Gareth Williams, an employee of GCHQ seconded to the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), was found dead in suspicious circumstances at a Security Services safe house flat in Pimlico, London, during August 2010.[1] Williams' decomposing remains were discovered locked into a sports bag[2] on 23 August 2010 at around 16:40[3] after the police forced an entry into his top floor flat in Alderney Street, Pimlico.
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Originally from Anglesey, North Wales,[4] Williams (born c.1979) began studying mathematics part-time at University of Wales, Bangor, while still at Ysgol Uwchradd Bodedern school and graduated with a first-class degree at age 17.[5] After gaining a PhD at University of Manchester, he dropped out from a subsequent post-graduate course at St Catharine's College, Cambridge, and took up employment with GCHQ in Cheltenham, renting a room for a decade in Prestbury. Reportedly an intensely private man and a keen cyclist, Williams was due to return to Cheltenham at the beginning of September 2010 after his annual leave.[6] Williams was buried in Holyhead on 26 September, in a private family service attended by the head of MI6, Sir John Sawers.
Williams' body was found in a padlocked duffel bag in the bath of an en-suite bathroom of the main bedroom during the afternoon of Monday 23 August 2010, eight days after he had last been seen alive.[2][7] Police visited Williams' home as a "welfare check" after colleagues noted he had been out of contact for several days.[8]
After launching an investigation "a cause of death has not yet been determined",[9] but as of 6 September authorities stated that the body showed no signs of stab or gunshot wounds and was free of alcohol and common recreational drugs.[9][10][11] The Metropolitan Police consider his death "suspicious and unexplained".[12] The FBI have also conducted their own investigation into the case.[13]
In December 2010, police released further details, stating that Williams had visited a number of bondage websites. An expert brought in to examine the bag in which Williams body was found, concluded Williams could not have locked it. A police spokes person stated that: "If he was alive, he got into it voluntarily or, if not, he was unconscious and placed in the bag."[14] Forensic experts calculated that the temperature inside the bag would have risen to 30°C within three minutes, and Williams would have suffocated within half-an-hour. Williams date of death was estimated to have been in the early hours of 16 August, one week before he was found. Consequently, the police released an efit photo of the two people they were seeking, who were seen to enter the communal entrance of his home in June or July 2010.[14]