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Spy Murder 'Too Sensitive For Court'

rynner2

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Spy murder case could be too sensitive for court
The true explanation for the murder of Gareth Williams, the MI6 codebreaker found dead in a bath, may have to be kept secret even if his killer is found and put on trial, lawyers have warned.
By John Bingham
Published: 8:00AM BST 31 Aug 2010

The intense secrecy surrounding the investigation has prompted speculation that any future court case could be the first murder trial in British legal history to be held entirely behind closed doors.

Mr Williams, 31, an employee of GCHQ, the government’s “listening post” in Cheltenham, Glos, who was working on secondment to MI6 in London, was found dead at a flat in London last week.

No one has been arrested and police have been investigating Mr Williams’s background as well as his movements in the days before his death.

But it is thought that the unique level of sensitivity around the case – with the dead man, his workmates, his movements and even the flat where he was found all linked to the security services – could make any future court case virtually impossible to try in public.

Lawyers said that powers already available under the criminal procedure rules 2005 could be used by a judge to hold all or part of any future trial in secret for reasons of national security.

Under a separate procedure the prosecution could even apply for a “Public Interest Immunity certificate” banning sensitive evidence being disclosed even to the defence.

Similar powers were recently used by David Miliband, the former Foreign Secretary, in an attempt to prevent three senior judges disclosing details about the treatment of Binyam Mohamed, the former Guantánamo Bay detainee.

In 2008 the case of Wang Yam, a financial adviser accused of murdering Allan Chappelow, an 86-year-old writer, made legal history when it was heard partly in secret.

The public and press were excluded while the defence case was heard, despite objections from Yam’s legal team, on “national security” grounds after a PII certificate was granted, following an application from Jacqui Smith, then the Home Secretary.

With details of the investigation into Mr Williams’s death already clouded in secrecy, lawyers said that a similar approach could be taken in any future court case, with the entire trial potentially held in private.

“The runes are that they are desperate, almost at any cost, to keep this under wraps," said Mark Stephens, a partner at Finers Stephens Innocent, who led a legal challenge in the Binyam Mohamed case.

“It may be that there is a genuine national security interest but that will be very limited.

What one has to be guarding against is that somebody is claiming national security in the interests of covering up a degree of embarrassment or incompetence or some other interest which isn’t national security.” Dan Hyde, a consultant at Cubism Law, said: “On the face of it there certainly seem to be parallels that can be drawn from the case of Allan Chappelow.

“That was a case where there were public interest immunity issues and as a result it was one of those very rare cases in which the defence was presented in camera, that is in private.

“It seems this is a case that is surrounded by intrigue, you have someone who was working for MI6, his body was found in a bag and the police did not categorise it as a murder inquiry.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... court.html
 
The Chappelow case was extremely odd. Quite why the murder of a retired writer required the level of secrecy it received was a mystery. Any have any thoughts?
 
Given that an order was granted under the Contempt of Court Act preventing speculation as to the reasons for part of the trial being held in private, I think we're best off keeping any such thoughts to ourselves.
 
Given that an order was granted under the Contempt of Court Act preventing speculation as to the reasons for part of the trial being held in private, I think we're best off keeping any such thoughts to ourselves.

Fair enough. I don't think I'm in contempt of court, however, for saying that such an order is grossly disproportionate and, frankly, a disgrace to a democratic country.
 
Quake42 said:
Given that an order was granted under the Contempt of Court Act preventing speculation as to the reasons for part of the trial being held in private, I think we're best off keeping any such thoughts to ourselves.

Fair enough. I don't think I'm in contempt of court, however, for saying that such an order is grossly disproportionate and, frankly, a disgrace to a democratic country.

I agree.

Being found dead in a bag reminds me of the Werner Herzog docu film Encounters at the End of the World. Set in a base in Antartica it features some eccentric people including one flexible woman whose party trick was to seal herself into a rather small kitbag. She always got out ok though.

For her it was just a party trick but maybe its a fetish for some people.
 
Quake42 said:
Given that an order was granted under the Contempt of Court Act preventing speculation as to the reasons for part of the trial being held in private, I think we're best off keeping any such thoughts to ourselves.

Fair enough. I don't think I'm in contempt of court, however, for saying that such an order is grossly disproportionate and, frankly, a disgrace to a democratic country.

It is disgraceful.
Does that contempt of court order still have effect now that the case is over?
 
