Could DNA solve the mystery of dead MI6 spy Gareth Williams found naked in a padlocked holdall?
AFTER more than a decade, the death of spy in a bag Gareth Williams could finally be resolved using new technology to examine unidentified DNA samples. The astonishing case of the 31-year-old MI6 agent drew global attention and baffled criminal experts after his naked body was found inside a holdall  with the zips padlocked and the key underneath him  in a bath in London in August 2010. 13 The astonishing case of the 31-year-old MI6 agent Gareth Williams drew global attention and baffled criminal experts after the Mi6 spy's naked body was found inside a holdall Credit: AP:Associated Press  13 An investigator recreated Mi6 agent Gareth Williams' last moments Credit: Nicholas Razzell  In 2013 the Metropolitan Police closed the case after concluding that the GCHQ codebreakers death was probably an accident  despite his family believing he was murdered and the inquest ruling that he may have been unlawfully killed. Later in 2013 Deputy Assistant Commissioner Martin Hewitt said that up to 15 DNA samples had been found at the flat where Gareth died. In a new review, the force can now use updated forensic and DNA techniques. There are also tens of thousands more people on the national police DNA database. No sign of forced entry or struggle  Anthony Glees, an intelligence and security expert at the University of Buckingham, told The Sun on Sunday: If a DNA profile of another person is identified in his flat, this will be a very significant breakthrough.  13 The last picture of Gareth as he's caught on CCTV leaving a Tube station on August 14 Credit: PA:Press Association  13 Gareth's sister Ceri Subbe, pictured leaving London Coroner's Court, told the inquest Gareth was disillusioned in the Secret Service, and confided that there was friction at MI6 Credit: PA:Press Association  Gareth grew up in Anglesey, North Wales, and was a maths genius who took his GCSE in the subject while still at primary school. He passed A-levels by the time he was 13 and had a part-time place at university. While at Manchester University, he was scouted by the security services who had spotted his remarkable online gaming skills. But as soon as Gareth signed the Official Secrets Act, everything changed. As his brother-in-law Chris said in a eulogy at Gareths funeral: The world was ours for the taking. Yet here I am three months later to the day, trying to describe your rich life with my poor words.  Keen cyclist Gareth, who lived alone, was last seen on August 15, 2010. Police visited the Security Service flat in Londons Pimlico a week later, after colleagues said he had been out of contact for five days, and found it was locked from the outside. His decomposing naked remains were found in a red North Face bag, padlocked from the outside and left in the bath of the main bedrooms en-suite bathroom. There was no sign of forced entry, there did not appear to have been a struggle and there were no marks on his body, leading experts to believe he got into the holdall himself  either of his own free will or at the suggestion of someone else. There were none of the intelligence officers own fingerprints, palm prints, footprints or traces of his DNA on the rim of the bath, the bag zip or the bag padlock, leading some to speculate that someone later cleaned up the scene. 13 An expert tries to recreate Gareth's final moments by getting into a similar bag without assistance Credit: PA:Press Association  13 Gareth's parents Ian and Ellen arrive at the inquest into the spy's death Credit: Jack Hill - The Times  The key to the padlock was inside the bag, underneath Gareths body. Detectives found no traces of poison and the spys 500 iPhone had no data because it had been wiped on August 15. The heating in the flat was turned up, even though it was August, which his familys barrister, Anthony OToole, said meant the body decomposed faster and ruined potential evidence. 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 that Gareth had probably been killed unlawfully and she criticised police for mistakes in the investigation, and MI6 for failing to report him missing for five days. His sister, physiotherapist Ceri Subbe, told the inquest Gareth was disillusioned with the Secret Intelligence Service, and confided that there was friction at MI6. She said he would never have let a potential killer into his upmarket flat, saying: I cannot emphasise enough his conscientiousness.  She added that he disliked the flash car competition and post-work drinking culture of MI6, and had already applied to return to GCHQ but his bosses were slow in approving his move. Ceri and her husband Dr Chris Subbe, a consultant at Wrexham Maelor Hospital, had seen Gareth three months before his death when he took them for tea at the Ritz to celebrate their second wedding anniversary. Gareth would not tell them anything about his work, but when he failed to respond to calls weeks later, Ceri contacted police. There were claims that Gareth paid for male escorts and used cocaine. It was suggested he liked bondage and fetish websites and looked at images of drag queens online. 