Gareth Williams was found padlocked in a holdall inside a bathtub (Picture: AFP/Getty)

An MI6 worker whose naked body was found in a padlocked sports bag probably died by accident, police said.

Gareth Williams was found in the holdall in the empty tub of his bathroom but ‘many questions remain unanswered’ about his death, the Met stated after its review of evidence.

Dep Asst Comm Martin Hewitt said: ‘I do not believe I have had the wool pulled over my eyes. I believe what we are dealing with is a tragic, unexplained death.’

He also said there was no evidence the codebreaker’s home had been ‘deep-cleaned’ to remove forensic traces.


The findings contradict those of last year’s inquest into Mr Williams’s death, when the coroner said the 31-year-old, had been unlawfully killed.



The spy’s family said they were ‘naturally disappointed’ with the police findings.

Mr Hewitt said the death was ‘most probably’ an accident. ‘It is a more probable conclusion there was no other person present when Gareth died,’ he said.

However, he added: ‘No evidence has been identified to establish the full circumstances of the death beyond all reasonable doubt.’

The spy’s DNA was not found on the 81cm x 48cm (32in x 19in) holdall. No palm prints were on the rim of the bath.

Mr Williams, from Anglesey, was on secondment to MI6 from GCHQ when he died in August 2010. His body was found at his flat in Pimlico, central London.