MI6 agent found dead

By Mark David (mark-david.com)

MI6 denies cover-up of agent found dead

August 2010

When constructing fiction, especially fiction with a spy angle to it, research takes the author in all sorts of directions that only the internet can make possible. I was recently researching the secret stories of Britain's intelligence services and chanced upon this story I vaguely recall from 2010. It's an interesting story. The following is taken from various sources:

Britain's MI6 foreign intelligence service had denied that the mysterious death of one of its agents or that it had anything to do with his work - or that it had covered up the incident.

Police visited Gareth Williams's home during the afternoon of Monday 23 August 2010, as a "welfare check" after colleagues noted he had been out of contact for several days. His decomposing naked remains were found in a red North Face bag, padlocked from the outside, in the bath of the main bedroom's en-suite bathroom. His family believe that crucial DNA was interfered with and that fingerprints left at the scene were wiped off as part of a cover-up.

Vincent Williams from the Metropolitan Police informed the Westminster Coroner's Court that experts were agreed that it was impossible for Gareth Williams to have locked himself in. Williams's date of death was estimated to have been in the early hours of 16 August, one week before he was found.

A lawyer for his family said it was their belief that "a member of some agency specialising in the dark arts of the secret services" was involved in removing evidence related to his death.

An MI6 employee known only as "F" said there was no evidence to suggest the agency was involved in a cover-up of Williams' death or that his death was work-related. Nor, she added, was there any evidence that Williams' identity as an MI6 officer had been discovered by any foreign agencies.

Williams, a mathematics prodigy on a three-year secondment from the British Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) in western England, did technical work for MI6. His role was to "think up and design technology that could be used by others" in his four-person team, said "F".

He had successfully completed a training course for conducting operations within Britain, but was still involved in relatively low-risk activities, she added.Witness "F" said she understood that the delay in finding Williams' body had made it more difficult for his family to come to terms with his death.

As far as she knew, there had been no disciplinary action taken against anyone responsible for the delay in the discovery of the body, she said.

Williams' death has puzzled investigators, who have struggled to understand how he ended up in the bag, which also contained keys that would have unlocked its padlock. There were no signs of a struggle.

Jackie Sebire, a detective on Williams' case, testified she believed someone had helped him get into the bag. Specks of unknown DNA were found on it. Inside the flat, police also found women's clothing and make-up. Witness "F" said Williams' job did not require him to dress in women's clothing.

Williams's Work background

Williams had recently qualified for operational deployment, and had worked with US National Security Agency and FBI agents. The US State Department asked that no details of Williams's work should emerge at the inquest. The Foreign Secretary, William Hague, signed a Public-interest immunity certificate authorising the withholding from the inquest of details of Williams's work and US joint operations.

The journalist Duncan Campbell reported that the inquest evidence indicated Williams was one of a team of intelligence officers sent to penetrate US and UK hacking networks. He had attended the 2010 Black Hat Briefings and DEF CON conferences. He had started with SIS in London in spring 2009, and after taking a number of training courses started on "active operational work". A few months before his death, he asked to return to GCHQ as he disliked the "rat race, flash car competitions and post-work drinking culture" at SIS and as a keen cyclist and walker wanted to go back to the countryside, and was due to return in September.

The coroner was highly critical of the Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism Command (SO15), who failed to tell the senior investigating officer before the inquest began of the existence of nine memory sticks and other property in Williams's SIS office. SO15 failed to take formal statements when interviewing SIS officers. The coroner said the possible involvement of SIS staff in the death was a legitimate line of inquiry for the police.

Links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Gareth_Williams