'British spy' found dead in bath

Moderators: Elvis, DrVolin, Jeff

Re: 'British spy' found dead in bath

Postby seemslikeadream » Wed Aug 25, 2010 8:59 pm

Did spy's killer steal state secrets? MI6 agents search for 'missing' laptop or MP3 player after body-in-bag murder case
By DAVID WILLIAMS, CHARLOTTE GILL and TOM KELLY
Last updated at 12:12 AM on 26th August 2010
Comments (0)
Add to My Stories
Intelligence officers are investigating whether state secrets were stolen by the killer of a British spy.
The MI6 agent, whose body was found in a sports bag in the bath of his flat, was named yesterday as Gareth Williams.
He was a cipher and codes specialist on secondment to the Secret Intelligence Service from the GCHQ listening station, and often took his work home.
Image
Bizarre murder: Gareth Williams, from Cheltenham, who has been found dead in a flat in Pimlico. His body was discovered stuffed in a large sports bag in his bath in a flat just a few hundred yards from the MI6 HQ
Security services fear that his murderer could have taken classified material - possibly held on a laptop or MP3 player - which could be sold on to Britain’s enemies.
The partially decomposed body of the talented 31-year-old loner was discovered in his top-floor flat at a Georgian townhouse in Pimlico, central London.
It is thought to have lain there for two weeks before it was found on Monday. Detectives yesterday spent a second day in the two-bedroom flat - believed to be one of several ‘safe houses’ in that area used by MI6 - looking for clues and trying to check if anything was missing.
Image
Removing the body: Forensic experts removing Williams's body from the Alderney Street property. So far the cause of death remains a mystery - although police have ruled out earlier reports of stabbing

Image
Police guard: Alderney Street remains cordoned off and Met police stand guard outside the property as an investigation into the death of Williams continues
A security source said: ‘Whatever the motives for this killing, there is the strong likelihood that items will have been taken and that is potentially a real problem because it may be difficult identifying exactly what he had at home.’
With much of the focus of MI6 on the terror threat posed by fanatics linked to Al Qaeda and the Taliban, one theory was that Mr Williams had been targeted because of his work.
In the flat in Alderney Street, a mobile telephone and a collection of SIM cards had been carefully laid out - in what was described as a bizarre ritualistic scene - and officers are researching each number called.


Police said the results of a post-mortem examination were inconclusive.
Toxicology tests have been ordered to see if Mr Williams had been poisoned. Another possibility is that he was smothered or strangled before being bundled into the bag.
But lurid speculation that he had been stabbed or even dismembered was discounted by police sources.
They said the telephone numbers of escort agencies were found on one SIM card while pornographic material had also been discovered in the flat.
Image
Intelligent: Williams graduated from Bangor University at the age of 19, and went on to Cambridge
It is not known exactly when Mr Williams was reported missing - but one suggestion is that he had taken some time off and had been due to return to work on Monday.
Officers from Scotland Yard’s Murder Squad, with assistance from their counter-terrorist and security service colleagues, are delving into the private life of Mr Williams, seeking to discover whether he had relationship or money problems.
Another possibility is that he was the victim of a dangerous sex game gone wrong.
Tight security controlled the entrance to the flat, which is just a few hundred yards away from the MI6 headquarters across the Thames at Vauxhall.
Such were the precautions, it is believed, that eye scanners could have been used to gain entry.
Eileen Booth, 73, who lives opposite the flat, said detectives had come round and asked neighbours for their eye colour and height.
Mr Williams, a bachelor who had been subjected to security clearance before he was given the job, was described as a mild-mannered fitness and cycling fanatic dedicated to his work.
He was due to leave London and return early next month to his job at Cheltenham.
Finance worker Gemma Wingfield Digby, 26, who moved into the basement flat of Mr Williams’s building three weeks ago, said: ‘I saw him only once but he was such a sweet guy. All I wanted to do was give him a hug.’
Public documents reveal current and former residents of the freehold block where Mr Williams lived have links to London and Cheltenham.
One fear is that an area used by MI6 to house operatives - and where two former senior Tory politicians are neighbours - had now been compromised.
Image

Former MI6 officer Harry Ferguson said: ‘There are lots of flats in this area owned by MI6 and their big worry will be that a terrorist group or intelligence group was involved.’
As Alderney Street remained cordoned off last night and forensic experts continued to search for clues, police were releasing little about the case.

