MI6 agent Gareth Williams probably died after locking himself inside his own holdall, a fresh police review of the case has found. The naked body of the 31-year-old was discovered in the bag in his central London flat in August 2010 triggering speculation that he had been targeted by foreign agents because of his work. However, the latest investigation by the Metropolitan Police has found that Mr Williams, who had a keen interest in escapology, probably died alone in an accident. The finding directly contradicts the outcome of an inquest last year where the coroner had ruled that Mr Williams, a GCHQ codebreaker on secondment to MI6, had probably been "unlawfully killed". The inquest had heard that two experts had tried 400 times to lock themselves in a similar bag but had failed. However, days after the inquest had finished, an Army Sergeant showed how it was possible to climb into the North Face holdall and do up the zip before padlocking it shut. Mr Williams' family issued a statement responding to the outcome of the police investigation saying that they still felt the coroner's verdict best represented the circumstances of Mr Williams' death. Announcing the findings on Wednesday, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Martin Hewitt said the investigation had included that "on balance, it is a more probable conclusion that there was no other person present when Gareth died". He admitted that initially restricted access to MI6, using a team of counter-terrorism police to act as a go-between for the murder squad and the security services, was "cumbersome" and meant they couldn't do the investigation as they wished. However, he said, that had changed and officers had been given full access to details of Mr Williams' work. He said: "Three years of extensive investigative activity have developed a very clear profile of Gareth. He was, without doubt, a private person who was very close to his family and had few other close friends. That said, the universal view of colleagues was of a conscientious and decent man with a few well-known hobbies such as his cycling and climbing. (No mention of escapology?)
Foolish move, Dev. Offering DogPoker the opportunity of a retort is foolish. Prepare to be battered in the face by witless tediousness covered in a heavy dose of copied and pasted Google intellect. Lock this thread ASAP, please Jip.
