jmdrake
05-02-2012, 04:18 PM
Let's see. He's found dead in a bag and it takes a week for someone to decode it's "probably" a crime?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/9242346/Coroner-MI6-spys-death-was-probably-a-crime.html
Coroner: MI6 spy's death was probably a crime
THE head of MI6 yesterday apologised to the family of a spy found dead in a bag after a coroner ruled that the codebreaker was probably unlawfully killed.
The coroner is due to sum up on the case later today after eight days of evidence and legal submissions.
The coroner is due to sum up on the case later today after eight days of evidence and legal submissions.
Tom Whitehead
By Tom Whitehead, and Martin Evans
10:57PM BST 02 May 2012
THE head of MI6 yesterday apologised to the family of a spy found dead in a bag after a coroner ruled that the codebreaker was probably unlawfully killed.
Sir John Sawers said he regretted that MI6 staff had failed to report their colleague Gareth Williams as missing for more than a week after he disappeared. The dead spy’s family said the delay had “exacerbated” their grief over his death.
Coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox, said that on the “balance of probabilities” the 31 year-old was unlawfully killed by a mysterious third party. She said his death, from suffocation or poisoning, was “highly unusual” and “unnatural” and warned that the truth may never be discovered. Police found the DNA of at least two other people on the holdall, but said traces were too weak to build a profile.
The family of Mr Williams yesterday called on the Metropolitan Police Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe to review the case in the light of failings by the counter-terrorism unit SO15, which were highlighted during the case.
In a statement, Mr Williams’s parents Ian and Ellen, and sister Ceri Subbe, criticised MI6 for mistakes they had made during the investigation.
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Dr Wilcox also attacked MI6 and counter-terrorism police for failings in the investigation, which including potentially key evidence being presented to the inquest only this week — some 21 months after the codebreaker’s death.
The bizarre case prompted worldwide interest and a flurry of conspiracy theories after it emerged that the maths prodigy had a £20,000 collection of women’s clothing, had visited bondage websites and had recorded a video of himself dancing naked in leather boots.
But a lack of usable DNA evidence or signs of a struggle, coupled with an inability to test for certain poisons due to the state of the body, has left police with an unsolved two-year mystery.
The body in the bag
When a police officer arrived at the flat in Pimlico, London, where Mr Williams lived, on Aug 23, 2010, they were shocked by what they found.
The flat itself was “extremely tidy” with no signs of disturbance; his mobile phone and two sim cards were neatly arranged on a table and a laptop was on the floor. The officer noted a lady’s wig hanging from the corner of the kitchen’s chair, but little else appeared untoward.
It was only when the detective searched the bathroom that he noticed the bulging red North Face holdall in the bath with the zips padlocked together and a “peculiar smell”. As the officer lifted the bag, he saw red fluid seeping out of it and realised there was a body inside. When it was found it had been there for a week and was badly decomposed.
Forensics officers found no evidence of a struggle and no fingerprints in or around the bath. Crucially, they had no idea how Mr Williams managed to get inside the bag, which was padlocked from the outside. Their investigation led them into a world of spies, intrigue and the double life of Gareth Williams.
The secret agent
A maths genius, Mr Williams marked himself out from his peers at an early age. He took his maths GCSE when he was 10 years old and his A-level at 13, before going on to study maths at Bangor University and graduating when he was 17. He subsequently went to Manchester and Cambridge Universities, where his extraordinary talents attracted the attention of GCHQ, the intelligence service, which he joined at the age of 21.
He was seconded from GCHQ in Gloucestershire to MI6 in London but requested an early return to Cheltenham because he disliked the city life. In his sister’s words, he was really a “country boy”. The job wasn’t what he had expected and he hated the “rat race, flash car competitions and post-work drinking culture”. A keen cyclist and walker, he wanted to return to the freedom of the countryside.