More...
First picture of British spy found dead in his bath yards from MI6 HQ
Land Registry documents reveal that the block at number 36 is owned by a private company, New Rodina, whose details are hidden because it is registered in the British Virgin Islands and is not listed with Companies House.
The word rodina means motherland in Russian and Bulgarian. Several other residents were also linked to Cheltenham leading to suggestions the flats may have been used regularly by MI6.
Image
Central London address: This map shows where Alderney Street is in Pimlico, central London, where the body was found. The street remains cordoned off
The property was bought for £675,250 in 2000 with a mortgage from the Royal Bank of Scotland and has been remortgaged twice, in September 2005 and February 2006.
The documents show that the owner operated through a law firm known as Park Nelson, a firm which once occupied a rented office block in Bell Yard, off Fleet Street, but no longer appears to exist.
One Frenchman who lived at the flat between 2005 and 2006 is an expert in global satellite positioning, radio communications and high sensitivity antennae.

The spy they called the quiet man: Maths genius, loner and cycling fanatic at the centre of mystery
Few who crossed Gareth Williams’s path would have been surprised to learn that he was a spy.
A mild-mannered loner, who preferred cycling on gruelling lone runs to the pub or clubs, acquaintances knew him as ‘the quiet man’.
His landlady for a decade, Jenny Elliott, yesterday recalled how the 31-year-old bachelor lived without a TV in the annexe of her home, often hearing him working alone on the tapes she knew were part of his work.
‘There was never noise, never a problem,’ she said. ‘He was the perfect person to have in your home... a genuinely nice, decent man.’
Image
Perfect tenant: The one-bedroom flat in Cheltenham where Gareth Williams also lived. His landlady of 10 years, Jenny Elliott, said he was like a member of the family
Retired office worker Mrs Elliott, 71, and her husband Brian came to know Mr Williams well during the ten years he spent with them at their £500,000 home in the Prestbury area of Cheltenham, while he worked for GCHQ, the government’s listening centre.
‘It’s a real tragedy,’ she said. ‘Gareth was a really nice guy who was polite and mild-mannered and wouldn’t hurt a fly.
‘When someone has lived with you for ten years you get to know them really well, and Gareth almost became a part of the family.
Image
Spartan living quarters: Inside the Cheltenham self-contained flat. Mrs Elliott said Mr Williams did not have a TV in his room, and she was not aware of him bringing guests to stay
‘Gareth was a very likeable person but didn’t really have any friends as such. He was a cycling fanatic and was forever off on some bike ride or another but never really had friends round.
'He was an extremely intelligent person but would not talk about his job as it was a secret, on account of working for GCHQ. All he told me was it was something to do with codes.’
The last time Mrs Elliott spoke to Mr Williams flat was two weeks ago, when he called to confirm when he would be returning to Cheltenham from London.
He was a keen cyclist with the Cheltenham and County Club and took part in uphill races - coming eighth in a recent event.
Image
Codes and cyphers: Mr Williams was employed as a communications officer at the Government's 'listening post' - better known as GCHQ in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
Image
Seconded: Mr Williams had been working for MI6 when he went missing. His body was discovered stuffed in a large sports bag in his bath in a flat just a few hundred yards from the headquarters
Mrs Elliott said she did not remember him ever bringing a girlfriend back to the self-contained flat, comprising a bathroom, bedroom and kitchen, above her garage.
’That’s not to say he didn’t meet girls. But if he did, he certainly didn’t talk about them to me.
‘Gareth occasionally said he was meeting some of the guys from work for a quiet drink but he wouldn’t tell me who they were or where they were going and I never pried.
'He never had a television and I never heard music coming from the flat. He was the perfect tenant and I doubt I’ll be able to find one as good as him again.’
Mr Williams had a close friendship with former GCHQ colleague Raphael L’hoste-Morton, who now works for a young people’s charity in Gloucester.
Mr L’hoste-Morton denied having had a relationship with Mr Williams, and his mother Maryse said she would not comment on her son’s private life.
Mr Williams, a Welsh speaker, was raised in Holyhead on Anglesey by his father Ian, who worked at the nuclear power plant, and mother Ellen, together with sister Ceri.
Friends recall how it was his father who led Gareth to a love of cycling and together they were a frequent sight - even recently - pounding the roads of Anglesey.
According to his uncle William Hughes, it was always apparent that Gareth was an outstandingly bright boy.
‘The family knew this from a very, very young age. He was a very clever lad. When he was at secondary school he would go to university one day a week.’
According Mr Hughes, Gareth graduated at the age of only 19 from Bangor University and went on to Cambridge to continue his studies.
‘He was quiet, unassuming. When he came home on his weekends and holidays he’d be on his bicycle riding around the lanes of Anglesey.
‘He worked for GCHQ for many years. We knew he was working in London, but he’d never talk about his work and the family knew not to ask really. We didn’t know what he was doing. He never spoke about it.’
Mr Hughes added that to learn of the murder was a terrible shock.
‘I got a phone call... I couldn’t believe that such a thing had happened.’
John Barnes, who once worked with Gareth Williams’s father and who regularly cycled with the two men, said: ‘Gareth was brilliant at maths - a genius.’
Mr Williams’s parents were abroad on holiday when their son’s death was discovered and were said to be staying last night in London. Scotland
Yard detectives were at the family home in Holyhead, where they were speaking with the dead man’s sister, Ceri Subbe, who lives with her doctor husband, Christian.
Mazars and Deutsche Bank could have ended this nightmare before it started.
They could still get him out of office.
But instead, they want mass death.
Don’t forget that.
User avatar
seemslikeadream
 
