'British spy' found dead in bath

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Re: 'British spy' found dead in bath

Postby justdrew » Tue Nov 16, 2010 12:04 am

good point, not a words been said about where the key was (if anywhere)



The whole mode of death could be a reference to the old tv show.
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Re: 'British spy' found dead in bath

Postby AhabsOtherLeg » Tue Nov 16, 2010 12:35 am

The protagonist of Dead Man's Shoes, a Special Forces (probably SAS) soldier who returns from the war to avenge his brother's death at the hands of bullies, also features a scene where he shows one of the tripping baddies another guy that he's killed and put in a suitcase (or who he killed by putting him in a suitcase - it's never made clear).

It's a very disturbing scene, used to be on Youtube but must've been removed.

Came out in 2004.
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Re: 'British spy' found dead in bath

Postby AhabsOtherLeg » Tue Nov 16, 2010 4:01 pm

Just realised, Justdrew, that Police video you posted is especially apt when you consider that Miles Copeland's dad was a CIA Station Chief who did a lot of work in London. He warned Arthur Scargill that the intelligence services were "out to get him" during the Miner's Strike - for all the good it did him.

The plot of Man In A Suitcase is ... just odd.
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Re: 'British spy' found dead in bath

Postby dqueue » Wed Dec 22, 2010 10:45 am

BBC is back today pushing the bondage meme. The article features photos of the couple sought for questioning.

Dead MI6 spy Gareth Williams 'visited bondage websites'

An MI6 spy found dead in a padlocked holdall in his central London flat had accessed bondage websites several times, police have revealed.

Gareth Williams, 31, from Holyhead on Anglesey, had also visited a drag show and owned £15,000 worth of women's designer clothing, detectives said.

Mr Williams' naked body was found at his Pimlico flat in August.

Police believe other people helped the the MI6 codebreaker to get into the holdall and want to speak to them.

Officers have released e-fit images of a couple who they said visited Mr Williams' Alderney Street home in June or July.

Det Ch Insp Jackie Sebire said: "We remain completely open-minded about how he died.

"We are appealing today to someone who is out there to come forward and tell us more."

Police revealed Mr Williams viewed websites showing people bound and tied, which included do-it-yourself guides.

The two e-fit images issued by police show a casually-dressed couple of Mediterranean appearance, thought to be in their 20s, who were buzzed through the communal entrance of his home by another resident in late June or July.

The GCHQ code-breaker, who had been on secondment to the spy agency, was found dead by police after concerns were raised for his welfare.

No evidence of drugs, alcohol or poisons were found during a series of tests conducted by toxicologists.

Det Ch Insp Sebire revealed police had forensic evidence that other people were in the flat, whom they have not been able to trace.

She added that an expert, brought in to examine the red holdall in which Mr Williams was found, concluded he could not have locked it.

The keys were found inside the bag.

She said experts had said the temperature inside the bag would have risen to 30C within three minutes and he would have suffocated within half-an-hour.

Fashion design courses

The detective added Mr Williams probably died in the early hours of 16 August, a week before he was found.

He had a collection of six boxes of unworn designer clothing in a wardrobe, she said.

Mrs Sebire said Mr Williams attended two fashion design courses at Central St Martins College in 2009 and 2010, and said the items could have been related to the diploma course.

The detective said that although a witness had reported seeing Mr Williams in a gay bar, police do not know for certain he was gay.

She said Mr Williams occasionally spent between 30 minutes and an hour on bondage sites, but added there was no evidence that he was "obsessed" with bondage and no other pornography was found.

Police also revealed that the spy visited a drag cabaret in east London four days before his death and held tickets to two more.

Det Ch Supt Hamish Campbell said investigators were sure someone else involved with the bondage or gay scene had "linked in" with Mr Williams but police "cannot find that trace".

The death remains suspicious and unexplained and no conclusive cause has been found.

An inquest will be held at Westminster Coroner's Court on 15 February.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-12059910
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Re: 'British spy' found dead in bath

Postby Seamus OBlimey » Wed Dec 22, 2010 12:51 pm

Ha!

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"And throw in a few aliens...

