat was double-locked and a forensic sweep of his Alderney Street flat has not, as far as we know, revealed signs of forced entry.

Police toxicologists have concluded that drugs or alcohol did not contribute to his death, though more toxicology tests may be required. Police have appealed for information about a "Mediterranean couple" - a phrase which surely should be consigned to the novels of Agatha Christie or Eric Ambler - who apparently visited the flat a few weeks before.

But this may just be due diligence on the part of an investigative team duty bound to keep an open mind. From the very beginning, there has been no suggestion from the corridors of Whitehall that a national security breach has occurred.

Conspiracy theorists will argue that this is a cover up by the Secret Intelligence Service or SIS, but for now I don't buy that.

First off, we know that Mr Williams travelled to the US listening centre in Maryland where he also worked, but he did not have any dealings - that we know of - with governments or foreign intellligence agencies potentially hostile to Britain.

Nor is there any reason to think that the Talibans or Al Qaeda, in their many franchises, knew who he was. And if terrorists killed him, surely they would have told us by now?

There is no evidence - again, that we know of - that anything like a laptop or mobile phone was taken from Williams' flat. In fact, we know that his phone SIM cards were neatly laid out on a table.

At first this was interpreted as a sign of a ritualistic killing, but with hindsight it may have been just the punctiliousness of a very private man - ideal for his job, I would have thought. Mr Williams was on secondment to MI6 from GCHQ in Cheltenham and was due to return to Gloucestershire imminently.

This fact - that he was going back to his former place of employment - is the only potential "trigger moment" we have which could provide a clue to the puzzle of his death. In the week the police found the body, I reported for Channel 4 News the theory that the code expert's "sexual preferences" may have had something to do with his death.

Two days later, The Sunday Times reported that it had spoken to two witnesses who had seen Mr Williams on the gay scene in South London.

All this apparently appalled the dead man's family in Wales - only beginning to come to terms with his tragic death - and both they and the police let it be known that this was not a useful line of enquiry. One outraged family member suggested that this could be an orchestrated "dirty tricks" campaign by British Intelligence. What would be the merits of MI6 falsely describing its employee as gay?

MI6 employs gay people, and like every other branch of the civil service it cannot discriminate against them. What it may not be able to tolerate is the security risk of an employee being a closet gay - leading a double life on top of their double life as a spy - in case this leaves an employee open to blackmail.

A "dirty tricks" campaign unfairly suggesting that Williams was a closet homosexual in fact does the reputations of GCHQ and MI6 few favours, because it makes it obvious that their supposedly rigorous vetting procedures failed. In other words, it is an "own goal" for SIS. So why suggest it if it wasn't true?

To disguise the fact that the Russians or the Iranians or Mafia hit men killed him, when they could have killed him in myriad and far less bizarre ways if they had wanted to, assuming they had even known who he was? Which brings us back to the body in the bag.

A padlocked bag in a flat which was double-locked with no sign of forced entry that we know of. Could the bag have been padlocked from the inside?

It has been reported that it could. Which leads us to the theory - and that is all this is - that an act of "erotic self-asphyxiation" or sex game caused Gareth Williams' death, either by accident or on purpose.

And if it was on purpose and involved no one else, what was the trigger? Perhaps it was his imminent departure from the bright lights of London and his return to his old life in Cheltenham.

I repeat that this is just a theory based on the little that we know; but Gareth Williams lived in a world of secrets, and perhaps the secret of his private life was, for him, one secret too many.

Daily Rosetta : US Expert to Solve Gareth Williams Death Mystery

US Expert to Solve Gareth Williams Death Mystery

by Violeta Bahin | September 14, 2010

Concern is growing within the intelligence community that the MI6 spy Gareth Williams, who was found dead in his London flat, may have been the victim of a professional hit man by a foreign power.

Now, a leading pathologist from US may fly this week to try to unravel the mystery behind the mystery death of Williams after a post-mortem examination failed to reveal the cause of death as detectives remain puzzled over his death. The said expert has been trained in CIA and FBI techniques to look for sophisticated methods of assassinations using hard-to-detect substances.

Reports claimed that Williams had told his bosses he believed he was being followed by two men. On Monday police discarded this idea then admitted they wanted to trace the mystery couple.

“I would appeal to anyone who may have seen or had contact with Gareth in the period between August 11 and 23 to come forward and speak with us at the Incident Room on 0208 358 0200, or to remain anonymous by calling Crime stoppers on 0800 555 111,” Detective Chief Inspector Jacqueline Sebire of Homicide and Serious Crime Command, who is leading the investigation, said.

Williams was discovered dead at his home on August 23. His naked remains were found inside a locked sports bag. He was working on systems to defend British banks and transport infrastructure from cyber attack and to eavesdrop on terrorist communications. He had been on assignment with the MI6 spy agency. He also played an important role creating equipment to listen to Taliban communications in Afghanistan and had helped to fit out three aircraft with the equipment, making them airborne-listening stations.

This Is London : Mystery over couple who visited ‘spy in bag’ case flat

Mystery over couple who visited ‘spy in bag’ case flat

Justin Davenport, Crime Editor | September 13, 2010

A COUPLE appear to have vanished after calling at the flat of MI6 codebreaker Gareth Williams whose body was found locked inside a bag in his bath, police said today.

Detectives say they have failed to trace the “Mediterranean couple” who visited the flat — owned by the intelligence services — in June or July despite appeals for them to come forward.

They believe the couple, in their thirties, were known to Mr Williams as neighbours do not recall buzzing them into the address. Detectives believe they could be significant to the inquiry.

The body of the GCHQ codebreaker and maths genius was found inside a zipped and padlocked North Face hold-all three weeks ago today.

The bag had been placed inside the flat's ensuite bath and may have been there for up to eight days. Police have been baffled by the death because there were no signs of violence, and toxicology tests showed Mr Williams had not taken drugs or alcohol. There were also no signs of a struggle or a forced entry at the flat in Alderney Street and nothing appeared to have been stolen.

Tests are unable to suggest if Mr Williams was dead or alive when he entered the bag. Reports that the 5ft 8in Mr Williams could have closed the padlock around the two zip handles from inside the bag have been played down by detectives, who have been unable to find a method for doing it.