Posts: 32090
Joined: Wed Apr 27, 2005 11:28 pm
Location: into the black
Blog: View Blog (83)

Re: 'British spy' found dead in bath

Postby anothershamus » Thu Aug 26, 2010 9:40 am

The partially decomposed body of the talented 31-year-old loner was discovered in his top-floor flat at a Georgian townhouse in Pimlico, central London.

In the flat in Alderney Street, a mobile telephone and a collection of SIM cards had been carefully laid out - in what was described as a bizarre ritualistic scene - and officers are researching each number called.

They said the telephone numbers of escort agencies were found on one SIM card while pornographic material had also been discovered in the flat.

Another possibility is that he was the victim of a dangerous sex game gone wrong.

Such were the precautions, it is believed, that eye scanners could have been used to gain entry.

Finance worker Gemma Wingfield Digby, 26, who moved into the basement flat of Mr Williams’s building three weeks ago, said: ‘I saw him only once but he was such a sweet guy. All I wanted to do was give him a hug.’ Prime suspect!

The spy they called the quiet man: Maths genius, loner and cycling fanatic at the centre of mystery
Few who crossed Gareth Williams’s path would have been surprised to learn that he was a spy.
A mild-mannered loner, who preferred cycling on gruelling lone runs to the pub or clubs, acquaintances knew him as ‘the quiet man’.
Friends recall how it was his father who led Gareth to a love of cycling and together they were a frequent sight - even recently - pounding the roads of Anglesey.
John Barnes, who once worked with Gareth Williams’s father and who regularly cycled with the two men, said: ‘Gareth was brilliant at maths - a genius.’ That's a lot of people that hang out with a 'Loner'.

According to his uncle William Hughes, it was always apparent that Gareth was an outstandingly bright boy.
‘The family knew this from a very, very young age. He was a very clever lad. When he was at secondary school he would go to university one day a week.’ No more pounding by the father or the uncle.

His landlady of 10 years, Jenny Elliott, said he was like a member of the family
she said. ‘He was the perfect person to have in your home... a genuinely nice, decent man.’
'He never had a television and I never heard music coming from the flat. He was the perfect tenant and I doubt I’ll be able to find one as good as him again.’ "He was always 'Dead Quiet' she was heard to whisper under her breath.

