For more than a decade, the chilling death of 31-year-old Gareth Williams – an MI6 codebreaker found naked and decomposing inside a padlocked bag – has remained an enigma
Source: Dailystar.co.uk.
UK – The death of an MI6 spy whose naked body was found inside a holdall with the zips padlocked and the key inside has sparked a frenzy of lurid speculation for over a decade.
But it seems likely that noone will ever know what really happened to junior analyst, Gareth Williams – a Welsh maths whizz who had been seconded to the secret service to investigate financial corruption involving Russia. The 31-year-old was discovered inside a North Face bag inside the bath of his London flat a week after he was last seen alive in 2010.
A coroner ruled he had been the victim of an unlawful killing amid growing suspicions from his family that he’d been murdered, after DNA belonging to two people was found on the bag but never identified. It sparked calls for a forensic review into what became known as the “spy in the bag” case.
It came after the Metropolitan Police concluded that the codebreaker’s death was “probably an accident” with one police chief suggesting it was linked to Mr Williams’ private life which included an “interest in bondage.”
Earlier this week, it was revealed that the review into Mr Williams’ death found no new DNA to suggest anyone else was in the flat when he died, WalesOnline reports.
Anglesey-born Williams, who was a child prodigy in mathematics, was employed by GCHQ, the UK’s eavesdropping agency based at Cheltenham where he deciphered messages left on mobile phones and emails, before being seconded to MI6 for three years.
But a week before he was due to move back to Cheltenham, he disappeared.
Detective chief inspector Neil John told the BBC: “Since 2010 the Met has carried out extensive enquiries into Gareth’s death. An independent forensic review began in January 2021 and we received the findings in November 2023.
“No new DNA evidence was found and no further lines of enquiry were identified. We have informed Gareth’s family of the outcome and our thoughts remain with them.”
The Met added that any further information or evidence will be reviewed by detectives.
Norman Baker, who was a Liberal Democrat minister in David Cameron’s coalition government claimed in a podcast that Williams was killed because he was close to identifying a mole in the UK security services.
Baker said: “Find me, other than some sort of stooge in Scotland Yard, someone who can tell you with a straight face that Gareth Williams was sent into his bathroom, shut the door, turned the lights off, put himself in a bag. I’ve always been interested in matters to do with security, and have always been interested in spotting elephants in rooms that other people want to ignore.”
But Hamish Campbell, the now-retired detective chief superintendent who oversaw the investigation believes that a hit by the Russian state could be ruled out after semen was found at Mr Williams’ flat.
He believes 5ft 7″ Gareth, who lived alone and was not known to be in a relationship, entered the 81cm x 48cm bag of his own free will, but acknowledges it would be “bizarre” to crawl into the bag voluntarily.
Had Mr Williams been stripped and forced into the bag there would have been marks on his body or other signs of a struggle, the detective suggested.
He said: “I felt it was improbable his body fluid could be present in a violent, non-consenting scenario. Considering Gareth’s tidiness and cleanliness, we surmised the semen was from the day of his entry into the bag.
“But was he alone or not? It would be difficult to imagine him having intimacy with a Russian hitman or a female spy.”
The spy’s £500 iPhone had all of its data wiped on August 15, 2010, the day he was last seen alive on CCTV and hours before he is believed to have died.
The heating in the flat was turned up despite it being August, which the Williams family’s barrister, Anthony O’Toole, said meant the body decomposed faster and ruined evidence.
The inquest heard from an expert who made 300 unsuccessful attempts to lock inside the bag adding: “even Houdini would struggle.” But one witness was able to prove it wasn’t impossible.
The inquest also heard that while staying with a family, Mr Williams was found in his boxer shorts with his hands tied to the headboard at 1.30am one night after hearing his screams for help. He told them he wanted to see if he could free himself.
A video found on a phone in Mr Williams’ office showed him dancing naked except for black leather boots.
Inside his flat, police found wigs, make-up, 26 pairs of high-end women’s shoes and £20,000 worth of women’s designer clothing which was stored inside six boxes in a spare bedroom.
Retired detective Campbell suspects the death is linked to Mr Williams’ private life, referring to the time the spy was found tied to the bed in Cheltenham and evidence of visits to bondage and fetish websites, and images of drag queens.
Police found web searches relating to models who were hogtied, a bondage position often performed naked. But armchair detectives say it could be a classic attempt at smearing the victim and were planted there to lead investigators on a false trail.
Others believe it was an inside job by British or US spooks after Gareth had stumbled on some state secret and was about to turn whistleblower.
In further intrigue this week it was alleged Gareth was one of the inventors of cryptocurrency Bitcoin during unrelated proceedings at the High Court, the Sun reports.
The allegation was made during a bitter legal battle between Australian computer programmer, Dr Wright and pressure group the Crypto Open Patent Alliance, or COPA, which argued that Dr Wright claimed to have spoken to Gareth in 2011 — a year after he had died.