They view it as extremely unlikely that he padlocked the bag himself.

That suggests Mr Williams was either forced into it against his ill, co-operated with a second party in a possible sex game or was already dead when he was placed inside the holdall.

The results of further tests for the possible presence of a rare toxin are being awaited. Police do not believe the mystery couple is the same as one Mr Williams met regularly at Patisserie Valerie in Holland Park, who were not Mediterranean in appearance.

Anyone with information should call 020 8358 0200, or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

MercatorNet : Lonely life, lonely death

Lonely life, lonely death

The mysterious death of a British spy in the heart of London shows the hazards of the profession.

by Michael Coren | September 13, 2010

The British have a dark, sardonic sense of humour. It’s what got them through depressions, Nazi bombing raids and even socialist governments! So it took only a day or two late last month for the joke to circulate that the British intelligence services were so clever that their agents could commit the most extraordinary suicides in the world. The reference was to Gareth Williams, a young man seconded to MI6, whose body was found in a padlocked and sealed sports bag in the bath of his apartment.

Not funny for his friends and family of course. The 31-year-old was actually an employee of GCHQ, the Government Communications Headquarters based in Cheltenham in Gloucestershire. It is part of three main branches of British intelligence along with MI5 (domestic intelligence) and MI6, also known as the SIS or Secret Intelligence Service (foreign intelligence). GCHG is, as it were, the least glamorous of the trio and most of its work involves listening to and monitoring communications and – vital work – deciphering what potential threat targets are saying to each other.

Williams had been seconded to MI6 in London, based on the south bank of the River Thames just down the road from the Houses of Parliament and from MI5, both establishments across the river over Lambeth Bridge. He lived nearby in Pimlico, which is where his body was found. It’s likely that he wasn’t a field agent but a mathematical genius recruited from university and employed to work on codes. He was an isolated figure, a passionate cyclist, quiet, reliable and with few if any friends. It is also claimed that his body was found two weeks after he was killed, that there were no signs of struggle or even of how he died and that various identity cards were arranged in his home as if to leave some sort of signal.

I say “claimed” because there is no way to know if any of this is true. Would even a low-level member of the intelligence community not be searched for by colleagues if he had not checked in for work for two weeks? Front-line agents have to call in under a secret code at regular, usually daily intervals but even ordinary staff members are scrutinized. The police still claim to have no leads and the story is no longer receiving much coverage in the British press but all sorts of questions remain unanswered.

One being why there were suggestions of sexual violence – the implication being of a homosexual variety – made within 24 hours of the story breaking. There was never any evidence of this but some newspapers ran with the report that bondage equipment was founded in Williams’ home. According to local police officers who later spoke to the press this was utter nonsense. As was the idea that the poor man cruised gay bars – there is a gay bathhouse directly across the road from the MI6 offices – or that he had some sort of guilty and clandestine double life.

This is British intelligence for goodness sake. They know about double lives and investigate every person who works for them. Gay men and women are openly employed by MI6 and MI5 – it is the possibility of blackmail and not sexual preference that determines the suitability of an applicant. In other words, as long as there is nothing to hide there is nothing to worry about. in any case, his relatives have furiously denied that he was a homosexual and say that he is being smeared by the government.

Was it MI6 who discredited Williams or was it a foreign agency? Was his death political and if so was he killed by a friend or an enemy? We may know eventually but likely not for some time. There is and always has been a reciprocal if not symbiotic relationship between the intelligence services and the media in Britain – less a case of the “spooks”, as they are known, exploiting the press than the intelligence people letting it be known that if journalists want good stories and leaked information they need to do what they’re told at other times.

When I was at university in England one of my professors, an avuncular and kindly man, told me that I was “Intelligent and lazy. You’ll make a good journalist or a good spy.” I laughed, went on my way and eventually became a journalist. I realize now that he was probably making preliminary recruitment inquiries. A talent spotter. Not that I was very talented. A fellow student who was studying Russian did eventually join the MI5 – something he did not tell his friends until he had left. He refused to say very much about what went on – “boring really, just lots of listening to the radio and reading Soviet newspapers” – but did tell us that what surprised him was how untidy the offices always were.

“Thing is, you see, it’s quite difficult to do thorough security checks on people who clean offices and empty the bins. So the cleaning up is left to the people who work there and we resented doing it. Always argued about whose turn it was to do it. So most days it was a mess. Not as glamorous as I’d hoped.”

Not glamorous at all for the unfortunate Gareth Williams but British intelligence still enjoys a fine reputation and, apart from a bad period during the cold war, has performed its tasks extremely well. The problems of double-agents working for Moscow in the 1940s, 50s and early 60s was that many of the men and women who has done such excellent work spying on and monitoring the Nazis and their supporters during the 30s and the Second World War had a sympathy for Communism based on their hatred of fascism. Thus their loyalties became clouded once the war was over. It led to betrayal and to lack of faith on the part of the always more bellicose CIA.

The intelligence war against Irish extremism, the modern hard left and small far right was and is far more successful but today an estimated 70 percent of the efforts, energy and finance of the security services is devoted to Islamic fundamentalism. Mosques are certainly infiltrated, Arabic, Farsi and Urdu speakers recruited and trained and a whole network of informants and intelligence-gatherers maintained. The country is on a permanent “high alert” level and it’s estimated that more than a dozen serious and up to a hundred potential Islamic terror attacks have been prevented by MI5, MI6 and their support group within the police – Special Branch.

So whatever happened to the unfortunate Mr Williams – may he rest in peace – is fascinating but has no effect on the work of a constantly challenged and, apparently, untidy British intelligence service. Will all of the secrets eventually be revealed? Don’t bet on it. The river Thames that back on to MI6 hides its treasures darkly and deeply; so do the spies who work next to it.

Las Vegas Sun : Police hunt for 2 people in slain UK spy case

Police hunt for 2 people in slain UK spy case

The Associated Press | September 13, 2010

Police investigating the mystery death of a British spy say they are hunting for two people seen entering his apartment block.

Gareth Williams was discovered dead at his home on Aug. 23. Officers said he had been dead for some time, and his naked remains were found inside a locked sports bag. No cause of death has been established.