Spartan living quarters: Inside the Cheltenham self-contained flat. Mrs Elliott said Mr Williams did not have a TV in his room, and she was not aware of him bringing guests to stay

Codes and cyphers: Mr Williams was employed as a communications officer at the Government's 'listening post' - better known as GCHQ in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, Also known as the 'Fortress of Solitude'!
Image

I didn't add too many snarky comments, just put parts together and the subtext comes to light. My money is on Gemma Wingfield Digby, 26, she moved in only three weeks before, and had a week to work out his schedule and then kill him and stuff him in a sports bag and wait till someone else found him. I'll just bet she gave him a 'hug', with a knife in one hand and poison in the other, Mata Hari lookout!
)'(
User avatar
anothershamus
 
Posts: 1913
Joined: Fri Jun 23, 2006 1:58 pm
Location: bi local
Blog: View Blog (0)

Re: 'British spy' found dead in bath

Postby Jeff » Thu Aug 26, 2010 11:15 am

Murdered spy' 'gifted but socially naive'

By Chris Greenwood, PA
Thursday, 26 August 2010

A childhood friend of murdered spy Gareth Williams described him as academically gifted by socially naive today.

Dylan Parry, 34, said the GCHQ codes and cyphers expert was an isolated child fascinated by mathematics and computers.

Mr Parry, a volunteer at Westminster Cathedral, went to school with Mr Williams at Uwchradd Bodedern secondary in Anglesey, North Wales.

He told the London Evening Standard that Mr Williams travelled to Bangor University every week aged 16 to study for a mathematics degree part-time.

He said: "He was the kind of person who found it difficult to engage with people on a normal level.

"It was clear he was going to go far, but we all assumed he would end up in academia. Finding out he became a spy was a shock."

Mr Parry added that his friend was someone "people could easily take advantage of", that he was "naive" and a poor judge of character.

...

Jenny Elliott, his former landlady in Cheltenham, described Mr Williams as "a lovely guy".

She added that he was often sent overseas, spending much of this time in America, even though he disliked flying.

...


http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/cr ... 62667.html
User avatar
Jeff
Site Admin
 
Posts: 11134
Joined: Fri Oct 20, 2000 8:01 pm
Blog: View Blog (0)

Re: 'British spy' found dead in bath

Postby seemslikeadream » Thu Aug 26, 2010 9:37 pm

Spy vetting probe over bondage find
By ANTHONY FRANCE, JOHN KAY and NEIL SYSON
Published: Today
SPY chiefs launched a probe yesterday into their security vetting of murdered spook Gareth Williams as it emerged bondage gear was found in his flat.
Detectives are believed to have discovered porn films and sado-masochistic equipment.


Probe ... cops hunt for clues at Pimlico flat used by Gareth Williams
SIMON JONES
The master codebreaker working for MI6 was also linked to a male escort.
Bosses at MI6's HQ near the flat he was using in Pimlico, central London, are investigating all aspects about his private life that might have slipped past their "positive vetting" system.

Potential employees have to declare anything that could make them blackmail targets.


A security source said: "The logic is that you cannot be blackmailed about something your employers are already aware of."
The decomposed body of keen cyclist Mr Williams, 31, was found in a suitcase in the bathroom at his flat on Monday.

It was also revealed he made several trips to the US - and was thought to have been helping US intelligence in the fight against al-Qaeda.

He returned from his last trip to America a few weeks ago.

Mr Williams is said to have regularly travelled to Baltimore to meet officials at the US National Security Agency at their Fort Meade headquarters, nicknamed Puzzle Palace.

It is thought that he may also have been involved in monitoring conversations between Taliban commanders.

The maths genius was in the US up to four times a year.

His uncle William Hughes said: "The trips were very hush-hush. They were so secret that I only recently found out about them - and we're a very close family."

The CIA was last night also said to be investigating the circumstances surrounding his death.

Mr Williams, originally from Holyhead, North Wales, had been on secondment to MI6 from GCHQ, Britain's eavesdropping base in Cheltenham, Gloucs.


