Gloucestershire Echo : Death of spy Williams will be discussed

Friday, March 09, 2012

Death of spy Williams will be discussed

March 9, 2012

THE death of Cheltenham spy Gareth Williams is to be discussed at the end of this month.

Yesterday Westminster said the pre-inquest review will be heard on Friday, March 30, at Westminster Coroner's Court.

The former GCHQ codebreaker, who was working for security service M16 while on secondment from the Cheltenham intelligence base, was found naked inside a bag on August 23, 2010, at his flat in London.

It is believed he had been dead for a week.

In February last year an inquiry into the 31-year-old's death was adjourned as Scotland Yard detectives waited for the results of a fresh round of forensic tests.

Counter-terrorism officers had interviewed in the region of 40 of the expert codebreaker's colleagues at GCHQ in Cheltenham as well as at MI6, Westminster Coroner's Court heard at the time.

They were said to have been passing on their findings to a team of investigators from the force's Homicide and Serious Crime Command, who are responsible for the inquiry.

The inquest heard that some or all of them could give evidence about Mr Williams.

He had been just days away from completing a one-year secondment from GCHQ to MI6 in the capital.

The keen cyclist rode with the Cheltenham and County Cycling Club and had worked in the town for 10 years.