The 30-year-old worked for GCHQ, Britain's eavesdropping service, and had been on assignment with the MI6 spy agency.

Detective Chief Inspector Jacqueline Sebire said on Monday that police are searching for a man and a woman seen entering the apartment block one night in June or July.

Police said there was no sign of forced entry, and no property was stolen.

Sun : Dead holdall spy 'zipped himself in'

Dead holdall spy 'zipped himself in'

By CHRIS POLLARD | September 13, 2010

A SPY found dead inside a padlocked holdall may have zipped HIMSELF in for sexual kicks, it emerged yesterday.

Police are still trying to explain how MI6 code-breaker Gareth Williams came to his end.

According to Met sources, a female officer climbed into the £150 North Face bag to re-enact possible events leading to his death. She zipped it up and padlocked it from the inside.

Cops now think the fitness fanatic, 31, may have done the same for sexual gratification and suffocated when he could not reopen it.

A padlock key was alongside his naked body inside the bag, which was found lying in his bathtub last month.

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

Gareth had a small frame and fitted easily in the 32 x 19ins bag. Tests showed last week there was no trace of alcohol or drugs in his system.

His flat, in Pimlico, central London, did not appear to have been disturbed prior to his discovery.

Officers are still trying to trace a couple who visited the spy's flat weeks before he died.

A Met source said: "We remain baffled."

Mr Williams' body is being tested for radioactive poison polonium - used by Russian agents to kill ex-KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko in 2006.

But Whitehall officials insist espionage or terrorism is not yet suspected.

Daily Mail : MI6 spy 'could have died in sex game that went wrong'

MI6 spy 'could have died in sex game that went wrong'

By Charlotte Gill | September 13, 2010

Police investigating the death of an MI6 spy have not ruled out the theory that he may have died in a bizarre sex game gone wrong.

Gareth Williams's naked body was found in a padlocked holdall in the bath of his flat.

And as part of the police investigation, a woman officer similar in size, climbed into a replica bag and managed to zip it up, then squeeze her hand through a small gap and padlock it from the inside.

There is a suggestion Mr Williams may have done something similar - possibly for sexual pleasure - then panicked and suffocated when he could not reopen it.

It has been reported that the key to the padlock on the red North Face bag containing his body, was found alongside him.

Erotic asphyxiation is defined as the intentional restriction of oxygen to the brain for sexual arousal.

The practice killed Tory MP Stephen Milligan whose body was found in 1994 with a bag over his head and an orange in his mouth.

Detectives remain puzzled over the death of Mr Williams, a cipher and codes expert for GCHQ, on secondment to MI6. His body was found on August 23, in Pimlico, London.

A post-mortem examination failed to reveal a cause of death and officers are awaiting the results of toxicology tests which may offer more information on how he died.

Alcohol and routine or recreational drugs did not contribute to his death. Tests are ongoing to find out if a rare drug or poison were used.

Though murder is highly likely, it remains a possibility the 31-year-old's death was not foul play.

Mr Williams's parents of Anglesey, North Wales, are frustrated the investigation seems no further forward.

They were horrified at claims of their bachelor son's supposedly wild homosexual lifestyle and fear that lurid allegations surrounding his private life - since denied - were part of a 'dirty tricks' campaign.

Express : DID SPY DIE AFTER ZIPPING HIMSELF INTO SPORTS BAG?

DID SPY DIE AFTER ZIPPING HIMSELF INTO SPORTS BAG?

Detectives are investigating whether spy Gareth Williams died after zipping himself in a sports bag

By Paul Teed | September 13, 2010

DETECTIVES are investigating whether MI6 spy Gareth Williams died after zipping himself in a sports bag in a sex game that went wrong.

A woman police officer climbed into the holdall in which his body was found in a re-enactment exercise – and was able to pull the zip and padlock it once inside.

Detectives believe the code breaker may have done this before panicking and passed out when he realised he could not escape.

Mr Williams’ family will be furious with the revelations, after saying they were distressed by speculation over whether the super-fit 31-year-old was into unusual sexual practices. Police sources close to the investigation said that an officer with a similar build to the spy reenacted the sex game that it is believed could have led to his death.

Mr Williams, whose naked body was discovered inside the bag in the bathroom of his flat in Pimlico, London, on August 23, may have suffocated. The key to the padlock was reportedly found next to him inside the holdall. The petite officer, a similar size to slim and short Mr Williams, crouched in the extra-large North Face bag and was able to put her hand through a tight gap between the padlock and the zip fastener and lock it.

It has apparently led investigators to conclude that Mr Williams may have been taking part in an erotic asphyxiation game – restricting oxygen to the brain for sexual arousal. A Scotland Yard spokesman would only say yesterday: “It is an ongoing investigation and various lines of inquiry remain open. We are aware of many speculative stories in the media and we are not commenting on them individually.”

Police insist they remain mystified by the bizarre circumstances surrounding the gifted mathematician’s death. They found no signs of a break-in or disturbance at his converted Georgian town house and nothing appeared to have been stolen.

A leading US pathologist may fly in this week to try and solve the riddle. Mr Williams’ grieving relatives have demanded his body back so they can commission their own post mortem examination. The coroner dealing with the case has repeatedly refused to hand it over while detectives continue their inquiries. The family in North Wales have been unable to hold a funeral and remain frustrated by the lack of progress.

Detectives have said they want to speak to a mystery couple of Mediterranean appearance who called at the code breaker’s home shortly before he died. They entered via the communal front door, but police do not know if they visited the spy’s top-floor flat.

Keen cyclist Mr Williams was days from completing a one-year secondment to MI6 in London. He worked as a codes expert for the Government’s listening centre GCHQ in Cheltenham.

Sydney Morning Herald : Spy sex game may have caused death

Spy sex game may have caused death

September 13, 2010

A British spy may have locked himself inside a sports bag and suffocated during a sex game gone wrong, newspaper reports say.

A female police officer climbed into the large bag and locked herself in from the inside during a re-enactment of the events that are believed to have led to the MI6 intelligence officer's death, Britain's Mail on Sunday reported.

Gareth Williams, 31, was found naked inside the $250 North Face bag in the bath in his top-floor Pimlico apartment on August 24.