'Cross-dressing spy' murdered in London flat
Posted in: International Daily News
By GayNZ.com Daily News staff - 27th August 2010Email this article
Printer friendly page
««« Go Back

Gareth Williams
British police believe a spy whose body was found stuffed into a bag at his London flat may have been killed by a jealous lover.
The body of 31-year-old Gareth Williams lay undiscovered for up to two weeks in the bathroom of his top floor flat.
Police also found women's clothes that fitted Williams at the flat, leading some British media to label him a 'cross-dressing spy'.
The Daily Telegraph says Williams had been working for MI6 on a one-year posting but was due to return to his regular job at the Government Communications Headquarter listening station in Cheltenham.
The paper says detectives believe Williams might have had a violent row with a lover over his decision to return to Gloucestershire.
However, police have not ruled out the possibility that the murder could be linked to his secret intelligence work.
There was no sign of forced entry at the flat in Pimlico, central London, suggesting the killer was someone Mr Williams knew. Nothing was stolen.
Detectives are studying whether he was strangled, asphyxiated or drugged.
The Sun says detectives are also investigating whether he was killed by a foreign spy, saying spook agencies in some countries target British operatives by using good-looking agents to seduce them into giving up secrets.
It says Williams was known to meet men in the capital's gay mecca of Vauxhall Cross and Soho in the West End.
Mazars and Deutsche Bank could have ended this nightmare before it started.
They could still get him out of office.
But instead, they want mass death.
Don’t forget that.
User avatar
seemslikeadream
 
Posts: 32090
Joined: Wed Apr 27, 2005 11:28 pm
Location: into the black
Blog: View Blog (83)

Re: 'British spy' found dead in bath

Postby justdrew » Thu Aug 26, 2010 10:12 pm

He returned from his last trip to America a few weeks ago.


so he was killed just about a week after returning from the US
By 1964 there were 1.5 million mobile phone users in the US
User avatar
justdrew
 
Posts: 11966
Joined: Tue May 24, 2005 7:57 pm
Location: unknown
Blog: View Blog (11)

Re: 'British spy' found dead in bath

Postby Jeff » Fri Aug 27, 2010 1:19 am

justdrew wrote:
He returned from his last trip to America a few weeks ago.


so he was killed just about a week after returning from the US


Funny you mention that...

CIA joins probe of British spy slaying
Published: Aug. 26, 2010 at 10:09 PM

LONDON, Aug. 26 (UPI) -- The CIA was called in to help investigate the death of a British spy whose body was found decomposing in a sports bag in his bathtub, officials said Thursday.

Gareth Williams, a 31-year-old code breaker for the MI6 Secret Intelligence Service, supplying Britain with foreign intelligence, was often sent on secret missions to the United States. He returned to London from his last U.S. trip a few weeks before he was found dead, The Daily Mail reported.

...


http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2010/08/ ... 1282874969
User avatar
Jeff
Site Admin
 
Posts: 11134
Joined: Fri Oct 20, 2000 8:01 pm
Blog: View Blog (0)

Re: 'British spy' found dead in bath

Postby Nordic » Fri Aug 27, 2010 2:56 am

helping US intelligence in the fight against al-Qaeda.


God I hate phrases like that. They're just so wrong on so many different levels, just reinforcing the propaganda, the lie, the wars, the crimes, the corruption, all in a throw-away little phrase.

Every fucking word in that phrase is a lie.
"He who wounds the ecosphere literally wounds God" -- Philip K. Dick
Nordic
 
Posts: 14230
Joined: Fri Nov 10, 2006 3:36 am
Location: California USA
Blog: View Blog (6)

Re: 'British spy' found dead in bath

Postby semper occultus » Fri Aug 27, 2010 4:10 am

....funny about William's alleged activities : a very distant relative is some sort of maths genius - the sort of bloke who is so aspegic he needs someone to basically keep him eating food & changing his underwear occasionally. He took to wearing women's clothes & announced he wanted to be known as Deidre or some such.
Alan Turing had a few issues.
One of the MIT casino team liked dressing up as a woman - just to escape the scrutiny of the security people ofcourse !
User avatar
semper occultus
 
