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

[Paul Rigby]

“Truth, a great thing, if often very slow catching up with a big lie. The catch-up process can be especially prolonged in the case of a grave lie that is tinged with sex and politics. The process is even more prolonged when the lie is palatable to opinion molders, who readily and happily parrot it as truth itself,"

homas F. Troy, “The British Assault on J. Edgar Hoover: The Tricycle Case,” International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence, 1989, (Vol 2 No 3), p.169

[Peter Lemkin]

The last known images of the MI6 code-breaker Gareth Williams, found dead in a padlocked holdall in his bath, were released by detectives today, as they made a public appeal for information about his death.

CCTV pictures show the Cambridge-educated mathematician, seconded from the government communications headquarters (GCHQ) to MI6, shopping in central London, including at Harrods, shortly after returning from a holiday in America.

The images were released as police appealed for witnesses who may have seen Williams, 30, from Anglesey, before his body was discovered at the MI6-owned flat where he was living in Pimlico on 23 August.

They also wish to trace a mystery couple, said to have visited the Alderney Street premises where he had the top-floor flat, in the late evening on an undisclosed date in June or July. Said to be "of Mediterranean appearance" and in their 20s or 30s, the two were buzzed in through the communal door to the house.

Postmortem results have so far failed to establish a cause of death, other than to find that Williams does not appear to have been shot or stabbed. There are also no obvious signs of strangulation.

Scotland Yard revealed that he was unclothed when discovered inside a zipped and padlocked red holdall in the empty bath in his ensuite bathroom.

Toxicology test results show no traces of alcohol, or of routine or recreational drugs. A Metropolitan police spokesman said: "Testing for other substance continues."

There was no sign of forced entry to Williams's flat or of any disturbance inside. Nor did it appear that any property was missing. "There is no suggestion the items within the flat were specifically posed," said the spokesman.

The mystery surrounding the death, which the police so far have refused to classify as murder, has led to intense speculation ranging from theories relating to his work as a ciphers and code-breaking expert, to rumours about his private life.

Described as 5ft 7in tall with short hair and of muscular build, Williams, who was not married and was said to be a "very private person", was days away from completing a one-year secondment to the headquarters of the Secret Intelligence Service MI6 in Vauxhall, London, when his body was found.

He had returned to the UK from a holiday in the US on Wednesday, 11 August, said police. In one CCTV image he is seen, wearing a red T-shirt, beige trousers and white trainers, entering Holland Park underground station at about 3pm on Saturday, August 14.

The next day he is shown shopping in Brompton Road, where he visited a cash machine and Harrods department store. Later, at about 2.30pm, he is seen just outside Harrods in Hans Crescent before heading towards Sloane Street, near the Dolce and Gabbana store. This was the last known sighting of him.

Detective Chief Inspector Jacqueline Sebire, who is leading the investigation, said: "This remains a complex, unexplained death inquiry." She appealed for anyone who may have seen or had contact with Williams between 11 and 23 August to contact the incident room on 020-8358 0200, or Crimestoppers on 0800-555 111.

In a statement shortly after his body was found, Williams's family described rumours suggesting his sex life might hold the clues to his deathas "very distressing".

They paid tribute to him as a "generous, loving son, brother, and friend" and a very private person, who was "a great athlete, and loved cycling and music".

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/sep/06...liams-cctv

[Jan Klimkowski]

Exhibit A (posted by Peter Lemkin earlier in this thread):

Although detectives are working on the assumption that he was murdered they have not ruled out the possibility that Mr Williams died in a bizarre accident, from an overdose or even suicide.

The Daily Telegraph, August 31, 2010

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/c...y-say.html

It has now been revealed that Williams was "found dead in a padlocked holdall in his bath."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/sep/06...liams-cctv

Did MI6 or whomever was briefing the press seriously think they could get away with claiming that cops were considering that a man found dead in a padlocked sports bag had committed suicide?

If so, it reveals either overweening arrogance or infantile stupidity.

[Peter Lemkin]

Exhibit A (posted by Peter Lemkin earlier in this thread):

Although detectives are working on the assumption that he was murdered they have not ruled out the possibility that Mr Williams died in a bizarre accident, from an overdose or even suicide.

The Daily Telegraph, August 31, 2010

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/c...y-say.html

It has now been revealed that Williams was "found dead in a padlocked holdall in his bath."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/sep/06...liams-cctv

Did MI6 or whomever was briefing the press seriously think they could get away with claiming that cops were considering that a man found dead in a padlocked sports bag had committed suicide?

