Chapter 120: What Might Have Happened


The London dailies explained
what might have happened ...
but the details remained cloudy.
We found several other reports which carried on in the same direction as the revised Daily Mail piece. The Telegraph ran the relatively modest headline "MI6 spy found dead in a bag: Toxicology tests on body spy prove negative," and began sedately enough:
Tests on the body of MI6 spy Gareth Williams have revealed no traces of drugs, alcohol, poisons or any other substances that may have led to his death, sources said today.

The 30-year-old GCHQ codebreaker's naked and decomposing body was found in a padlocked holdall in the bath of his Pimlico flat on August 23.

Toxicologists carried out a battery of tests looking for any trace of drugs, alcohol or poisons, but sources close to the inquiry have revealed all have proved negative.
The lurid details didn't come until the fourth paragraph:
No further tests are planned at this stage and therefore it remains likely that Mr Williams died as a result of a sadomasochistic sex game gone wrong.
The piece, by Martin Evans and Duncan Gardham, explained what might have happened:
Having ruled out almost every other possibility, officers believe he probably died after climbing into the bag which was then locked by another person.

It is unclear whether he did so on instructions from the other person or was locked in at his own request, but detectives believe that he was probably involved in some sadomasochistic game in which he got a kick from being helpless.

It is likely that once locked and left in the bag, he died from a combination of causes including suffocation and dehydration, which have been difficult to identify in a post-mortem.

The red North Face holdall was made from a laminate material and had reinforced seams, making it both hot and almost impossible to escape from. The top floor flat is likely to have heated up in the August weather, causing Mr Williams to pass out.

The bag was padlocked from the outside and officers believe the other person was supposed to return to the flat to release him but when they did so, they found him dead.
It also contained some insight into the investigation:
Detectives from Scotland Yard’s Homicide Task Force investigating the case say they ... have been keen not to jump to conclusions in the interests of pursuing all possible leads but they now believe he took off his own clothes and see a sex game as the most likely scenario.

So far investigators have failed to positively identify whether someone else was in the flat around the time of the death but further fingerprint and DNA analysis is being conducted.

One source close to the inquiry told the Daily Telegraph: “We began with a variety of less probable scenarios, eliminating each one until we ended up with the most likely. “Human beings are funny things and they have all kinds of predilections. These bags have warnings about keeping them away from children because they can cause suffocation.”
The Daily Star headline shouted, "OFFICIAL: SPY IN BAG GARETH WILLIAMS DIED DURING KINKY SEX GAME," and the piece by Paul Robins began:
THE spy found dead inside a padlocked sports bag suffocated during a sex game, police claimed yesterday.

New evidence revealed spook Gareth Williams got his kicks from being trapped in confined spaces, a fetish known as claustrophilia.

But detectives claim things went wrong when he could not get out. ... [P]olice believe they have solved the mystery after finding links to weird torture websites on the M16 officer’s laptops.

One called Torture Garden gives advice and tips on bizarre fetishes like claustrophilia.
Robins explained what might have happened:
Its believed Gareth, 31, stripped naked before asking someone to snap a padlock shut on the bag’s zip and leave him to find his own way out.

He was stuck in a semi-foetal position and was soon left struggling to fill his lungs with air.

The spy had taken the padlock key into the bag as his “life line” but because the padlock was on the outside he was unable to reach it.

With little oxygen in the bag, he soon passed out and suffocated. Police are convinced the spook would not have been able to lock it from the inside himself.

But it is believed he may have told the person to leave the flat to add to his sexual fantasy.
The Sun had a piece called "Bag spook died in 'Houdini' sex game," in which Mike Sullivan wrote:
BODY-in-the-bag spy Gareth Williams suffocated after a kinky Houdini-style sex game went wrong, detectives said yesterday.

The naked MI6 codebreaker was a fan of claustrophilia - in which people get sexual pleasure from confined spaces.

Cops believe the 31-year-old maths genius died accidentally from lack of oxygen after he agreed to be locked in the 32-inch-long sports holdall by another person.

They reckon the person who zipped up the bag discovered him dead and fled the flat.

They have ruled out foul play but are still trying to trace the other person.
Sullivan went on to explain what might have happened:
Mr Williams was zipped into the North Face bag and a padlock was snapped shut through two eyeholes in the handles - but the key was found inside.

Normally claustrophiliacs use a password in case of trouble.

It is thought Mr Williams, who did not have a girlfriend, died quickly in the hot bag, possibly while the other person was out of the room.

The key was then put in the bag which was moved to the bath.
The Daily Express ran a piece called "SPY’S FATAL ‘HOUDINI SEX GAME’," in which John Twomey explained what might have happened:
SPY Gareth Williams suffocated himself accidentally during a sex game which indulged his fetish for being locked in confined spaces, police believe.