Does that contempt of court order still have effect now that the case is over?

I'm not sure. I'd be surprised as there was speculation in the newspapers after the verdict. Wikipedia has some suggestions if you're interested.
 
I wouldn't be surprised if Julian Assange manages to get his hands on details of the case.
 
Body of MI6 worker Gareth Williams 'locked in bag'

The body of an MI6 employee found at his flat was padlocked into a sports bag, an inquest has heard.

Gareth Williams, 30, originally from Anglesey, was discovered dead in the bath at his home in Pimlico, west London, on 23 August.
A post-mortem examination was unable to establish how Mr Williams died.

At the opening of the inquest into his death at Westminster Coroner's Court, the coroner revealed the body was locked inside a sports holdall.

Dr Paul Knapman told the hearing that the information he had from the police was that Mr Williams' body was in a large holdall in the bath of an en-suite bathroom of the main bedroom.
The hearing was told that the body was in an advanced state of decomposition.

The inquest has been adjourned.

BBC Home Affairs correspondent Danny Shaw said details of the padlock "clearly indicates someone else was involved" in the incident.

The body was discovered when officers broke into the Alderney Street flat after colleagues said Mr Williams had not been seen for at least 10 days.
Police are treating the death as "suspicious and unexplained".

Toxicological tests are being carried out to ascertain whether Mr Williams - described as a "maths genius" - had traces of drugs or alcohol in his system.

On Saturday police warned it could be several days before the tests, which also hope to detect signs of asphyxiation or poisoning, are concluded.

Mr Williams is believed to have lain undiscovered for a lengthy period, with the last confirmed sighting of him alive on 15 August.

His family has issued a statement which said: "Gareth was a generous, loving son, brother, and friend, and he was a very private person.
"He was a great athlete, and loved music.
"His loss has devastated us and we would ask that anyone with information come forward and assist the police enquiry."

Mr Williams, a keen cyclist, graduated with a first class degree in maths from Bangor University aged 17.

He worked at the government listening post GCHQ in Cheltenham and was on secondment to MI6's headquarters on the bank of the Thames in London.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-11152467
 
What's got me puzzled is the bag... either he was a pretty small guy, or the bag was really big. There can't be many bags on sale that would hold a human being.
 
Mythopoeika said:
What's got me puzzled is the bag... either he was a pretty small guy, or the bag was really big. There can't be many bags on sale that would hold a human being.

See my comment above re Herzog film.
 
Was body of MI6 spy submerged in mystery fluid to speed up decay?
By Abul Taher and Ian Gallagher
Last updated at 5:05 AM on 5th September 2010

The policeman who found the body of MI6 codebreaker Gareth Williams said it was submerged in ‘fluid’, The Mail on Sunday has learned.
An inquest heard last week that the 31-year-old spy was padlocked in a sports hold-all and left in the bath of his two-bedroom flat in Pimlico, Central London.
But the disclosure that he was also covered by liquid – not thought to be blood or water – has raised fears that a substance was used to accelerate decay and complicate toxicology tests.

The revelation came as new details emerged of the highly sensitive nature of Mr Williams’s work.

A source said he had the highest security clearance available to an intelligence officer and was part of a secretive ‘cell’ that created devices that can steal data from mobiles and laptops.
Now, nearly two weeks after cycling enthusiast Mr Williams was found in his flat, police are apparently no nearer to learning how or when he died.
This is despite a post-mortem, a second examination and toxicology tests, the results of which might not be available for weeks.

Sources close to the inquiry say the PC who found the body described it as being in ‘fluid’ when he radioed for assistance. Detectives at the scene are understood to have used the same word in their reports.
Immediately after making the discovery at the flat, the PC said: ‘This is a murder scene.’

Mr Williams, from Anglesey, North Wales, worked as a cipher and codes expert for the Government’s eavesdropping centre GCHQ in Cheltenham.

He was on a year-long secondment to MI6 which was due to end days after he was found dead.

Police and security sources have indicated that the explanation for his death is more likely to be found in his personal life rather than his work.

But speculation that he was the victim of a professional ‘hit’ was given credence last night after further details of his work were disclosed.
‘He was involved in some very sensitive projects, known as codeword protected,’ said a security expert.
‘This meant that only the people in his cell would know what he was working on, and nobody else in his organisation.
‘You are signed in to these projects and once you finish one you are signed out and you no longer have access to any data or news about what is happening in the project.’