Police have worked for several weeks to determine the cause of death.

Initial toxicology tests showed no traces of alcohol or drugs in Mr Williams's system.

The results of further tests will not be known for at least a fortnight.

The latest theory is that the fitness fanatic managed to zip up the bag and padlock it from the inside for sexual kicks, the paper reported.

It is believed he might have panicked and suffocated after being unable to re-open the bag.

A key for the padlock was found next to his body, lending weight to speculation his death was an accident, the newspaper reported.

Erotic asphyxiation is defined as the intentional restriction of oxygen to the brain for sexual arousal.

A police spokesperson told the Mail: "It would be inappropriate to comment at this stage of the investigation. We are keeping an open mind about the case."

Mr Williams's family has accused the government of orchestrating a "dirty tricks" campaign to discredit him after reports that he was gay and a cross-dresser.

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

Investigators have also dismissed allegations of financial irregularities and that a top-secret laptop computer had gone missing from his flat.

Crucially, there was no evidence of violence and no cuts or bruises on his body, nor any sign of a break-in at his flat.

Mr Williams had worked out of the Government Communications Headquarters at Cheltenham, known as Britain's biggest listening post, but was on year-long secondment to MI6.

The 5000-strong GCHQ eavesdrops on global communications and monitors terrorist threats.

Yet during the past year, Mr Williams had moved to London and it was colleagues at MI6, across the Thames from his elegant London flat, who reported him missing.

Nobody knows what he was working on but the city apartment has been described as a far cry from the granny flat he had lived in at Cheltenham and to which he was to return on September 3.

The Cheltenham flat was "floral carpets, silk flowers and potpourri", London's Independent reported.

Mr Williams was from Anglesey in North Wales. He lived on his own and did not have a partner.

He has been described as a child prodigy who had a degree in maths at 17 and went on to obtain a PhD.

He had the highest security clearance available to an intelligence officer and was part of a secretive cell that created devices that could steal data from mobiles and laptops.

Mr Williams returned from a "planned holiday" in the United States on August 11, less than two weeks before his body was found.

Investigators found he had made several shopping trips to London's West End and Knightsbridge on August 14 and 15, the Mail on Sunday reported.

Mr Williams stopped by department store Harrods, then walked towards a nearby Dolce & Gabbana store, although he did not go in.

It was the last time he was seen alive.

New Zealand Herald : Foreign hit on UK spy feared

Foreign hit on UK spy feared

September 13, 2010

Concern is growing within the intelligence community that the MI6 spy found dead in his London flat may have been the victim of a professional hit by a foreign power.

Sources told the Daily Telegraph that intelligence services MI6, MI5 and GCHQ are liaising closely to establish whether Gareth Williams, 31, was targeted by foreign spies.

He was working on systems to defend British banks and transport infrastructure from cyber attack and to eavesdrop on terrorist communications.

He also played an important role creating equipment to listen to Taleban communications in Afghanistan and had helped to fit out three aircraft with the equipment, making them airborne-listening stations.

Herald Sun : 'Sex game went wrong' for dead MI6 man Gareth Williams, police say

'Sex game went wrong' for dead MI6 man Gareth Williams, police say

From: The Daily Telegraph | September 13, 2010

POLICE believe the MI6 spy found dead in a sports bag in a bath inside his flat may have died after a bizarre sex game went wrong.

A woman police officer climbed into the bag in which code breaker Gareth Williams' naked body was found, re-enacting the events that are thought could have led to his death.

She managed to zip up the bag and padlock it from the inside, leading investigators to conclude Mr Williams may have done the same for sexual kicks and suffocated when he could not reopen it during an episode of erotic asphyxiation.

Despite being crouched in the holdall, the officer put her hand through a small gap between the padlock and zip fastener to lock it from the inside.

Police believe Mr Williams may have done the same then passed out, possibly as a result of panic when he was unable to reopen the padlock.

Telegraph : Murdered spy 'could have climbed into sports bag' before death

Murdered spy 'could have climbed into sports bag' before death

The spy whose naked body was found in a sports bag in an empty bath in Pimlico could have been alive when he was put into the bag, police believe.

By Duncan Gardham, Security Correspondent | September 12, 2010

Detectives believe that someone else padlocked Gareth Williams into the red North Face holdall where his body was found on August 23.

They remain open to the possibility that Mr Williams climbed into the bag as part of a sex game and then suffocated. His body was found in the flat eight days after he was last seen alive.

Another option is that he was poisoned before his body was put into the bag. Tests have ruled out alcohol or recreational drugs.

Officers are waiting for further toxicology tests at the end of the week which may end the mystery of how Mr Williams died.

Mr Williams, 31, a keen cyclist and maths prodigy from Anglesey, North Wales, was found dead in the MI6 flat in central London where he lived while he was on secondment from GCHQ, working on interception techniques and code-breaking.

The death has puzzled Scotland Yard detectives and Home Office pathologists who have yet to come up with a definite cause of death.

The body was badly decomposed making it difficult to be certain whether there was a lack of oxygen to the brain or heart failure.

There are no marks on the body, making strangulation unlikely, but asphyxiation remains a possibility.

Strangulation has become increasingly common as a sex game, but officers say they have never come across a case like this linked to sex.

Mr Williams’s family have been upset at suggestions that he was gay and at erroneous reports that bondage equipment was found in the flat.

One source close to the inquiry told The Daily Telegraph: “If you are looking at how he died, asphyxiation could be one of the answers.

“We are looking at whether he could have been in the bag alive. The majority of people wouldn’t have thought that was likely but nothing is impossible.

“It is unlikely that his clothes were removed after he died so we have to assume that he was naked when he died.”

Officers believe that someone else was involved in the death – even if it does not amount to murder – although there was no sign of forced entry at the flat.

“You would never say that he did this to himself. How would you do it?” the source said. “We have looked at whether it is possible to lock the bag from the inside and it just does not seem possible. “

Detectives are keen to talk to a Mediterranean couple aged between 20 and 30, seen at the spy’s flat in Alderney Street, Pimlico, central London, late one evening in June or July.

“They haven’t come forward and we have to ask ourselves why that would be,” the source said.