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Re: 'British spy' found dead in bath

Postby AhabsOtherLeg » Wed Dec 22, 2010 4:00 pm

.
So... he was voluntarily zipped inside a hold-all as part of a bondage game by Orlando Bloom and Angelina Jolie?
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Re: 'British spy' found dead in bath

Postby Nordic » Sat Dec 25, 2010 3:14 am

http://cryptogon.com/?p=19471

MI6 Spy Gareth Williams: Keys Found Under Body, Inside Bag

December 22nd, 2010
Via: Telegraph:

Detectives investigating the death of the MI6 spy Gareth Williams have disclosed that keys to the padlock on the sports bag were found inside the North Face holdall, underneath Mr Williams’s naked body.

An expert on rescuing people from confined spaces has told investigators that it would be impossible to lock the bag from the inside, although the keys are not necessary to close the padlock.

Other keys were found in the flat which could have opened the padlock but were not obviously laid out.

The expert got into the bag, which is made of a synthetic rubber called Neoprene, on behalf of the police and discovered that within three minutes the temperature had reached 30 degrees Celsius and after half an hour the oxygen had run out.
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Re: 'British spy' found dead in bath

Postby Jeff » Sun Dec 26, 2010 1:56 am

Dead spy was in training for new identity: report

– Sat Dec 25, 9:04 pm ET

LONDON (AFP) – A British spy whose body was found padlocked inside a bag at his London flat in August had been training to take on a new identity in the months leading up to his death, a newspaper reported Sunday.

A close friend of Gareth Williams, 31, a codebreaker for Britain's foreign intelligence service MI6, also told the Mail on Sunday paper he was not homosexual and wanted a girlfriend.

Police have suggested his death was linked to London's gay or bondage scene and thousands of pounds worth of women's clothing was found in his flat following his death.

"He said he was learning his new identity," said Sian Lloyd-Jones, 33, a close childhood friend from Wales, referring to an evening earlier this year when Williams paid her a visit.

"He often came round with his work. That night he came over with his box file and started going through it. He had two passports."

...

But fashion stylist Lloyd-Jones, dismissed suggestions he was homosexual and said the 15,000 pounds worth of unworn designer clothes were likely a gift for her and the spy's sister, Ceri.

"I truly believe if he had any interest in homosexuality, he would have spoken to his sister and to me as well," she said.

"It would have been fine if he was but he had too much interest in women. He wanted a girlfriend and he wanted a wife and family."


http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/britaincrimeintelligence
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Re: 'British spy' found dead in bath

Postby vanlose kid » Sun Dec 26, 2010 2:13 am

Jeff wrote:
Dead spy was in training for new identity: report

– Sat Dec 25, 9:04 pm ET

LONDON (AFP) – A British spy whose body was found padlocked inside a bag at his London flat in August had been training to take on a new identity in the months leading up to his death, a newspaper reported Sunday.

A close friend of Gareth Williams, 31, a codebreaker for Britain's foreign intelligence service MI6, also told the Mail on Sunday paper he was not homosexual and wanted a girlfriend.

Police have suggested his death was linked to London's gay or bondage scene and thousands of pounds worth of women's clothing was found in his flat following his death.

"He said he was learning his new identity," said Sian Lloyd-Jones, 33, a close childhood friend from Wales, referring to an evening earlier this year when Williams paid her a visit.

"He often came round with his work. That night he came over with his box file and started going through it. He had two passports."

...

But fashion stylist Lloyd-Jones, dismissed suggestions he was homosexual and said the 15,000 pounds worth of unworn designer clothes were likely a gift for her and the spy's sister, Ceri.

"I truly believe if he had any interest in homosexuality, he would have spoken to his sister and to me as well," she said.

"It would have been fine if he was but he had too much interest in women. He wanted a girlfriend and he wanted a wife and family."


http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/britaincrimeintelligence


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Re: 'British spy' found dead in bath

Postby Peachtree Pam » Tue Jan 04, 2011 9:12 am

Here is a bit more about the sex angle FWIW:

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/ ... ted-spy.do

New leads for police in hunt for mystery pair who visited spy
Justin Davenport, Crime Editor
4 Jan 2011


Detectives investigating the bizarre death of spy Gareth Williams are following a number of new leads suggesting the identity of a couple who called at his flat before he died.

Police have been given several possible names for the man and a woman, who visited the MI6-owned flat in Alderney Street, Pimlico in late June or July last year.

The naked body of the 31-year-old codebreaker was found on 23 August padlocked inside a large North Face holdall. He is thought to have suffocated.