He didn’t appear to make, or want, many friends. His landlady in Cheltenham for 10 years said he never had anyone in the flat. In London, one friend, Elizabeth Guthrie, said she had never visited his home but he was happy to sit at hers watching DVDs rather than go out drinking. Only too aware of the sensitivities of his job, he was a “scrupulous risk-assessor” and as meticulous as a “Swiss clock”.
The double life
To family and friends, Mr Williams was renowned for his “brilliant” mind, quick wit and cautious nature. But his death revealed another way of life that shocked and surprised his loved ones.
Police arriving at his flat found women’s clothing and shoes worth £20,000, from designers including Christian Louboutin, Christian Dior and Chloe. Most of the clothes were untouched.
In 2007, Jennifer Elliot, his Cheltenham landlady, discovered him tied to his own bedposts wearing only boxer shorts. He insisted he was attempting some escapology — at 1.30am — but Mrs Elliot and her husband were convinced it was “sexual”.
Evidence of visits to bondage and fetish websites was also found on his phones and laptops, as well as images of drag queens. Some searches related to models in various forms of a “hogtie”, a bondage position often performed naked.
Police also found a home-made video on one of his iPhones showing Mr Williams naked except for black leather boots “wiggling and gyrating” with his back to the camera.
However, the coroner said there was no evidence that Mr Williams was a transvestite, and that the women’s clothes in his flat could be part of a “fashion collection”. She said his visits to bondage websites only occurred intermittently and she would have expected “more activity” if he had an active interest.
She accepted that a video showing him dancing naked in leather boots showed evidence of a “sexual interest in ladies’ footwear” but added, “but there I suspect he is not alone”.
Foul play
In a two-hour narrative verdict yesterday, Dr Wilcox said the death had “immediately raised the possibility of foul play” but there was insufficient evidence to give a formal ruling of “unlawful killing”. Crucially, she concluded: “I am satisfied — so that I am sure — that a third party placed the bag [containing Mr Williams] into the bath and on the balance of probabilities locked the bag.
“The cause of death was unnatural and likely to have been criminally mediated. I am therefore satisfied on the balance of probabilities that Gareth was killed unlawfully.”
She said that, on balance, Mr Williams probably entered the bag alive and died shortly thereafter. Experts have said he could have died within three minutes either from being overcome by carbon dioxide or from “the effects of some unknown poison”. Dr Wilcox warned that, despite a two-year police investigation and seven days of evidence, “most of the fundamental questions in relation to how Gareth died remain unanswered”. “It is unlikely this death will ever be satisfactorily explained,” she said.
Secret services and the “dark arts”
Dr Wilcox said there was no evidence of a link between his death and his work or his personal life. However, the possibility that another member of the Secret Intelligence Service was involved “was and remains a legitimate line of inquiry”, she said. She said she remained concerned about the fact that one of Mr Williams’s phones had been restored to factory settings shortly before his death.
Undisclosed evidence
The coroner made the comments as she criticised the way MI6 and a senior counter-terrorism officer handled the investigation into Mr Williams’s work background.
It emerged this week that nine memory sticks possibly belonging to him and a black holdall similar to the one he was found in were discovered at his work but never disclosed to the Met team investigating the death. The coroner also criticised Det Supt Michael Broster, a senior counter-terrorism officer who acted as the link between the Met team and MI6.
No one was aware he had taken a phone from Mr Williams’s office until he handed it to another officer the following day. It was the same phone that contained the video of Mr Williams dancing naked in leather boots. Dr Wilcox said many of the agencies involved in the inquiry had “fallen short”.
A family’s grief
The family’s short statement released in both Welsh and English yesterday reflected their pain and frustration over the two-year investigation. They said: “To lose a son and brother at any time is a tragedy. To lose and son and brother in such circumstances as have been outlined here only compounds the tragedy.”
Scotland Yard have promised to keep searching for any third party involved in Mr Williams’s death. If Dr Wilcox is proved correct, however, the family may never get the answers they want.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/9242346/Coroner-MI6-spys-death-was-probably-a-crime.html
Coroner: MI6 spy's death was probably a crime
THE head of MI6 yesterday apologised to the family of a spy found dead in a bag after a coroner ruled that the codebreaker was probably unlawfully killed.