Posts: 2974
Joined: Wed Feb 08, 2006 2:01 pm
Location: London,England
Blog: View Blog (0)

Re: 'British spy' found dead in bath

Postby Jeff » Fri Aug 27, 2010 6:15 pm

Murdered spy's family 'deeply upset' about private life claims
Cousin says family in state of shock, as report says Gareth Williams was regular visitor to Pentagon listening post

Mark Tran
guardian.co.uk, Friday 27 August 2010 16.36 BST

The family of a murdered British spy said today they were "deeply upset" over claims about his private life and suggested the security services may be behind a smear campaign.

...

William Hughes, 62, a Plaid Cymru councillor on the Isle of Anglesey county council and a cousin of Williams's mother, Ellen, said there was no evidence the allegations were correct.

He said: "I don't see any evidence of it. It never crossed my mind that Gareth was that sort of person. He left home at a young age and what happened in his private life was his business.

"When you have these rumours in the papers, it is most distressing. It is heartbreaking that he has died so young and his family have enough on their plate without having to read these stories.

"Gareth's parents are not doing well at all. They are in a state of shock and struggling to come to terms with what has happened. They have seen what has been in the papers and they are very, very upset about these untruths."

Hughes said it was possible the government or another agency may be trying to discredit Williams, who had been due to return to a rented flat in Cheltenham, where GCHQ is based.

The Daily Mail reported that Williams flew to the NSA, the Pentagon's listening post, up to four times a year. He returned from his last trip a few weeks before he was found dead. The paper said US intelligence officers were poring over Williams's work and personal life to see whether the circumstances of his death endangered US national security.

...


http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/aug/2 ... mily-upset
User avatar
Jeff
Site Admin
 
Posts: 11134
Joined: Fri Oct 20, 2000 8:01 pm
Blog: View Blog (0)

Re: 'British spy' found dead in bath

Postby Stephen Morgan » Sat Aug 28, 2010 1:49 pm

anothershamus wrote:Finance worker Gemma Wingfield Digby, 26, who moved into the basement flat of Mr Williams’s building three weeks ago, said: ‘I saw him only once but he was such a sweet guy. All I wanted to do was give him a hug.’ Prime suspect!


Miss Caroline Diggeby-Pratte was at Roedean;
Her daddy is a Brigadier (a big wig).
Miss Caroline Diggeby-Pratte is seventeen
And she likes men who are sincere (jig-jig).
Caroline likes marzipan and pussycats.
Caroline's the latest in a very long line of aristocratic Prattes.

Somebody may love you, Caroline, hopefully.
Caroline, oh, callow Caroline, I know it won't be me.

Caroline is so romantic
And she likes to walk alone on lonely sands,
Just so long as the champagne cocktail
And the glossy gossip columns are on hand.
Caroline likes daffodils and waterfalls.
She follows the social folderols,
The smarty parties, all the horsy balls.

Oh somebody may love you, Caroline, helplessly.
Caroline, oh, callow Caroline, you bet it won't be me.

Caroline would like a man of simple tastes
Who runs a sporty Porsche,
Who would give her jewels, and now and then a trace
Of elegant intercourse (of course).
But he would have to know what everybody knows
The moon shines out of Caroline's,
Out of Caroline's little turned-up nose.

Somebody may love you, Caroline, hopelessly.
Caroline, oh, callow Caroline, he'll love you hopelessly.
Somebody will marry Caroline. God know what he will be.
Caroline, oh, callow Caroline, God knows it won't be me.
Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that all was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes, and make it possible. -- Lawrence of Arabia
User avatar
Stephen Morgan
 
Posts: 3736
Joined: Thu Apr 19, 2007 6:37 am
Location: England
Blog: View Blog (9)

Re: 'British spy' found dead in bath

Postby Jeff » Sat Aug 28, 2010 2:00 pm

Police refused to categorise the death as a murder, despite the bizarre circumstances, and say he may have died innocently.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/au ... -days-body
User avatar
Jeff
Site Admin
 
Posts: 11134
Joined: Fri Oct 20, 2000 8:01 pm
Blog: View Blog (0)

Re: 'British spy' found dead in bath

Postby norton ash » Sat Aug 28, 2010 2:12 pm

Quote:
Police refused to categorise the death as a murder, despite the bizarre circumstances, and say he may have died innocently.