Murder squad detectives believe a second person padlocked the holdall but has failed to come forward.

They issued E-fit pictures of the man and woman, described as being in their twenties and of Mediterranean appearance, who were let in by a tenant on the ground floor of the building.

They told her they had keys to the flat where Mr Williams lived but said they were there to visit someone called Pier Paolo. They went upstairs to the top floor flat and did not re-appear.

One source close to the inquiry said: “There has been a good response to the appeal and a number of names [for the couple] are being explored.”

The inquiry is examining the possibility that Mr Williams, a GCHQ codebreaker who was on secondment to MI6 in Vauxhall, used an alias for possible secret liaisons.

One theory is that Mr Williams took the name Pier Paolo from the Italian poet and film director Pasolino, whose works include Salo, which was based on the novel 120 Days of Sodom by the Marquis de Sade.

Pasolino was murdered in 1975, run down in his own car near Rome.

Detectives believe Mr Williams's death is linked to his private life but have not ruled out a link to his work. He is known to have visited several bondage websites.

Anyone with information should ring police on 020 8358 0200 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.
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Re: 'British spy' found dead in bath

Postby Peachtree Pam » Sun Jan 23, 2011 8:35 am

Here his teacher in fashion design says rumours about him were a "decoy":

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... decoy.html



Body-in-bag spy's teacher says lurid police claims about his private life were a 'decoy'
By Abul Taher
Last updated at 1:53 AM on 23rd January 2011


Mystery Death: A former tutor of dead MI6 spy Gareth Williams claims his allegations about his sex life are untrue


A former tutor of the MI6 spy found dead in a padlocked sports bag has claimed that lurid allegations about his private life were a ‘decoy’.

Cheryl Eastap said suggestions from anonymous police and security sources that Gareth Williams was gay and a cross-dresser – denied by his family and friends – were ‘hurtful’.

And she hinted that the leaks may have been made to make it appear that his death was an accident rather than something more sinister.

Ms Eastap taught the 31-year-old GCHQ code-breaker at Central St Martin’s College in London, where he completed a part-time course in clothing design weeks before his body was found at his flat.

‘The police should not have leaked all these things about him. It was hurtful to his family and it was a decoy. I don’t think he was gay or

a cross-dresser. Maybe he collected dresses – fashion students do,’ she said, referring to the fact that £15,000 of designer costumes were found in Williams’s Central London flat.

Ms Eastap said Williams did not need the outfits for her course. ‘Students have to buy their own materials, but the dresses they found in his flat had nothing to do with my course. He did not need them.’

Although Williams’s body was found five months ago, no one has been arrested over his death or questioned as a suspect, despite a high-profile investigation by Scotland Yard, with the assistance of MI5 and MI6.

In the days after Williams’s body was discovered, lurid reports appeared quoting unnamed sources which alleged he was a secret homosexual who visited the capital’s gay bars.

The sources said bondage equipment was found in his Pimlico flat as well as telephone numbers for gay escorts. The claims were later officially denied by the Metropolitan Police.

But last month police revealed that they had found women’s clothing and wigs at his flat. They added that Williams visited bondage websites and had a ticket for a drag comedy night.

Last month The Mail on Sunday interviewed Williams’s childhood sweetheart Sian Lloyd-Jones, 33, who said Williams usually bought expensive dresses for her and his younger sister, Ceri.

Miss Lloyd-Jones said the dresses could not have been for Williams as they were too small for him, and that he would have told her or his sister if he was gay.

Ms Eastap also dismissed news¬paper reports last week that Williams might have locked himself in the North Face holdall as some kind of ‘homework’ for her course, which was exploring confined spaces.

A Scotland Yard spokesman declined to comment on whether the leaks came from police, MI5 or MI6. He added: ‘The investigation is ongoing.’
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Re: 'British spy' found dead in bath

Postby semper occultus » Sun Jun 26, 2011 5:25 am

Did Russian mafia kill the body-in-a-bag spy? MI6 man found dead in holdall in London, was developing secret technology to track gangsters' laundered cash

By Abul Taher and Robert Verkaik
www.dailymail.co.uk

Last updated at 10:05 PM on 25th June 2011

The MI6 agent found dead in a holdall at his London flat was working on secret technology to target Russian criminal gangs who launder stolen money through Britain.