13 Keen cyclist Gareth grew up in Anglesey, North Wales, and was a maths genius who took his GCSE while still at primary school. He passed A-levels by the time he was 13 Credit: Caters News Agency  13 In Gareth's flat, police found make-up, wigs, 26 pairs of high-end womens shoes and 20,000 of womens designer clothing, stored in six boxes in a spare bedroom Credit: PA:Press Association  In his flat, police found make-up, wigs, 26 pairs of high-end womens shoes and 20,000 of womens designer clothing, stored in six boxes in a spare bedroom. As the years pass, doubts are piling up  Since Gareths death, speculation has swung between claims of an assassination to a sex game gone wrong. Campaigning ex-MP Norman Baker once described the rumours about the spys death as insulting, saying: MI6 knows what happened on that terrible August night but prefers to hide it  drowning the truth about a loyal agent in a sea of sexual fantasies and smears. The claims made about his death are so ludicrous as to be insulting. The authorities would like us to believe that it was nothing to do with his employment at GCHQ, and nothing to do with his work for MI6. But this account is wearing thin, and as the years pass the doubts are piling up.  The familys barrister Anthony OToole insisted that undoubtedly Gareth was murdered  as the inquest heard from an expert who said even Houdini would struggle to lock himself inside a holdall in the way Gareth was found. Dr Wilcox dismissed speculation that he died due to some kind of auto-erotic activity, and denied he had any interest in claustrophilia, the love of enclosed spaces. Five years after his death, it also emerged that Gareth had illegally hacked into secret data on former US President Bill Clinton. And it was revealed that he had made and received unexplained payments in the days before his death. Three lots of 2,000 were paid into his bank account, then withdrawn shortly afterwards. Two piles of bank notes, each totalling 500, were found in his flat. 13 A police guard stands outside the security service flat in London where Gareth's decomposing body was found in a locked holdall Credit: AFP  13 Ellen Williams, centre, the mother of MI6 worker Gareth Williams, at the funeral of her son at Bethel Chapel, Holyhead, North Wales Credit: PA:Press Association  But for Gareths parents Ian and Ellen, this remains a horror story from which they will never recover. It was not even possible for them to have the closure of identifying their sons body because it was so badly decomposed. Instead, police asked them for family photos to help piece together what they could. The clues  DNA on lock and holdall  DNA from two unknown people was found on the holdall but never identified. If a third party helped Gareth get into the bag, this could be from one of them. Tests on the padlock revealed weak stains believed to be the spys blood  as well as someone elses. 13 DNA from Gareth and an unidentified person were found on the bag's lock Credit: Nicholas Razzell  DNA on a green towel  SOME experts said this ruled out a hit by the Russian state because it showed Gareth may have known his killer  and could add to the theory that he died as part of a sex game. Forensic expert Ros Hammond told Westminster Coroners Court in 2012 that there was DNA evidence of at least two people, other than Gareth, on the samples tested. Bloodstain on the bath  THIS could be evidence of a struggle with a third party before Gareths body was put into the bag. One expert said this was one of a number of stains which were said to be aged in appearance. Strand of hair  13 A police graphic shows how the spy's body was found Credit: Pixel 8  ADVANCES in DNA and forensic techniques now mean a strand of hair found on Gareths hand  from which experts could not extract a DNA profile  may now shed new light on the case. Experts previously needed the root of a hair to determine a DNA profile. However, leading forensic scientist Professor Angela Gallop said recently that this was no longer the case, and investigators only need as little as a 2mm length of hair. Most read in UK News Exclusive DI DAY TRUCE Warring Harry & Wills call truce for Diana - but are 'further apart than ever' 'TERROR RECRUITER' Shamima Begum 'wore ISIS badge on school uniform to recruit classmates' Exclusive CHILLING FIND Cops 'failed to probe' bag of weapons found near where model, 23, was killed 'IT WAS HELL' Dad's warning after heart attack from drinking 12 CANS of energy drinks a day ON THE RISE Covid cases leap over 10,000 for third day in a row with 14 more deaths DRUG ARREST Boy, 2, fights for life after 'eating cannabis' as 5 arrested for child cruelty  The door of the flat  13 Gareth's body is taken from the scene Credit: Steve Finn - The Sun  THE flat door was removed by police before the inquest but forensic experts believe it should be tested for the DNA of any visitors to Gareths flat in the days before his death. Forensic science expert Angela Gallop says new technology such as DNA-17, which examines 17 aspects of DNA, should be used on the door. She said: It is the sort of outlier that should not be dismissed.