There were reports yesterday that Mr Williams had met a similar couple at the Patisserie Valerie in Holland Park, west London on a number of occasions.

Officers are still looking at fast-acting poisons such as strychnine and arsenic but have ruled out slower acting substances such as thallium or the radioactive Polonium 210 that killed the former KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko, because CCTV images a few days before Mr Williams died showed he was in good health.

The state of decomposition of the body suggests that Mr Williams died shortly after he was last seen in Holland Park on August 14 and shopping in Harrods in Knightsbridge on August 15.

ITN : Spy death 'may have been professional hit'

Spy death 'may have been professional hit'

September 12, 2010

It has been reported that the intelligence services are investigating possible foreign involvement in the death of spy Gareth Williams.

The 31-year-old worked for the intelligence services at GCHQ and was on secondment to MI6 when he was found dead.

Police found his decomposing body zipped up in a sports bag.

Now concern is said to be growing within the intelligence community that he may have been the victim of a professional hit by a foreign power.

MI6, MI5 and GCHQ - are reported to be working closely to try and establish whether or not Williams was targeted.

Metro : Dead MI6 worker 'may have climbed into bag by himself'

Dead MI6 worker 'may have climbed into bag by himself'

September 12, 2010

An MI6 worker found dead inside a sports bag may have suffocated after climbing into the holdall by himself, it has been suggested.

The body of Gareth Williams was discovered in his flat in London last month, sparking a major police investigation and a flurry of rumours about how he died.

It is thought police are working on the theory he may have been the victim of a random murder, but the difficulty in collecting evidence means they are also considering other possibilities.

According to the Mail on Sunday, officers are now looking at the idea that the 31-year-old died after a sex game went wrong.

They believe he may have climbed into the sports bag himself as part of an erotic asphyxiation ritual and then been unable to get out.

Although the bag, which was found in Mr Williams' bath, was locked, the key for the padlock was discovered inside the holdall.

A female member of the police team investigating his death has apparently managed to recreate the scenario, by climbing into an identical bag, zipping it up and then padlocking it from the inside.

The claim is the latest in a series of bizarre reports about the codebreaker's death and private life. Some of the lurid rumours even prompted his family to suggest that Mr Williams may be the victim of a smear campaign.

His family are so unhappy with the lack of progress in the investigation and the failure of two post-mortems to identify a cause of death, that they are reported to have requested the release of his body so they can commission their own tests.

ninemsn (Au) : MI6 spy may have died in sex game gone wrong

MI6 spy may have died in sex game gone wrong

By ninemsn staff | September 12, 2010

Police investigating the bizarre death of British spy Gareth Williams believe he may have died during a sex game gone wrong.

In a police re-enactment, a female officer climbed into the bag where Williams' naked body was found, the Mail on Sunday newspaper reports.

The officer managed to zip up the bag and padlock it from inside, leading to speculation Williams had done the same thing and suffocated when he could not unlock himself.

Fuelling the theory is the fact police found a key to the padlock inside the bag alongside Williams’ body.

Williams, 31, worked for the secret intelligence service MI6 and his naked remains were found in the bag in his bathtub in his London flat on August 23.

There was no evidence of violence or cuts on his body, suggesting a struggle had not taken place, and there were no signs of forced entry at his Pimlico flat.

He was working with MI6 on secondment from GCHQ, which monitors communications for intelligence purposes and is based in Cheltenham, west England.

A spokesman from Scotland Yard declined to comment on the report, but said they were keeping an open mind about the case.

Express : NOW US EXPERT IS CALLED IN OVER GARETH WILLIAMS DEATH MYSTERY

NOW US EXPERT IS CALLED IN OVER GARETH WILLIAMS DEATH MYSTERY

By James Murray | September 12,2010

A LEADING US pathologist may fly in this week to try to unravel the mystery behind the bizarre death of spy Gareth Williams.

A post mortem examination in London last month failed to find a cause of death of the super-fit 31-year-old code breaker who was on secondment to MI6 from the GCHQ listening post in Cheltenham.

Now baffled Scotland Yard detectives hope to bring in a medical examiner from the US who has been trained in CIA and FBI techniques to look for sophisticated methods of assassinations using hard-to-detect substances.

The decision to call for help from America is a sign of the Yard’s ­frustration.

The grieving family of bachelor Mr Williams have called for his body to be released so they can get a second post mortem examination conducted by their own pathologist. They may now hold back on that demand until they hear the findings of the US expert.

Extensive forensic tests at the flat in Alderney Street and from the samples taken at the post mortem examination are still going on.

The Yard says initial indications from the toxicology examinations show no trace of any alcohol or ­routine or recreational drugs. Testing for other substance continues.

Other lines of inquiry are proving equally unproductive.

Detectives had hoped to trace a man and woman of Mediterranean appearance seen entering the apartment block in Pimlico, London, where Mr Williams lived one night in June or July but all their inquiries so far have drawn a blank.

A source said: “It is proving to be a very complex inquiry. Some ­people are calling these people the ghost couple because they seem to have slipped into the area by ­managing to avoid being captured on CCTV.

“The longer it goes on without them being traced or coming ­forward, the more suspicion they are arousing.”

Last week the Sunday Express reported claims that Mr Williams had told his bosses he believed he was being followed by two men. On Monday police discounted this idea then admitted they wanted to trace the mystery couple.

Detectives last week released CCTV footage of Mr Williams entering Holland Park Tube station on Saturday, August 14, at 3pm.

The next day CCTV images showed him shopping in Brompton Road, south-west London. He went to a cash machine then into Harrods and was seen alone in Hans Crescent heading for Sloane Street.

He was wearing the same clothing on both days, a red T-shirt, beige trousers and white trainers, suggesting he may have spent the night somewhere other than his home.

When he failed to turn up for work at MI6, just a short walk from his home, uniformed police went to his top-floor flat on August 23.

They found his naked body in a zipped and padlocked red North Face holdall in an empty bath in the en-suite bathroom. There was no sign of a forced entry or any ­disturbance inside the flat.

Detectives are trying to establish whether it was possible for him to have got into the holdall himself then locked himself inside but they consider that unlikely.

