Death of British spy found in locked gym bag ruled 'accident'

The Los Angeles Times ^ | November 13, 2013 | Carol J. Williams

[Bratch]

Scotland Yard on Wednesday reversed a coroner's finding of foul play in the 2010 death of British spy Gareth Williams, concluding that an accident was likely responsible for the death of the code-breaker whose naked, decomposing body was found stuffed inside a zipped and padlocked gym bag.

London Metropolitan Police investigators had undertaken a review of evidence in the case 16 months ago, after initial restrictions on homicide detectives' access to details of Williams' intelligence work were lifted by the British secret service, MI6.

Deputy Asst. Commissioner Martin Hewitt told journalists in London that investigators only had access to Williams' work files and colleagues after the coroner's conclusion in April 2012 that his death was likely "criminally mediated."

"On balance, it is a more probable conclusion that there was no other person present when Gareth died," Hewitt said, according to the Daily Telegraph.

[Bratch]

Bonnie and Clyde - obvious suicides

[ClearCase_guy]

He will be missed by his wife ... Morgan Fairchild.

[Nuc 1.1]

You got to be kidding me. An accident? Wonder what they are protecting?

[svcw]

WTF? Accident?

[mrsmith]

Give s whole new meaning to the saw “That’s why they call them ‘accidents’!”...

[mylife]

Beyond bizarre.

[Obadiah]

...whose naked, decomposing body was found stuffed inside a zipped and padlocked gym bag.

Why, obviously it was a suicide.

[BatGuano]

Most would go for the suicide/accident theory until reading that the body was in a PADLOCKED gym bag. Those Brits are so stupid when it comes to the obvious.

[ransomnote]

Their national murder rate just went down then. A fellow freeper posted an article comparing the actual murder rates of the US to those of England (it was a “do guns cause crime” article). The analysis in the article said that Britain does not count unsolved murders as murders (in their murder statistic) and only counts solved crimes (someone is accused in court) and went on to show if you compared the deaths in Britain similar in criteria to murders in the US, then Britain’s murder rate was slightly higher than the US.

[colorado tanker]

I read another article on this that has lots of details this article left out, probably for family-friendly reasons. This guy was seriously, deeply into kinky auto-sexual and S&M practices. And as a contortionist demonstrated, it was possible for him to zip himself in there.

Still, there is no way LE can conclude for sure what happened absent more evidence.

[billorites]

"the code-breaker whose naked, decomposing body was found stuffed inside a zipped and padlocked gym bag."

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

[publius911]

an accident was likely responsible for the death of the code-breaker whose naked, decomposing body was found stuffed inside a zipped and padlocked gym bag.

"On balance, it is a more probable conclusion that there was no other person present when Gareth died," Hewitt said, according to the Daily Telegraph.

Methinks that Scotland Yard would do well to take closer look at this fellow, "Deputy Asst. Commissioner Martin Hewitt".

Did he change his name from "Clouseau?"

[Pearls Before Swine]

Was the bag locked from the inside or the outside? Just curious.

[ClearCase_guy]

He climbed in, he zipped it shut, then he padlocked the outside of the bag, and the last thing he did was to wipe his fingerprints off the padlock.

Pretty typical suicide, I suppose ...

[Blood of Tyrants]

I suppose that it is possible that he took off all his clothes and climbed in and locked himself inside and then put it in the bathtub. /s

[GeronL]

lolz

[Hardraade]

The plan was to throw the bag in the ocean.

It got overlooked by accident.