Mr Williams – a child prodigy who had a degree in maths at 17 and then a PhD in the subject – was part of a team that created devices which ‘hook’ on to mobiles and laptops.
‘It is an aggressive form of Bluetooth or similar wireless technology,’ said the security expert.
He said such devices would be used by spies on the ground to steal data from the handsets of unsuspecting terrorists, organised criminals or officers from rival intelligence agencies.
‘Traditionally, there has been a separation of MI6 and GCHQ,’ said the expert. ‘MI6 has been full of the James Bond types working on the ground and GCHQ is filled with boffins with beards who are doing their scientific stuff.
‘But recently there has been a merger of these agencies’ work and Williams was at the forefront of that. This was why he was on secondment to MI6.’

He added that Mr Williams did similar work when he had stints at the National Security Agency in America.

The NSA is the equivalent of GCHQ and has been leading the West’s attempts to intercept communication between Al Qaeda cells.
Mr Williams worked for the Special Delivery Team, a unit set up in the NSA to create advanced bugging and intercepting devices.

etc...

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z0yeDd8g2G
 
Actually you don't need to be very high tech, a strong solution of biological washing powder would speed things along.
 
Actually you don't need to be very high tech, a strong solution of biological washing powder would speed things along.
 
Timble2 said:
Actually you don't need to be very high tech, a strong solution of biological washing powder would speed things along.
Applied twice? ;)
 
The mystery fluid may well be bleach and other cleaning fluids to mask the smell of decay... nothing high tech is necessary.
 
MI6 spy Gareth Williams murder: police probe poisoning theory
A mystery "Mediterranean” couple are being hunted by police over the suspected murder of Gareth Williams, the British spy, while inquiries focus on whether he was poisoned at his London home.
Richard Edwards and Duncan Gardham
Published: 10:00PM BST 06 Sep 2010

As Scotland Yard yesterday made the first detailed appeal about the death of the MI6 worker, speculation grew that he was the victim of a professional hit which left no trace of how he was killed.

Detectives believe that poisoning is now a most likely cause of death and are carrying out further tests for toxic substances, after almost all other possibilities were ruled out.

There was no evidence of a struggle at the Pimlico flat where the naked body of the 31-year-old was found inside a padlocked bag in his bath, no signs of a break in and police said that nothing was taken.

However detectives are trying to trace an unidentified man and woman, described as being of Mediterranean appearance and aged between 20-30, who visited the house late at night in the weeks or months before Mr Williams died.

They are the only people unaccounted for who have been seen recently at the property in Alderney Street. Neighbours told police they were let into the communal front door, late one evening, either in June or July.

It is believed they were visiting Mr Williams, but on one has been able to shed any light on their identity. Detectives want them to come forward to eliminate them from the inquiry.

Separately, police are also investigating whether a second key was cut for the apartment.

Meanwhile, the Metropolitan police disclosed the last known images of the spy, captured on CCTV, as he shopped in Harrods and central London.

...

Contrary to early reports, his mobile phone sim cards were not laid out in any sort of “ritualistic” way.

Lurid suggestions that bondage equipment was found, that the victim had links to male escorts or was a cross-dresser have all been dismissed as “complete garbage” by police sources.

The Met said yesterday: “There was no sign of any forced entry to the property, and no signs of disturbance inside. We do not believe there is any property missing from the flat. There is no suggestion the items within the flat were specifically posed. No drugs, or indications of drug usage were recovered.”

The greatest mystery, however, surrounds [how] the “fit and strong” young man died.

A first post mortem was inconclusive. A further examination found no marks around his neck or elsewhere on his body to suggest he was smothered or asphyxiated.

Toxicology tests have no found no evidence of recreational drugs in his body, such as alcohol, cocaine or heroin, or other basic drugs. Tests are being run into a range of other possible poisons, such as strychnine.

Asphyxiation remains an option but sources said it was difficult to kill someone by such means without leaving bruises.

Detectives drew a blank after probing all friends and associates of the Cambridge-educated mathematician, who was described as a loner with few social contacts even among his work colleagues. This may have contributed to his body lying undiscovered for up to eight days.

The only people now unexplained and unaccounted for in the inquiries are the “Mediterranean” couple.

There are suggestions Mr Williams may have been “hit” by a foreign spy agency.