It is understood Mr Williams was asexual and had no interest in ­unusual sexual practices. There was no indication he intended to take his own life.

Detective Chief Inspector ­Jacqueline Sebire of Homicide and Serious Crime Command, who is leading the investigation, said: “This remains a complex and unexplained death inquiry.

“I would appeal to anyone who may have seen, or had contact with Gareth in the period between August 11 and 23 to come forward and speak with us at the Incident Room on 0208 358 0200, or to remain anonymous by calling Crime­stoppers on 0800 555 111.”

Daily Mail : Detectives believes dead MI6 spy may have zipped HIMSELF in bag in bizarre sex game that went wrong

Detectives believes dead MI6 spy may have zipped HIMSELF in bag in bizarre sex game that went wrong

By Simon Walters and Glen Owen | September 12, 2010

* WPC climbed into bag to show how he may have died

Police believe the MI6 spy found dead in a sports bag in a bath inside his flat may have died after a bizarre sex game went wrong, according to well-placed sources.

The Mail on Sunday has learned that a woman police officer climbed into the holdall in which codebreaker Gareth Williams’ naked body was found, re-enacting the events which it is thought could have led to his death.

She managed to zip up the bag and padlock it from the inside, leading investigators to conclude that Mr Williams may have done the same for sexual kicks and suffocated when he could not reopen it.

The theory was bolstered by the fact that a key to the padlock was found alongside his body inside the £150 bag.

Despite being crouched in the holdall, the police officer was able to squeeze her hand through a small gap between the padlock and the zip fastener and lock it from the inside.

Police believe Mr Williams may have gone through the same extraordinary routine, and then passed out, possibly as a result of panic when he was unable to reopen the padlock.

The identity of the officer who undertook the unusual police assignment is not known.

She was chosen partly because her petite size is similar to the slim and short frame of 31-year-old keep-fit fanatic Mr Williams.

His body was found in an extra-large North Face bag, a type which is favoured by explorers because of its 140 litres of storage capacity, durable material, double stitching, twin haul handles and locking zips.

Erotic asphyxiation is defined as the intentional restriction of oxygen to the brain for sexual arousal.

The practice claimed the life of Tory MP Stephen Milligan, whose body was found in 1994 with a bag over his head and an orange in his mouth.

Figures have not been recorded for the number of auto-erotic fatal­ities (AEFs) in America, although it is estimated between 500 and 1,000 occur in the US every year.

Although most AEFs arise from the use of a noose to restrict the supply of oxygen, deaths have occurred after victims put themselves into bags.

In one example, a Yale University student died after zipping himself into an airtight vinyl bag and binding his hands.

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

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

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

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

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

Police sources say that the results of more sophisticated tests, carried out to establish the cause of death, might not be known for up to a fortnight.

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

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

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

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

Nor was there any sign of forced entry to his flat, suggesting he either knew his killer and let them in – or there was no killer.

Mr Williams, from Anglesey, North Wales, worked as a cipher and codes expert for the Government’s eavesdropping centre GCHQ in Cheltenham.

He was on a year-long secondment to MI6 which was due to end days after he was found dead.

A child prodigy who had a degree in maths at 17 and went on to obtain a PhD, Mr Williams had the highest security clearance available to an intelligence officer and was part of a secretive ‘cell’ that created devices that can steal data from mobiles and laptops.

He carried out similar work on frequent visits to the National Security Agency in the US.

Mr Williams, who lived on his own and did not have a partner, returned from a ‘planned holiday’ in the US on Wednesday, August 11.

Using his mobile phone to track his last whereabouts, police trawling through CCTV discovered that Mr Williams had made several shopping trips to London’s West End and Knightsbridge on August 14 and 15.

After visiting Harrods, he walked towards a nearby Dolce & Gabbana store, though he did not go in. It is the last time he was seen alive.

Last night a Scotland Yard spokesman said: ‘It would be inappropriate to comment at this stage of the investigation. We are keeping an open mind about the case.’

Daily Mail : Mystery of meetings with couple in a cafe five miles from home

Mystery of meetings with couple in a cafe five miles from home [scroll down]

By ABUL TAHER and IAN GALLAGHER | September 12, 2010

Gareth Williams had a series of mysterious meetings at a cafe in the weeks leading up to his death.

Witnesses said the MI6 codebreaker’s late-morning encounters at Patisserie Valerie in Holland Park, West London, took place twice a week and never lasted longer than a few minutes.

Mr Williams, who lived five miles away in Pimlico, usually met a man and a dark-haired woman in their early 30s, although the man occasionally turned up alone.

Polish waitress Magdalena Kolakowska, 24, recalled that Mr Williams would sit at the back of the dimly lit cafe ‘so he could keep an eye on the door’.

Ordering an Americano coffee, he then ‘waited for the couple to approach his table and speak to him’. Miss Kolakowska added: ‘They would come up to him as if they had suddenly just seen him and say, “Hi.” They would speak to him for two or three minutes and go. They would never sit down or have a coffee with him.’

In all, she recalls about eight such encounters. She could not remember any items passing between them and heard nothing of their conversations because all three spoke in low voices.

But it was the brevity of the meetings – coupled with their regularity – that struck staff as odd. They assumed that Mr Williams, who was dressed casually, was local.

Last week, police announced they were seeking a man and a woman, both of Mediterranean appearance, who called at Mr Williams’ home late one evening in June or July.

Although the man and woman at the cafe are roughly the same age as the couple being sought by police, staff say they did not look Mediterranean.

Patisserie Valerie is next to Holland Park Underground station, where Mr Williams was caught on CCTV on August 14, some 24 hours before he was last seen alive.

Inquiries by this newspaper have established that he visited Holland Park up to four times a week in the two months before his death.

Besides Patisserie Valerie, he went to other cafes and was seen at a nearby Hilton Hotel. He invariably arrived on his bicycle and was always seen between 10am and 1pm.

Holland Park is primarily an upmarket residential district, although a number of countries, including Russia and Uzbekistan, maintain embassies there.

Another Polish waitress at Patisserie Valerie, 29-year-old Susana Ribeiro, also recalled seeing Mr Williams there – the last occasion just after he had returned from a holiday in the US on August 11.