If so, it reveals either overweening arrogance or infantile stupidity.

Ah, Jan, but the carryall was red....and they think as Hitler said that the bigger the lie, the more likely people are to believe it. Most Americans 'bought' the suicides of many obviously murdered JFK-related witnesses and participants and I could go on and on and on and on......ditto Kelly, and lots on the other side of the Pond.... It is fact the media and Public are not screaming that even the suggestion/entertaining of suicide is tantamount to prepairing for a huge cover-up and then disappearance of the story and the truth....that worries and frightens me.:joyman:

[Paul Rigby]

Did MI6 or whomever was briefing the press seriously think they could get away with claiming that cops were considering that a man found dead in a padlocked sports bag had committed suicide?

If so, it reveals either overweening arrogance or infantile stupidity.

That "either..or" puzzles - surely it should be just an "and"?

[Phil Dragoo]

JOHN MILLIS - STAFF DIRECTOR OF HOUSE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE COMMITS SUICIDE IN VIRGINIA MOTEL
June 6, 2000
© COPYRIGHT 2000. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. FROM THE WILDERNESS PUBLICATIONS.

http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/po...illis.html

SPY PANEL DIRECTOR WHO KILLED HIMSELF WAS UNDER A PROBE

Bill Gertz
THE WASHINGTON TIMES

http://www.apfn.org/apfn/probe.htm

The CIA was cleared in a report released May 11; by June 4, Millis was dead.

Deutch had taken 17,000 files home on disks in his pocket; worked on them on his unsecure home computer.

IMPROPER HANDLING OF CLASSIFIED INFORMATION BY
JOHN M. DEUTCH
(1998-0028-IG)

http://www.fas.org/irp/cia/product/ig_deutch.html

Rub-a-dub-dub. Millis rubbed someone the wrong way.

[Peter Lemkin]

Give us Gareth's body back: Dead MI6 spy's family demand independent tests to find out truth

By Sam Greenhill and Charlotte Gill
Last updated at 8:48 AM on 11th September 2010

Family anguish: The coroner has consistently refused to release Gareth Williams's body because detectives have still to discover exactly how he died

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.

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. Police have released CCTV images of his last known movements

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.

The images show Gareth Williams entering London's Holland Park Tube station on August 14

'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.' :dancing2:

[Peter Lemkin]

Gareth Williams' body will be tested for traces of Polonium 210 - used to kill Russian secret agent Alexander Litvinenko.

[A good forensic toxicology team will test for all kinds of poisons, including radioactives and including short-half-life radioactives. Special Services experts [if they wanted to] could list those types of poisons etc. known to be diffult to detect - none I'm aware of are impossible to detect, if you know what to look for......]

[Peter Presland]

The weary predictability of this continues.

The Daily Mail:

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.

The article also has some interesting stuff about his visits to a Holland Park Patisserie (I used to use the place myself a few years ago when staying at the Holland Park Hotel on business - for what that's worth). Two waitresses pictured and interviewed.

The article also confirms Williams' many visits to Fort Meade - which, as I recall were denied when originally reported soon after the case broke.

I'm trying to keep the Wikispooks page bang u-t-d on all this - had a couple of interesting anonymous messages on it too - but nothing that adds significantly to what is already up there - YET. [URL="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1311214/Detectives-believe-GCHQ-spys-death-sex-game-went-wrong.html#ixzz0zJA4F6kq"]
[/URL]

[Jan Klimkowski]

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.

That really is a world class example of journalistic tripe.

"Well-placed sources" - Scotland Yard's finest rozzers or secret intelligence service? I think we should be told.

"Bizarre sex game" - I note the hacks fail to explain the erotic appeal of climbing into a sports bag, zipping it up, and performing the athletic act of padlocking it from inside. This is intended to be sexually arousing? How? Why?

Could Harry Houdini only get a hardon when chaining himself up in a confined space?

Ffs - this is absolutely ridiculous.

The link to Milligan's erotic asphyxiation death scene, complete with satsuma in mouth, is only relevant to the extent that both were staged to discredit the victim and any intelligence information they may have been about to make public.

Meanwhile, I think we should be shown a video of the Scotland Yard reconstruction of their theory of Williams' death featuring an especially petite officer. It would become an immediate comedy gold classic:

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.