UK Spy's Death Likely Unsolvable: Coroner

She speculates that MI6 itself may have killed Gareth Williams
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted May 2, 2012 2:12 PM CDT
UK Spy's Death Likely Unsolvable: Coroner
A yoga specialist tries to lock himself in a sports bag unaided in these images taken from a video shown at the Gareth Williams inquest.   (AP Photo/Metropolitan Police, HO/PA Wire)

A UK coroner has concluded that Gareth Williams probably didn't lock himself in the sports bag his body was found in, meaning his death was "on the balance of probabilities" unlawful, but says she's otherwise stumped as to how the MI6 code-breaker died. Dr. Fiona Wilcox issued a narrative verdict in Williams' inquest today, the Telegraph reports, but said she doubted the "highly unusual" death "will ever be satisfactorily explained."

Wilcox thinks Williams entered the bag alive, but succumbed to carbon dioxide or an unknown poison, according to the BBC. She doubts a bondage game was involved, and speculates that information about his sex life may have been leaked "by some third party to manipulate evidence." She also said Williams' manager's explanation of why his absence wasn't reported sooner "begins to stretch the bounds of credibility" and said that, while there was no evidence suggesting it, the idea that MI6 killed the spy "is still a legitimate line of inquiry." (More Gareth Williams stories.)

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