‘If he wasn’t sitting inside at the back, he would park his bike at the lamp-post, sit at the middle table outside and have a coffee,’ she said.

Miss Kolakowska added: ‘Some days he would bring a device with him that looked like an Apple iPad, but was much bigger, and he would watch news or some moving picture on it.’

Vanessa Riley, a pensioner in her 60s who lives in a flat behind Holland Park station, said she saw Mr Williams in two other cafes near the station over the summer.

Mrs Riley became so concerned after she heard of his death she reported what she saw to police. ‘All I can say is I saw him meeting people at these cafes,’ she said.

Last night police refused to be drawn on the significance of the sightings.

Detectives have already tracked Mr Williams’ movements to Holland Park, apparently by checking his journeys on his Oyster ticket, the plastic travel card commuters use on the Underground.

They took away CCTV footage from 29 different cameras at Holland Park station and have since released footage of Mr Williams arriving at the station on August 14 and, the following day, shopping in Harrods.

There were reports yesterday that Mr Williams’ family, upset at the slow progress of the police investigation into his death, want to commission their own post-mortem examination.

Meanwhile, security sources said that Mr Williams was recruited by GCHQ after it became aware of his ‘extraordinary prowess at computer games’.

‘He was achieving rare high scores on these espionage and war games that are played on the internet,’ said a source. ‘I know it sounds daft, but this is how he was discovered.’

Two years ago, GCHQ ran an advertising campaign in online games, including Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Double Agent, to tempt web-savvy graduates to become spies.

Express : DEAD SPY’S FAMILY DEMAND BODY

DEAD SPY’S FAMILY DEMAND BODY

By Daily Express Reporter | September 11, 2010

THE grieving relatives of murdered MI6 spy Gareth Williams last night demanded to have his body back.

The family wants to commission their own post-mortem examination.

The move comes after the coroner dealing with the case has repeatedly refused to hand over the agent’s body as police are still investigating how the 31-year-old died.

The delay has caused further anguish for Mr Williams’s family in north Wales as relatives have not been able to hold a funeral and are frustrated about the lack of progress into the investigation surrounding his death.

A source close to the family last night said: “It is becoming very frustrating trying to get to the bottom of whatever has happened. There are just so many things we still don’t know. We have made it clear to the police that we want the body back as soon as possible.”

Mr Williams’s naked body was discovered in a sports bag in the bathroom of his top-floor flat in Pimlico, London, near MI6 headquarters on August 23.

There were no signs of a break-in or clues as to how the gifted mathematician died. The sports bag had been padlocked.

Telegraph : Concern grows over foreign involvement in spy's death

Concern grows over foreign involvement in spy's death

Concern is growing within the intelligence community that the MI6 spy found dead in his London flat may have been the victim of a professional hit by a foreign power.

By Patrick Sawer and Gordon Thomas | September 11, 2010

Sources have told this newspaper that Britain's intelligence services – MI6, MI5 and GCHQ – are liaising closely to establish whether Gareth Williams was targeted by a foreign power.

The 31-year-old was seconded from GCHQ to work on top-secret systems to defend British banks and transport infrastructure from cyber attack and to eavesdrop on terrorist communications.

As a result he may have come to the attention of foreign intelligence agencies.

Security service sources suggest that the most likely explanation for Mr Williams's death is still to be found in his private life, but they admit they are not yet certain and are considering a range of explanations.

Some officials are starting to believe the way the killing was carried out – leaving few, if any, immediate clues as to the cause of death – could point to a professionally-carried-out assassination.

Scotland Yard, which is leading the investigation into his death, said: "We're not at the stage where we can pinpoint how Mr Williams died and all avenues in this investigation remain open. We are keeping an open mind."

It is feared that by the time of his death last month Mr Williams's presence in London had become known to foreign spies, despite the fact he was living in a MI6 safe house with an alarm system linking him to nearby MI6 headquarters.

"It would have been part of their brief", said a British intelligence officer.

The 31-year-old maths and computer expert would have been regarded as a valuable asset for his knowledge of the inner-workings of GCHQ, the government's listening post in Cheltenham, and for his work on preventing cyber attacks on the banking and transport infrastructure.

It is understood Mr Williams's job at the time of his death was creating computer defences in the City of London. Williams would have had access to information which other countries would want to obtain.

The intelligence source said: "His job was to defend the banking system on which Britain's banking, commerce and all our public services depend. It was the kind of work that would have made him prime target for recruitment.

"He was also in a position to know about huge money transfers out of the Middle East which were linked to terror groups. It would be priceless data."

One theory being examined is that Mr Williams may have had an approach from a rival agency, and either rebuffed it without informing his superiors or initially agreed to co-operate then got cold feet.

If such an approach had been exposed there would have been severe political and diplomatic repercussions, making it expedient for Mr Williams to be killed.

It can be revealed that Williams had also played an important role in creating signal intelligence equipment, known as sigint, to listen to Taliban communications in Afghanistan.

He had helped in fitting out three Brittan-Norman Islander aircraft with this equipment to be used as airborne-listening stations.

Based at RAF Northolt in West London since 2007 they have flown over selected British cities searching for communications between suspected terrorists.

A key part of the equipment is the wide-band recorders that Mr Williams helped to develop. Each has the capacity to vacuum up continuous mobile phone traffic in a city the size of Bradford.

The "product" is then downloaded to GCHQ where state-of-the-art computers analyse the voices using voice-recognition software.

Mr Williams's knowledge of US intelligence agencies would have also been valuable. He spent several months at Menwith Hill, the secret listening station in Yorkshire used by the United States to intercept coded messages, and Fort Meade in Maryland, the home of the US's National Security Agency.

The death of Mr Williams has puzzled detectives since August 23, when his body was found inside a sports holdall, padlocked from the outside and left in the bath of the safe house where he was staying while on secondment to the service from his employer GCHQ, the government listening post.

There was no evidence of a struggle or a break in at the Pimlico flat and nothing had been stolen.

Although nothing has been discounted the evidence gathered so far suggests it is increasingly unlikely that Mr Williams was the victim of a random attack or a sex game that went wrong.

Pathologists have carried out two post-mortems, but both failed to establish how Mr Williams died, though the examination was complicated by the fact that the body was said to be in an "advanced state of decay".