The coroner is due to sum up on the case later today after eight days of evidence and legal submissions.
The coroner is due to sum up on the case later today after eight days of evidence and legal submissions.
Tom Whitehead
By Tom Whitehead, and Martin Evans
10:57PM BST 02 May 2012
THE head of MI6 yesterday apologised to the family of a spy found dead in a bag after a coroner ruled that the codebreaker was probably unlawfully killed.
Sir John Sawers said he regretted that MI6 staff had failed to report their colleague Gareth Williams as missing for more than a week after he disappeared. The dead spy’s family said the delay had “exacerbated” their grief over his death.
Coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox, said that on the “balance of probabilities” the 31 year-old was unlawfully killed by a mysterious third party. She said his death, from suffocation or poisoning, was “highly unusual” and “unnatural” and warned that the truth may never be discovered. Police found the DNA of at least two other people on the holdall, but said traces were too weak to build a profile.
The family of Mr Williams yesterday called on the Metropolitan Police Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe to review the case in the light of failings by the counter-terrorism unit SO15, which were highlighted during the case.
In a statement, Mr Williams’s parents Ian and Ellen, and sister Ceri Subbe, criticised MI6 for mistakes they had made during the investigation.
Related Articles
Police investigating new lines of inquiry
02 May 2012
Family of Gareth Williams call for police review of case
02 May 2012
Gareth Williams inquest gallery
02 May 2012
Gareth Williams profile
02 May 2012
MI6 spy death: the case reviewed
02 May 2012
Gareth Williams verdict: unanswered questions
02 May 2012
Dr Wilcox also attacked MI6 and counter-terrorism police for failings in the investigation, which including potentially key evidence being presented to the inquest only this week — some 21 months after the codebreaker’s death.
The bizarre case prompted worldwide interest and a flurry of conspiracy theories after it emerged that the maths prodigy had a £20,000 collection of women’s clothing, had visited bondage websites and had recorded a video of himself dancing naked in leather boots.
But a lack of usable DNA evidence or signs of a struggle, coupled with an inability to test for certain poisons due to the state of the body, has left police with an unsolved two-year mystery.
The body in the bag
When a police officer arrived at the flat in Pimlico, London, where Mr Williams lived, on Aug 23, 2010, they were shocked by what they found.
The flat itself was “extremely tidy” with no signs of disturbance; his mobile phone and two sim cards were neatly arranged on a table and a laptop was on the floor. The officer noted a lady’s wig hanging from the corner of the kitchen’s chair, but little else appeared untoward.
It was only when the detective searched the bathroom that he noticed the bulging red North Face holdall in the bath with the zips padlocked together and a “peculiar smell”. As the officer lifted the bag, he saw red fluid seeping out of it and realised there was a body inside. When it was found it had been there for a week and was badly decomposed.
Forensics officers found no evidence of a struggle and no fingerprints in or around the bath. Crucially, they had no idea how Mr Williams managed to get inside the bag, which was padlocked from the outside. Their investigation led them into a world of spies, intrigue and the double life of Gareth Williams.
The secret agent
A maths genius, Mr Williams marked himself out from his peers at an early age. He took his maths GCSE when he was 10 years old and his A-level at 13, before going on to study maths at Bangor University and graduating when he was 17. He subsequently went to Manchester and Cambridge Universities, where his extraordinary talents attracted the attention of GCHQ, the intelligence service, which he joined at the age of 21.
He was seconded from GCHQ in Gloucestershire to MI6 in London but requested an early return to Cheltenham because he disliked the city life. In his sister’s words, he was really a “country boy”. The job wasn’t what he had expected and he hated the “rat race, flash car competitions and post-work drinking culture”. A keen cyclist and walker, he wanted to return to the freedom of the countryside.