One source said that although assassination was a possibility, it was only one of several, and they still believe the “reality may be more mundane”.

Reports that Mr Williams was a high-flyer who secretly oversaw top secret Transatlantic projects have been played down and his role at GCHQ was that of a "middleranking civil servant".

It is believed he was due to return Cheltenham to join a unit fighting cyber-crime, especially hackers targeting banks. Police are reluctant even to describe the cipher expert as a spy, or even to confirm he died as a result of a murder, and still consider it an “unexplained death”.

Det Chf Insp Jacqueline Sebire, who is leading the investigation, said: "I would appeal to anyone who may have seen, or had contact with Gareth in the period between 11th and 23rd August to come forward and speak with us at the Incident Room on 0208 358 0200, or to remain anonymous Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

"This remains a complex unexplained death enquiry."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... heory.html
 
Concern grows over foreign involvement in spy's death
Concern is growing within the intelligence community that the MI6 spy found dead in his London flat may have been the victim of a professional hit by a foreign power.
By Patrick Sawer and Gordon Thomas
Published: 9:00PM BST 11 Sep 2010

Sources have told this newspaper that Britain's intelligence services – MI6, MI5 and GCHQ – are liaising closely to establish whether Gareth Williams was targeted by a foreign power.

The 31-year-old was seconded from GCHQ to work on top-secret systems to defend British banks and transport infrastructure from cyber attack and to eavesdrop on terrorist communications.

As a result he may have come to the attention of foreign intelligence agencies.

Security service sources suggest that the most likely explanation for Mr Williams's death is still to be found in his private life, but they admit they are not yet certain and are considering a range of explanations.

Some officials are starting to believe the way the killing was carried out – leaving few, if any, immediate clues as to the cause of death – could point to a professionally-carried-out assassination.

Scotland Yard, which is leading the investigation into his death, said: "We're not at the stage where we can pinpoint how Mr Williams died and all avenues in this investigation remain open. We are keeping an open mind."

It is feared that by the time of his death last month Mr Williams's presence in London had become known to foreign spies, despite the fact he was living in a MI6 safe house with an alarm system linking him to nearby MI6 headquarters.

"It would have been part of their brief", said a British intelligence officer.


The 31-year-old maths and computer expert would have been regarded as a valuable asset for his knowledge of the inner-workings of GCHQ, the government's listening post in Cheltenham, and for his work on preventing cyber attacks on the banking and transport infrastructure.

It is understood Mr Williams's job at the time of his death was creating computer defences in the City of London. Williams would have had access to information which other countries would want to obtain.

The intelligence source said: "His job was to defend the banking system on which Britain's banking, commerce and all our public services depend. It was the kind of work that would have made him prime target for recruitment.

"He was also in a position to know about huge money transfers out of the Middle East which were linked to terror groups. It would be priceless data."

One theory being examined is that Mr Williams may have had an approach from a rival agency, and either rebuffed it without informing his superiors or initially agreed to co-operate then got cold feet.

If such an approach had been exposed there would have been severe political and diplomatic repercussions, making it expedient for Mr Williams to be killed.

It can be revealed that Williams had also played an important role in creating signal intelligence equipment, known as sigint, to listen to Taliban communications in Afghanistan.

He had helped in fitting out three Brittan-Norman Islander aircraft with this equipment to be used as airborne-listening stations.

Based at RAF Northolt in West London since 2007 they have flown over selected British cities searching for communications between suspected terrorists.

A key part of the equipment is the wide-band recorders that Mr Williams helped to develop. Each has the capacity to vacuum up continuous mobile phone traffic in a city the size of Bradford.

The "product" is then downloaded to GCHQ where state-of-the-art computers analyse the voices using voice-recognition software.

....

Police have visited Mr Williams's landlady in Cheltenham, where he lived for 10 years before being seconded to MI6. They asked Jennifer Elliot about his working hours and lifestyle and about any friends or acquaintances who may have visited his lodgings.

...

Mr Williams's family are reportedly unhappy at the lack of progress in the investigation and are said to have demanded the return of his body. Reports say they would like to commission an independent own post-mortem examination into his death.

A source close to the family was reported as saying: "It is becoming very frustrating to get to the bottom of whatever has happened.

"There are just so many things we still don't know. We have made it clear to the police that we want the body back as soon as possible."