What is known, however, is that Williams, a cycling enthusiast, had not been shot or stabbed and did not appear to have been strangled.

Scotland Yard say detectives are now awaiting the result of toxicology tests.

These would establish whether Mr Williams was poisoned using a deadly toxin such as strychnine, cyanide or thallium, administered in such a way as to leave no mark visible to the naked eye.

Sources state that Home Office pathologists are also looking for evidence that Mr Williams was smothered to death, a method that can leave no trace and is extremely hard to detect.

Concern about the possible involvement of a foreign agency has increased further following a public appeal issued last week [Monday, September 7] by Scotland Yard detectives, who are taking the lead in the investigation.

Detectives said they were trying to trace a couple Mediterranean appearance, aged between 20 and 30, who visited the house in Pimlico late one night in the weeks before Mr Williams died.

The Yard revealed the couple were the only people who had been seen around the time of his death at the property in Alderney Street not to be accounted for.

Neighbours told police the pair were let in through the communal front door late one evening, in either June or July. It is believed they were visiting Mr Williams and detectives want them to come forward so they can be eliminated from their inquiries.

Police have visited Mr Williams's landlady in Cheltenham, where he lived for 10 years before being seconded to MI6. They asked Jennifer Elliot about his working hours and lifestyle and about any friends or acquaintances who may have visited his lodgings.

Scotland Yard repeated its appeal for the 'Mediterranean couple' on Friday. A spokesman said: "We are still very keen to speak to the pair. They may have useful information."

Mr Williams's family are reportedly unhappy at the lack of progress in the investigation and are said to have demanded the return of his body. Reports say they would like to commission an independent own post-mortem examination into his death.

A source close to the family was reported as saying: "It is becoming very frustrating to get to the bottom of whatever has happened.

"There are just so many things we still don't know. We have made it clear to the police that we want the body back as soon as possible."

However, Dr Paul Knapman, the coroner in charge of the inquest, is reluctant to release the body until pathologists have completed their tests and established the cause of death.

Mirror : Family of tragic Gareth Williams want body back

Family of tragic Gareth Williams want body back

September 11, 2010

Murdered MI6 spy Gareth Williams' angry family last night demanded that his body is released so they can organise their own postmortem.

The coroner has refused to release the body because police don't yet know exactly how he died.

But the delay has infuriated his relatives who have been unable to hold a funeral more than three weeks after his death.

A family source was reported as saying: "We've made it clear to the police we want the body back as soon as possible."

Mr Williams, 31, was found dead in a sports bag in the bath of his Central London flat.

Police chiefs say that the first postmortem and subsequent tests have proved inconclusive.

Daily Mail : Spy's family demand the truth: Relatives of dead MI6 man demand body for independent tests

Spy's family demand the truth: Relatives of dead MI6 man demand body for independent tests

By Sam Greenhill and Charlotte Gill | September 10, 2010

The family of murdered MI6 spy Gareth Williams have demanded his body back, it emerged last night.

They would like to commission their own post-mortem examination, it is understood.

It is a clear sign they are rapidly running out of patience with the police investigation into his death.

The coroner in charge of the case has consistently refused to release the codebreaker's body because detectives have still to discover exactly how he died.

But this delay is infuriating the brilliant mathematician's relatives in North Wales.

They have not been able to hold a funeral and are equally unhappy about the apparent lack of progress into explaining what happened to the 31-year-old.

Yesterday a source close to the family said: 'It is becoming very frustrating trying to get to the bottom of whatever has happened. 'There are just so many things we still don't know.

'We have made it clear to the police that we want the body back as soon as possible.'

It is more than three weeks since detectives began investigating the murder.

Mr Williams's naked body was found in a sports bag in the bath of his top-floor London flat near MI6 headquarters on August 23.

There were no obvious signs of an intruder or clues to how he died and it was later revealed the bag had been padlocked.

Police have announced that the first postmortem examination, carried out two days after Mr Williams's body was found, and toxicology tests were inconclusive.

There was no outward sign that he met a violent death and there was no trace of drugs or alcohol in his blood.

Intriguingly, a further 'examination of the body' was undertaken last week but investigators have refused to reveal why the procedure was carried out or what it revealed.

Pathologists have been searching for signs of whether a rare drug or poison was used.

Last Monday, in their first public appeal, police announced they were seeking a man and a woman, both of Mediterranean appearance, who called at No. 36 Alderney Street in June or July, late one evening, and were let into the communal front door.

Yesterday police renewed their appeal, saying: 'They are yet to contact police and officers are still keen for this couple to come forward.'

On Wednesday the coroner, Dr Paul Knapman, and detectives met behind closed doors to discuss the progress of the case.

Mystery surrounds what was discussed and no announcement has been made for when the next hearing will take place.

But it is known a decision was taken not to release the body to the family. A security source revealed: 'The family are not happy with the way it was going. All their questions are basically being met with one of two answers: that the information is unknown or not disclosable.

'Eventually, they said that if they were not going to be given answers, then they wanted to have his body back.

'They wanted to have their own tests carried out.'

The source said the family was considering paying for an independent pathologist to conduct an examination.

Detectives are struggling to piece together what happened to Mr Williams between the last time he was seen, captured on CCTV on August 15 shopping at Harrods, and eight days later when he was found.

Uniformed officers discovered his body that afternoon after being alerted by friends, family and MI6 that he was missing and not responding to calls.

Mr Williams worked for the Government's eavesdropping service GCHQ. He was an expert on ciphers and had been on a secondment to MI6 in London.

He had just returned from the U.S, where police said he had been on holiday, coming back to Britain on August 11.

Mr Williams lived for his job and was a cycling fanatic, regularly riding with his father around Anglesey and in local competitions with his club.

His parents, Ian, an engineer at Wylfa power station, and Ellen, who worked in education, live in a bungalow in Holyhead, Anglesey.

They have been horrified at unsavoury claims about their bachelor son's supposedly wild homosexual lifestyle.

They feared lurid allegations surrounding his private life, since denied, were planted as part of a 'dirty tricks' campaign.

Last night Scotland Yard said: 'We have got a family liaison officer working very closely with the family.'