And was innocently dismembered and stuffed in a bag.

Stephen Morgan wrote:
Caroline's the latest in a very long line of aristocratic Prattes.


Morgan, do you think it may have been a rogue Sloane Ranger faction?
Zen horse
User avatar
norton ash
 
Posts: 4067
Joined: Wed Nov 08, 2006 5:46 pm
Location: Canada
Blog: View Blog (0)

Re: 'British spy' found dead in bath

Postby Jeff » Sun Aug 29, 2010 8:32 pm

Police reject rumours surrounding MI6 man found dead in flat

By Mark Hughes, Crime Correspondent
Monday, 30 August 2010

Police took the unusual decision yesterday to step in and deny increasingly lurid reports about the private life of the murdered GCHQ officer Gareth Williams.

Scotland Yard sources said that reports of bondage equipment found at his flat and a "ritualistic" arrangement of his possessions were untrue. A spokesman later added that the detective team investigating the death, had clarified the accuracy of the reports "out of respect" for Mr Williams' relatives.

...

Those scant details aside, little is known about precisely when, why or how Mr Williams died. As is usual in such cases, police have not confirmed any potential motive they are investigating. Early speculation suggested that Mr Williams' job may have been the reason for his death. But latterly, the focus has shone more on his personal life. Last week a pathologist was unable to establish a cause of death. Toxicology tests will determine if he was poisoned, or if drugs or alcohol were a factor. But the report suggested he was not stabbed.

On Saturday night Channel 4 News claimed that the initial police report had stated that Mr Williams' death was a "neat job", suggesting that he was killed by someone who knew what they were doing.

There are also suggestions that Scotland Yard detectives have become frustrated with the interference of colleagues in the intelligence agencies who are not used to their own organisations or employees being the subject of investigations. Police are also said to be investigating payments and withdrawals of thousands of pounds into and out of Mr Williams' bank account in the days leading up to his death.


http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/cr ... 65560.html
User avatar
Jeff
Site Admin
 
Posts: 11134
Joined: Fri Oct 20, 2000 8:01 pm
Blog: View Blog (0)

Re: 'British spy' found dead in bath

Postby MinM » Mon Aug 30, 2010 7:37 am


aangirfan: MURDER OF SPOOK GARETH WILLIAMS: NSA; MIND CONTROL
Five weeks before Gareth Williams' death, Gareth Williams' 'best friend' was suddenly posted to Denver, Colorado on secret duties.

"A source claimed detectives have been ‘blocked’ from interviewing several potentially crucial witnesses.

"Mr Williams’s ‘best friend’, a female colleague at the Government’s listening post, was posted to work for an intelligence agency linked to the Pentagon in the U.S. five weeks ago.

"The 25-year-old woman and her husband, who also knew Mr Williams, both worked at GCHQ in Cheltenham and were ‘suddenly’ transferred to Denver, Colorado, on secret duties.

Murder squad detectives are keen to speak to her in case she can offer any clues to why someone would want Mr Williams dead. (Gareth WIllams: Riddle of murder spy's money trail Mail Online)
Image
"Mr Williams was a top-level cryptologist helping to oversee a network called Echelon, which links satellites and super-computers in Britain and the US with those of other key allies.

"Echelon now eavesdrops on terror suspects and drug dealers, and searches for other political and diplomatic intelligence." ...

aangirfan: DEAD SPOOKS: CARNABY, UNDERHILL, CASEY, COLBY, WILLIAMS

rigorousintuition.ca - View topic - Does Echelon Murder American Scientists?

rigorousintuition.ca - View topic - Echelon Spoofer

rigorousintuition.ca - View topic - Roland Carnaby?
Earth-704509
User avatar
MinM
 
Posts: 3286
Joined: Wed Jun 04, 2008 2:16 pm
Location: Mont Saint-Michel
Blog: View Blog (0)

Re: 'British spy' found dead in bath

Postby MinM » Mon Aug 30, 2010 10:40 pm

Image
Dead Codebreaker Was Linked to NSA Intercept Case | Threat Level | Wired.com
A top British codebreaker found mysteriously dead last week in his flat had worked with the NSA and British intelligence to intercept e-mail messages that helped convict would-be bombers in the U.K., according to a news report.

