Police chief breaks silence over MI6 spy Gareth Williams

A retired police chief has revealed possible new leads over the death of MI6 spy Gareth Williams, whose naked body was found inside a padlocked holdall in a bath.

There are calls for a forensic review in the "spy in the bag" case, which remains a mystery almost 11 years on.

A police officer found the 31-year-old's body in a North Face holdall, which had the zips padlocked on the outside and the key inside with his corpse, a week after the junior analyst was last seen alive.

In 2013, the Metropolitan Police concluded the GCHQ codebreaker's death was "probably an accident" and closed the case, but his family suspect he was murdered and a corner said he was probably unlawfully killed.

Now, the police chief who helped run the investigation has told how DNA belonging to two people has never been identified and he suspects the death is linked to Mr Williams' private life, which included an interest in bondage.

Hamish Campbell, the now-retired detective chief superintendent who oversaw the investigation, has broken his silence and, along with the barrister for Mr Williams' family, thinks it is time for a new review of the case.

He told the Sunday Times that forensic material found at the secret service flat in Pimlico, central London, and now held in storage could provide a breakthrough.

Detectives found a semen stain on the bathroom floor, leading them to suspect Mr Williams was involved in sexual activity shortly before his death, which is believed to have occurred on August 16, 2010.

Mr Campbell, in charge of the homicide and serious crime command at that time, said this led him to rule out a hit by the Russian state.

He said: "I felt it was improbable his body fluid could be present in a violent, non-consenting scenario. Considering Gareth's tidiness and cleanliness, we surmised the semen was from the day of his entry into the bag.

"But was he alone or not? It would be difficult to imagine him having intimacy with a Russian hitman or a female spy."

Investigators found DNA fragments belonging to two people on the padlock and the holdall's handle, but neither person has been identified, it was reported.

An unknown person's DNA was also found on a green towel in the flat.

There are now calls for that DNA to be tested again.

As for who may have been in the flat with Mr Williams, if anyone, Mr Campbell said the spy lived alone and there were no signs he was in a relationship.

He suspects the codebreaker, from Anglesey in North Wales, entered the bag of his own free will, but acknowledges it would be "bizarre" to crawl into the bag voluntarily.

Had Mr Williams been stripped and forced into the bag there would have been marks on his body or other signs of a struggle, the detective suggested.

But Mr Campbell said there were no signs of a struggle or forced entry, and Mr Williams' body had no bruises or marks.

He added: "What the evidence leaves you with is that Gareth consented to get inside the bag, either on his own or with other parties not yet identified."

Detectives found no traces of poison at the scene.

There were some tiny scratches inside the bag, near Mr Williams' head.

Mr Campbell, who also led a post-inquest review of the case before retiring, said: "I think that was unlikely to have been done with his fingernails. I believe those marks were made by the keys inside the bag."

The spy's £500 iPhone had all of its data wiped on August 15, 2010, the day he was last seen alive on CCTV and hours before he is believed to have died.

Mr Campbell said a video found on a phone in Mr Williams' office showed him dancing naked excet for black leather boots. He suspects Mr Williams recorded the video himself.

The heating in the flat was turned up despite it being August, which the Williams family's barrister, Anthony O'Toole, said meant the body decomposed faster and ruined evidence.

Mr O'Toole told the Sunday Times that "undoubtedly" Mr Williams was murdered, a view held by his parents.

He questioned why the spy's fingerprints weren't found around the bathtub and said he finds it hard to believe MI6 wouldn't have gone into the flat after Mr Williams failed to show up for work.

At an inquest, in May 2012, coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox said the cause of death was "unnatural and likely to have been criminally mediated".

She ruled he had probably been killed unlawfully as she criticised police for mistakes in the investigation and MI6 for failing to report him missing.

A senior MI6 officer told the inquest Mr Williams' absence went unreported for five days, and a line manager blamed a breakdown in communication for that.

The inquest heard from an expert who said "even Houdini would struggle" to lock himself inside a holdall in the way Mr Williams was found.

But another expert later told police he had discovered a technique that made it possible to seal oneself inside in such a way.

When Mr Williams was staying with a family in Cheltenham, Glos, while working at nearby GCHQ, they found him in his boxer shorts with his hands tied to the headboard at 1.30am one night after hearing his screams for help.

He told them he wanted to see if he could free himself.

Mr Campbell said his team found nothing to suggest the spy's death was linked to his work or illegal searches he had carried out on MI6 databases for a friend.

Mr Williams was not happy in his job or with the London "rat race", and was preparing to return to GCHQ in Gloucestershire after cutting short a three-year secondment to MI6.

Inside his flat, police found wigs, make-up, 26 pairs of high-end women's shoes and £20,000 worth of women's designer clothing which was stored inside six boxes in a spare bedroom.

Mr Campbell, now assistant commissioner for the Independent Commission of Investigations in Jamaica, suspects the women's items were linked to fashion design courses the spy had secretly taken, and he either wore them or was planning to wear them.

He suspects the death is linked to Mr Williams' private life, referring to the time the spy was found tied to the bed in Cheltenham and evidence of visits to bondage and fetish websites, and images of drag queens.

Police found web searches relating to models who were hogtied, a bondage position often performed naked.

Mr Campbell said: "This all formed part of who he was."

If anyone else was involved, they might have attempted to covered up their involvement and left in a hurry, he added.