The MI6 officer took his “Houdini games” too far when he was locked in a large sports bag at his flat.

Williams, 31, stripped naked and climbed into the sports bag in his bath, armed with a padlock key.

Scotland Yard detectives believe he asked someone to snap the padlock shut on the bag’s zip and leave him to find his own way out. But the lock was on the outside of the bag and he could not reach it. With little oxygen in the sports bag, he soon passed out and suffocated.

Officers are still looking for a mystery couple seen at his flat who could explain how the padlock on the bag was snapped shut.

It is still not clear whether anyone was in the bathroom when the spy started struggling for air. Williams may have told the person to leave the flat after locking him in the bag to add to the asphyxiation “sensation” and the feeling that he was dicing with death.

The codebreaker was found dead in the bath at his flat in Pimlico, central London, on August 23. He had been there for up to eight days.

Police checks on his laptop computers uncovered links to weird websites, including one called Torture Garden which deals with fetishes like claustrophilia.
The Evening Standard had an article by Justin Davenport headlined "Spy found dead in bag may have had a fetish for confined spaces." That piece began:
MI6 spy Gareth Williams may have died as a result of a bizarre sexual addiction to being enclosed in confined spaces, it emerged today.

Detectives are investigating whether the code-breaker, whose naked body was found inside a zipped and locked holdall, was a fan of so-called “claustrophilia”.

Mr Williams, 31, is thought to have died accidentally from a lack of oxygen after he agreed to be locked inside the red 32-inch long North Face bag by another person. One possibility is that the sex game went tragically wrong and the second person returned to find Mr Williams had died. The man — or woman — then fled the Pimlico flat, not leaving any forensic clues.

Police are now concentrating on Mr Williams's private life which detectives are convinced holds the answer to how he died. An examination of the spy's two laptops found in the flat showed he visited websites on claustrophilia, a desire to be confined in closed spaces.

There were also said to be links on one computer to a bondage and sado-masochistic website.
After outlining the background, Davenport explained what might have happened:
Mr Williams, 31, is thought to have died accidentally from a lack of oxygen after he agreed to be locked inside the red 32-inch long North Face bag by another person. One possibility is that the sex game went tragically wrong and the second person returned to find Mr Williams had died. The man — or woman — then fled the Pimlico flat, not leaving any forensic clues.
This lack of forensic clues must have been very puzzling, because:
Police do not believe that he was able to lock himself into the North Face bag on his own and suspect at least one other person was inside the flat at the time.

They are still trying to trace a couple, both of Mediterranean appearance and aged between 20 and 30, who had paid a visit to Mr Williams's flat about a month before he was found dead. Despite repeated appeals they have not come forward.

A colourful wig and women's make-up were also found inside the flat, but detectives can find no evidence that Mr Williams was a cross dresser. Sources say he was an intensely private individual who appears to have gone to great lengths to hide details of his private life.
This story spread overseas as well, but there it appeared in the customary abridged form. UPI ran an article headed "British spy's death likely due to sex game," which relied on the Daily Mail and the Telegraph for most of its assertions. The text ran as follows:
Toxicology reports on the body of a British spy probably involved in a sado-masochistic game showed no evidence of substance abuse, officials said Thursday.

The naked, decomposing body of MI6 codebreaker Gareth Williams, 30, was found locked in a bag in his London apartment Aug. 23, The Daily Telegraph reported.

Authorities think Williams died after climbing into the bag which was then locked from the outside by another person, as part of a sex game from which Williams took pleasure in being rendered helpless, the Daily Mail reported.

Williams probably died from suffocation and dehydration, the Daily Mail said.

Scotland Yard seeks a Mediterranean couple between the ages of 20 and 30, who entered the apartment in June or July, the newspaper reported.

Officers have not ruled out preventing Williams from continuing important work in intercepting and decrypting foreign powers' messages as a motive for his death, the newspaper said.
And in the Toronto Sun, the headline read "MI6 spy died in sex game gone wrong," and the story explained what might have happened in five short paragraphs:
Police now believe that Gareth Williams, the former codebreaker for Britain's Secret Intelligence Service MI6 whose body was found naked in a padlocked gym bag in his west London flat, died accidentally from the lack of oxygen during a sex game gone wrong.

British tabloid The Sun reports that police say the 31-year-old man got sexual pleasure from being confined in small places and agreed to be locked in a 32-inch long North Face sports bag.

Police believe Williams died quickly from the heat and lack of air inside the bag while the person who locked him inside was out of the room. When the person realized Williams suffocated to death, he or she put the key inside the bag and moved it to the bath tub where police found the body on Aug. 23.

Toxicology reports came back clean and police have ruled out foul play but are looking for the person who locked Williams inside the bag as well as a couple that visited his apartment a month before his death.

The former codebreaker's computers showed that he visited websites on claustrophilia as well as bondage and sado-masochism.