The revelation adds weight to claims that Gareth Williams was killed because of his secret work and raises the possibility that the Russian mafia has targeted British spies.

Mr Williams was found locked inside a large North Face holdall in the bath at his top-floor flat in Pimlico, Central London, on August 23 last year.

Image
Secret life: Gareth Williams, murdered spy, in a family picture

It was initially suggested that the 31-year-old died accidentally at the hands of a mystery bondage sex partner he may have met on London’s gay scene.

But now security sources say Williams, who was on secondment to MI6 from the Government’s eavesdropping centre GCHQ, was working on equipment that tracked the flow of money from Russia to Europe.

The technology enabled MI6 agents to follow the money trails from bank accounts in Russia to criminal European gangs via internet and wire transfers, said the source.


‘He was involved in a very sensitive project with the highest security clearance. He was not an agent doing surveillance, but was very much part of the team, working on the technology side, devising stuff like software,’ said the source.

He added: ‘A knock-on effect of this technology would be that a number of criminal groups in Russia would be disrupted.

‘Some of these powerful criminal networks have links with, and employ, former KGB agents who can track down people like Williams.’

Image
Crime scene: Gareth Williams' body is removed from the house in
Alderney Street, Pimlico, SW1 as police and forensic officers look on


Last year, The Mail on Sunday revealed that Mr Williams, a keen cyclist from Anglesey, North Wales, was involved in another ‘secretive’ project, developing devices that can steal data from mobile phones and laptops using wireless technology.

A close friend also revealed that Williams was training to take on a new identity when he died.

Tory MP and security expert Patrick Mercer said last night: ‘The revelation that Gareth Williams was involved in investigating money- laundering throughout Eastern Europe throws new light on to his death.
'I am sure the police would want to investigate these facts as thoroughly as they have done the details of his private life.’

Neither GCHQ nor the Metropolitan police would discuss the new information.

Image
Mystery: A North Face, Base camp duffel bag, like the one that Gareth Williams was found dead in

The suggestion that Mr Williams died when a sex game got out of hand was raised when investigators found he enjoyed going to drag cabaret shows, had £15,000 worth of unworn women’s designer clothing in a wardrobe at his Alderney Street home, and had visited bondage websites.

But his family reject claims that their fitness-fanatic son was gay and have been angered at the way the police allowed his private life to dominate their inquiry.

The inquest into Mr Williams’ death – which sparked several outlandish conspiracy theories – will resume in September, when as many as 40 spies who have been questioned by police could give evidence anonymously.

A battery of post-mortem tests have so far failed to determine how he died and detectives say it would have been impossible for him to lock himself inside the bag.

No evidence of drugs, alcohol or poisons has been found but police said anyone zipped inside the bag would have suffocated within 30 minutes.

Coroner Paul Knapman adjourned an inquest in February while Scotland Yard detectives await the results of a fresh round of forensic tests.

Detective Chief Inspector Jackie Sebire admitted the likelihood of tracing a Mediterranean-looking couple seen at Mr Williams’s home weeks before his death is diminishing.

Since the dismantling of the Soviet Union, Russian mafia gangs have infiltrated all parts of the Russian state and its economy.

They now control vast business and property interests outside Russia which are used to launder their fortunes, often made from state corruption.

The growing threat to the West posed by East European criminal gangs was confirmed last week when a major Ukrainian hacking ring was disrupted.

The 16-strong gang had funnelled £45 million from Western banks into accounts in Cyprus and Latvia, using a computer virus called Conficker.

One British source said: ‘Much of the Russian government at various levels, national and regional, operates like a kleptocracy, with bureaucrats visibly on the take.

‘Obviously we are worried if this money is pouring into London, and then into buying property or other assets such as companies or investments.

‘The fact is that London remains the financial centre of choice for most Russians.’

London and the surrounding area has one of the largest Russian populations of any city outside the former USSR, with up to 400,000 Russians living in the South East.

The capital has been nicknamed Moscow-on-Thames and Londongrad because of its population of wealthy emigrees, including respected tycoons close to strongman premier Vladimir Putin, such as Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, as well as some of the Kremlin’s most outspoken enemies, such as the billionaire Boris Berezovsky.

*****************************************

the question could of course equally be phrased as

"did City of London banking Mafia kill body-in-the-bag spy ?"