However, Dr Paul Knapman, the coroner in charge of the inquest, is reluctant to release the body until pathologists have completed their tests and established the cause of death.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... death.html
 
It can be revealed that Williams had also played an important role in creating signal intelligence equipment, known as sigint, to listen to Taliban communications in Afghanistan.

He had helped in fitting out three Brittan-Norman Islander aircraft with this equipment to be used as airborne-listening stations.

Based at RAF Northolt in West London since 2007 they have flown over selected British cities searching for communications between suspected terrorists.

A key part of the equipment is the wide-band recorders that Mr Williams helped to develop. Each has the capacity to vacuum up continuous mobile phone traffic in a city the size of Bradford.

The "product" is then downloaded to GCHQ where state-of-the-art computers analyse the voices using voice-recognition software.

Interesting echoes of this thread: http://www.forteantimes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=42145
 
On the other hand...

Detectives believes dead MI6 spy may have zipped HIMSELF in bag in bizarre sex game that went wrong
By Simon Walters and Glen Owen
Last updated at 1:44 AM on 12th September 2010

Police believe the MI6 spy found dead in a sports bag in a bath inside his flat may have died after a bizarre sex game went wrong, according to well-placed sources.

The Mail on Sunday has learned that a woman police officer climbed into the holdall in which codebreaker Gareth Williams’ naked body was found, re-enacting the events which it is thought could have led to his death.
She managed to zip up the bag and padlock it from the inside, leading investigators to conclude that Mr Williams may have done the same for sexual kicks and suffocated when he could not reopen it.

The theory was bolstered by the fact that a key to the padlock was found alongside his body inside the £150 bag.
Despite being crouched in the holdall, the police officer was able to squeeze her hand through a small gap between the padlock and the zip fastener and lock it from the inside.
Police believe Mr Williams may have gone through the same extraordinary routine, and then passed out, possibly as a result of panic when he was unable to reopen the padlock.

The identity of the officer who undertook the unusual police assignment is not known.
She was chosen partly because her petite size is similar to the slim and short frame of 31-year-old keep-fit fanatic Mr Williams.
His body was found in an extra-large North Face bag, a type which is favoured by explorers because of its 140 litres of storage capacity, durable material, double stitching, twin haul handles and locking zips.

Erotic asphyxiation is defined as the intentional restriction of oxygen to the brain for sexual arousal.

etc...

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z0zJ3h4BLx
 
I'm still baffled. Why would he deliberately padlock himself in?
Why was the bag in the bath if he did it to himself?

We are being led to think that a foreign power had him killed. It's just as likely that MI6 had him killed.

It sounds like he was pretty lonely. Very sad indeed.
 
What part would the cleaning fluids/chemicals/whatever have played in a bizarre sex act?
The WPC certainly earned her pay that day, but did she actually do this experiment in the bath?
 
I don't really buy the erotic asphyxiation theory. Partly because I can't imagine there's anything erotic about being confined in a tiny space, and partly because the body and bag were found in the bath.

If you'd murdered someone, however, and didn't want the body found too soon, you might well leave it in the bath where any noxious fluids from decomposition could drain safely away, rather than soaking into the floor and then into the flat below.
 
rynner2 said:
I don't really buy the erotic asphyxiation theory. Partly because I can't imagine there's anything erotic about being confined in a tiny space, and partly because the body and bag were found in the bath.

If you'd murdered someone, however, and didn't want the body found too soon, you might well leave it in the bath where any noxious fluids from decomposition could drain safely away, rather than soaking into the floor and then into the flat below.

Exactly! For these reasons, I think this was not something he did to himself.
 
If you'd murdered someone, however, and didn't want the body found too soon, you might well leave it in the bath where any noxious fluids from decomposition could drain safely away, rather than soaking into the floor and then into the flat below.
With the chemicals to suppress the smell of the decomposition that would have destroyed the evidence of the murder method.
 
Based on what I have read so far, here's my theory on what might have happened (i.e. pure wild speculation):

People who he seemed to know turned up in the early hours.
They held a gun on him and told him to climb into the bag.
Somebody sat on the bag to stop him struggling.
They interrogated him while he was in the bag and at their leisure, looked over the place for any useful stuff or info.
They couldn't unlock the bag because the keys were inside, and he died of oxygen deprivation.
They threw a load of water and toiletries/cleaning products into the bath to hide the smell.
 
