A British spy whose body was found padlocked inside a bag at his London apartment in August had been training to take on a new identity in the months leading up to his death, a newspaper reported yesterday.
A close friend of Gareth Williams, 31, a codebreaker for Britain’s foreign intelligence service MI6, also told the Mail in yesterday’s paper he was not homosexual and wanted a girlfriend.
Police have suggested his death was linked to London’s gay or bondage scene and thousands of Britsh pounds worth of women’s clothing was found in his flat following his death.
NEW TRICKS
“He said he was learning his new identity,” said Sian Lloyd-Jones, 33, a close childhood friend from Wales, referring to an evening earlier this year when Williams paid her a visit.
“He often came round with his work. That night he came over with his box file and started going through it. He had two passports,” she said.
Speculation over how the intelligence agent met his mysterious death had been shifting away from his work and toward the idea it was linked to his private life.
Earlier this week, police said investigators believed someone involved in the bondage or gay scene had “linked in” with Williams.
London’s Metropolitan Police revealed Williams had been logging on to bondage Web sites and had visited a drag cabaret in the British capital four days before his death.
However, fashion stylist Lloyd-Jones dismissed suggestions he was homosexual and said the £15,000 (US$23,160) worth of unworn designer clothes were likely a gift for her and the spy’s sister, Ceri.
“I truly believe if he had any interest in homosexuality, he would have spoken to his sister and to me as well,” she said. “It would have been fine if he was, but he had too much interest in women. He wanted a girlfriend and he wanted a wife and family.”
“I truly believe that Ceri and I were going to receive the clothing. He was so generous you wouldn’t believe,” she said about the stash of clothes.
SUSPICIONS
Police have said that an expert who examined the red North Face bag in which Williams’ naked body was found on Aug. 23 had concluded that he could not have locked it himself. The keys were found inside the bag.
Police said on Wednesday they were trying to trace a couple of Mediterranean appearance known to have visited his flat in late June or July.
Williams was last seen alive about a week before his body was discovered.
He died just days before completing a one-year secondment to MI6 from the British Government Communication Headquarters, the UK’s electronic “listening post,” which monitors communications for intelligence purposes, located in Cheltenham, England.
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