Gareth Williams, 31, made repeated visits to the U.S. to meet with the National Security Agency and worked closely with British and U.S. spy agencies to intercept and examine communications that passed between an al Qaeda official in Pakistan and three men who were convicted last year of plotting to bomb transcontinental flights, according to the British paper the Mirror.

Williams, described by those who knew him as a “math genius,” worked for the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) helping to break coded Taliban communications, among other things. He was just completing a year-long stint with MI6, Britain’s secret intelligence service, when his body was found stuffed into a duffel bag in his bathtub. He’d been dead for at least two weeks. His mobile phone and a number of SIM cards were laid out on a table near the body, according to news reports. There were no signs of forced entry to the apartment and no signs of a struggle.

Initial news stories indicated Williams had been stabbed, but police have since disputed that information, noting that — other than being stuffed into a duffel bag — there were no obvious signs of foul play. A toxicology report is expected Tuesday.
Image
Investigators say they haven’t ruled out the possibility that the codebreaker was killed over something related to his work. Rumors that sexual bondage equipment was found in his apartment were also nixed by police, who said the rumors were untrue and they found no evidence yet to suggest that anything in Williams’ personal life led to his death.

Williams, an avid cyclist, lived in an apartment in Pimlico in central London that was reportedly part of a network of flats registered to an offshore front company and rented out to GCHQ workers. He is believed to have returned from a trip abroad on August 11. He was last seen alive on August 15, eight days before his body was found.

Williams flew up to four times a year to the U.S. to the NSA’s headquarters at Fort Meade HQ, according to the Mirror. His uncle, Michael Hughes, told the paper that Williams would mysteriously disappear for three or four weeks.

“The trips were very hush-hush,” Hughes said. “They were so secret that I only recently found out about them – and we’re a very close family. It had become part of his job in the past few years. His last trip out there was a few weeks ago, but he was regularly back and forth.”

Williams was said to have worked with the NSA on e-mails intercepted between Abdullah Ahmed Ali and Assad Sarwar and Rashid Rauf, a British national in Pakistan who was allegedly director of European operations for al Qaeda. The e-mails, intercepted by the NSA in 2006, allegedly contained coded messages.


The NSA shared the e-mails with British prosecutors but wouldn’t allow them to use the evidence in an early trial of the suspects out of fear of tipping off Rauf that he was under surveillance. It was only after Rauf was reportedly killed in a U.S. drone attack that the NSA allowed prosecutors to use the e-mails to convict the other suspects. It’s never been known whether the NSA intercepted the messages overseas or siphoned them as they passed through internet nodes on U.S. soil as part of the NSA’s controversial and unconstitutional warrantless wiretapping program.

An unidentified Western intelligence source told the Mirror that Williams’ job would have had him participating in “crucial high-level meetings with American intelligence officers. His job would have been crucial to the security of the UK and our interests abroad – and also to America and Europe.

“Although not particularly high up the GCHQ ladder, the importance of his role should not be underestimated. The man was a mathematical genius.”

His landlady, Jenny Elliott, told the Telegraph, “Occasionally you could hear tapes whirring from his flat, which must have been audio cassettes he used for work, but he never told me what they were.”

Read More http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/0 ... z0y9AGfCWN

rigorousintuition.ca - View topic - National Cyber Range Building Attack Tools

NSA intercepts for Bolton masked as 'training missions'
Earth-704509
User avatar
MinM
 
Posts: 3286
Joined: Wed Jun 04, 2008 2:16 pm
Location: Mont Saint-Michel
Blog: View Blog (0)

PreviousNext

Return to General Discussion

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 46 guests