Police find body in bag at MI6 man's London flat

[Magda Hassan]

MI6 death verdict: 'No unlawful killing' says coroner

The police investigation into Mr Williams' death lasted 21 months
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The coroner heading the inquest into the death of MI6 officer Gareth Williams says she cannot consider an unlawful killing verdict.With her decision due later, Fiona Wilcox said a narrative verdict was most appropriate as an open verdict would not do justice to the case.The body of the 31-year-old code-breaker from Anglesey was found locked in a bag in his London flat in 2010.Westminster Coroner's Court heard experts could not agree on how he died.A narrative verdict has been an option for coroners in England and Wales since 2004 and is where the circumstances of a death are recorded without attributing the cause to a named individual.Evidence 'reliability'Three pathologists who conducted post-mortem examinations on Mr Williams have been unable to reach a firm conclusion on cause of death.But they say poisoning and asphyxiation are the foremost contenders.The coroner is expected to deliver her verdict within hours.BBC home affairs correspondent Danny Shaw tweeted she said she would comment on the "reliability and robustness of evidence".It was disclosed at the inquest on Tuesday that police were only made aware this week that MI6 had withheld computer memory sticks and a North Face bag, similar to the one he was discovered in, found in his office.Det Ch Insp Jackie Sebire, who is leading the investigation, told the court that the secret services also searched his "electronic media" without informing police.Scotland Yard's Det Con Colin Hall, of the counter-terror SO15 branch, was questioned about his search of Mr Williams' MI6 office on 26 August 2010, saying he did not seize computer memory sticks because he was told they contained material "of a sensitive nature".'Dark arts'Ms Sebire has said Scotland Yard will review lines of inquiry in its investigation in the wake of the inquest.Pathologists have told the court Mr Williams would have suffocated within three minutes if he was alive when he got inside the red 81cm x 48cm North Face bag, at his flat in Pimlico, west London.Meanwhile, bag experts have said even Harry Houdini would have struggled to lock himself in the bag.Mr Williams' family has told the inquest they believe he may have been killed by an agent "specialising in the dark arts of the secret services".
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17922388