If he did this to himself as an erotic act then why would he padlock himself in?

If there was a gap big enough for a small hand to reach out then how would he asphyxiate?

If he was in the habit of doing this would he not have some other safety precaution, such as a knife to cut himself out?

This was a man of above average intelligence, whose work showed the ability to think things through and make careful planning. To go ahead with such an act without planning an escape somehow goes against the grain.

What about this bag? Was it new? Did he buy it?

I worry that auto-erotic asphyxiation leading to death is becoming a bit of a cop-out. There have been a number of deaths in the past few years were this has been the official conclusion.
 
tilly50 said:
I worry that auto-erotic asphyxiation leading to death is becoming a bit of a cop-out. There have been a number of deaths in the past few years were this has been the official conclusion.

I have to agree. It's almost as if it's a stock explanation used to neatly close off a case that can't be solved.
 
Mythopoeika said:
It's almost as if it's a stock explanation used to neatly close off a case that can't be solved.
If I was murdered, but erotic asphyxiation was given as the cause, I think a bit of haunting might be in order!
 
MI6 spook did NOT die alone: Police certain he was padlocked in bag by someone else
By Stephen Wright
Last updated at 1:00 AM on 25th September 2010

The MI6 spy whose naked body was found in a sports bag in his bath could not have died alone, police believe.
They are now certain he was padlocked into the large holdall by someone else.

Gareth Williams, 31, who was working on secondment for MI6, was alive when he got into - or was forced into – the bag and died from suffocation.
There were no injuries on his body to suggest a struggle and police have still not ruled out the possibility that his death was the culmination of a bizarre sex game that went wrong.

But in another mysterious twist, the Mail can reveal that the outer door to Mr Williams’s flat in Pimlico, Central London, had apparently been locked from the outside when police arrived on the scene.
Detectives have now intensified their search for a Mediterranean couple known to have been with Mr Williams in the weeks before his death. They are understood to have had a set of keys to the flat.

The disclosures come after a month of frenzied speculation about what happened in the flat last month, including theories that Mr Williams committed suicide alone.
But as the head of MI6 attended Mr Williams’s funeral near his family home in North Wales yesterday, the Daily Mail can reveal that this line of inquiry has been discounted.

We can also reveal that there is no evidence to support claims that Mr Williams was a cross-dresser, that bondage equipment was found at his home, that a laptop was missing from the flat, or that he had reported to spy bosses that he was being followed.
Nor, as was claimed in one report, was any suspicious liquid found next to his body in the sports bag.
Police have also dismissed allegations of irregularities in his finances and there is no evidence that Mr Williams had committed any criminal acts.

Inquiries continue into his private life, which officers remain convinced will be the key to solving the case.
Mr Williams’s decomposing body was found inside a zipped and padlocked North Face bag in his flat on August 23.
Initially it was thought the cycling enthusiast had been murdered, but the case remains officially classified as ‘suspicious and unexplained’.
Detectives believe that whoever was present around the time of his death might have been too scared to come forward to explain what happened.

The revelation that the Mediterranean couple had their own keys emerged after the Daily Mail returned to the scene of Mr Williams’s death earlier this week and spoke to neighbours.
Detectives believe the man and woman, in their thirties, were known to Mr Williams because neighbours do not recall their being ‘buzzed’ into the address.

Despite repeated appeals, the couple – who visited the flat owned by the intelligence services in late June or early July – have not come forward.
Their reluctance to identify themselves has hampered ‘Operation Finlayson’, the code name given to the Metropolitan Police investigation into Mr Williams’s death.

The Mail can reveal that the results of two post-mortem examinations, carried out by respected pathologists Ben Swift and Dick Shepherd, are expected to be made public in the next fortnight.

Initial tests are understood to suggest that Mr Williams died of suffocation while in the bag. Toxicology tests showed no traces of alcohol or rec­reational drugs in his system.
Mr Williams’s body was found in an extra-large North Face bag, which features 140 litres of storage capacity, durable material, double stitching, twin haul handles and locking zips.

Claims that a WPC or escapologist of similar height and build to Mr Williams had locked the padlock while inside the same type of bag, during a ‘re-enactment’ of the possible events leading to his death, have been dismissed.
A former senior Met detective said: ‘Cases like this are not like an episode of CSI. They are not solved neatly in 45 minutes.’

etc...

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z10X3k2qO6
 
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