He didn’t appear to make, or want, many friends. His landlady in Cheltenham for 10 years said he never had anyone in the flat. In London, one friend, Elizabeth Guthrie, said she had never visited his home but he was happy to sit at hers watching DVDs rather than go out drinking. Only too aware of the sensitivities of his job, he was a “scrupulous risk-assessor” and as meticulous as a “Swiss clock”.
The double life
To family and friends, Mr Williams was renowned for his “brilliant” mind, quick wit and cautious nature. But his death revealed another way of life that shocked and surprised his loved ones.
Police arriving at his flat found women’s clothing and shoes worth £20,000, from designers including Christian Louboutin, Christian Dior and Chloe. Most of the clothes were untouched.
In 2007, Jennifer Elliot, his Cheltenham landlady, discovered him tied to his own bedposts wearing only boxer shorts. He insisted he was attempting some escapology — at 1.30am — but Mrs Elliot and her husband were convinced it was “sexual”.
Evidence of visits to bondage and fetish websites was also found on his phones and laptops, as well as images of drag queens. Some searches related to models in various forms of a “hogtie”, a bondage position often performed naked.
Police also found a home-made video on one of his iPhones showing Mr Williams naked except for black leather boots “wiggling and gyrating” with his back to the camera.
However, the coroner said there was no evidence that Mr Williams was a transvestite, and that the women’s clothes in his flat could be part of a “fashion collection”. She said his visits to bondage websites only occurred intermittently and she would have expected “more activity” if he had an active interest.
She accepted that a video showing him dancing naked in leather boots showed evidence of a “sexual interest in ladies’ footwear” but added, “but there I suspect he is not alone”.
Foul play
In a two-hour narrative verdict yesterday, Dr Wilcox said the death had “immediately raised the possibility of foul play” but there was insufficient evidence to give a formal ruling of “unlawful killing”. Crucially, she concluded: “I am satisfied — so that I am sure — that a third party placed the bag [containing Mr Williams] into the bath and on the balance of probabilities locked the bag.
“The cause of death was unnatural and likely to have been criminally mediated. I am therefore satisfied on the balance of probabilities that Gareth was killed unlawfully.”
She said that, on balance, Mr Williams probably entered the bag alive and died shortly thereafter. Experts have said he could have died within three minutes either from being overcome by carbon dioxide or from “the effects of some unknown poison”. Dr Wilcox warned that, despite a two-year police investigation and seven days of evidence, “most of the fundamental questions in relation to how Gareth died remain unanswered”. “It is unlikely this death will ever be satisfactorily explained,” she said.
Secret services and the “dark arts”
Dr Wilcox said there was no evidence of a link between his death and his work or his personal life. However, the possibility that another member of the Secret Intelligence Service was involved “was and remains a legitimate line of inquiry”, she said. She said she remained concerned about the fact that one of Mr Williams’s phones had been restored to factory settings shortly before his death.
Undisclosed evidence
The coroner made the comments as she criticised the way MI6 and a senior counter-terrorism officer handled the investigation into Mr Williams’s work background.
It emerged this week that nine memory sticks possibly belonging to him and a black holdall similar to the one he was found in were discovered at his work but never disclosed to the Met team investigating the death. The coroner also criticised Det Supt Michael Broster, a senior counter-terrorism officer who acted as the link between the Met team and MI6.
No one was aware he had taken a phone from Mr Williams’s office until he handed it to another officer the following day. It was the same phone that contained the video of Mr Williams dancing naked in leather boots. Dr Wilcox said many of the agencies involved in the inquiry had “fallen short”.
A family’s grief
The family’s short statement released in both Welsh and English yesterday reflected their pain and frustration over the two-year investigation. They said: “To lose a son and brother at any time is a tragedy. To lose and son and brother in such circumstances as have been outlined here only compounds the tragedy.”
Scotland Yard have promised to keep searching for any third party involved in Mr Williams’s death. If Dr Wilcox is proved correct, however, the family may never get the answers they want.