‘A knock-on effect of this technology would be that the criminal off-shore money laundry in London would be disrupted at a time of acute distress & insolvency in the banking industry - a powerful criminal network that has links with, and employs MI6 agents who can track down people like Williams.’
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Re: 'British spy' found dead in bath

Postby dqueue » Tue Jun 28, 2011 5:46 pm

Adding a link to Emptywheel's blog post on this latest development... she's an astute observer...

Emptywheel's "SWIFT" Boating the Russian mafia

She closes:
My point, though, is that the US has had the potential capability to track Russian mobsters since SWIFT let us access the databases after 9/11, particularly now that we’re making all our specific requests orally. So far as I know, no one has ended up dead in a duffel bag over that access.

Moreover, there would be a great deal of people who would like to prevent the UK from getting their own back door into the global finance system, if that’s really the reason Williams was killed. (Note, Williams was also reportedly about to join the UK’s cybersecurity team, which might offer other reasons to want him dead.) Sure, the Russian mafia are among that group, but so would be many others with the means to murder a spook.

Now, it may be that this entire new narrative is just as sketchy as the sex crime one was. Or it may be that this is a preemptive attempt to suggest only Russian mobsters have anything to hide.

But I do find this latest narrative mighty intriguing.

The whole post is worth a read.
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Re: 'British spy' found dead in bath

Postby hanshan » Wed Jun 29, 2011 8:22 am

dqueue wrote:Adding a link to Emptywheel's blog post on this latest development... she's an astute observer...

Emptywheel's "SWIFT" Boating the Russian mafia

She closes:
My point, though, is that the US has had the potential capability to track Russian mobsters since SWIFT let us access the databases after 9/11, particularly now that we’re making all our specific requests orally. So far as I know, no one has ended up dead in a duffel bag over that access.

Moreover, there would be a great deal of people who would like to prevent the UK from getting their own back door into the global finance system, if that’s really the reason Williams was killed. (Note, Williams was also reportedly about to join the UK’s cybersecurity team, which might offer other reasons to want him dead.) Sure, the Russian mafia are among that group, but so would be many others with the means to murder a spook.

Now, it may be that this entire new narrative is just as sketchy as the sex crime one was. Or it may be that this is a preemptive attempt to suggest only Russian mobsters have anything to hide.

But I do find this latest narrative mighty intriguing.

The whole post is worth a read.


Intrigue. The pot thickens...


...
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Re: 'British spy' found dead in bath

Postby justdrew » Sat Mar 31, 2012 9:05 am

Dead spy’s family says ‘dark arts’ agents covered up his death
By Agence France-Presse | Friday, March 30, 2012 16:50 EDT
The family of a British spy whose body was found padlocked inside a bag believe secret agents versed in the “dark arts” tried to cover up his mysterious death, lawyers told a coroner on Friday.

The decomposing remains of Gareth Williams, 30, were found on August 23, 2010, in a North Face holdall bag in the bath at his London home, near the headquarters of external intelligence service MI6 where he worked.

Anthony O’Toole, a lawyer for the relatives of Williams, told a coroner that the family believe someone else was either present when he died, or broke into his home afterwards to destroy evidence.

“The impression of the family is that the unknown third party was a member of some agency specialising in the dark arts of the secret services — or evidence has been removed post-mortem by experts in the dark arts,” he said.

Coroner Fiona Wilcox is holding a review of evidence ahead of a full inquest into Williams’s death. Inquests are held in England to examine sudden or unexplained deaths.

Wilcox said she wanted to see a practical demonstration of how Williams could have got into the bag and locked it by himself, given that one suggestion is that he did so as part of a sadomasochistic sex ritual.

She said the issue of whether Williams was alive inside the bag and had locked it himself “was at the very heart of this inquiry”.

The coroner also called for an explanation after Scotland Yard revealed that two key lines of inquiry pursued by police for months had both been in error.

Forensic teams flagged up a spot of DNA on the dead man’s hand in 2010 for investigation, but realised two weeks ago that it belonged to a crime scene scientist, the force told the coroner.

A Mediterranean couple that police said they urgently wanted to speak to in connection with the death were also found to be irrelevant to the inquiry, they said.

Williams was described by friends as a shy mathematics genius and keen cyclist.

He was just days from completing a one-year secondment to MI6 from his job at GCHQ, Britain’s electronic “listening post” which monitors communications for intelligence purposes, located in Cheltenham.
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