Gareth Williams inquest: MI6 codebreaker had to be freed by landlord after tying himself to bed

MI6 codebreaker Gareth Williams tied himself to his bed “to see if he could get free” years before his body was found in a padlocked bag, his inquest heard yesterday.

Mr Williams was working for GCHQ in Cheltenham when his landlord and landlady in the town discovered him with his wrists attached to the headboard. They concluded the act was “more likely to be sexual than escapology,” the hearing was told.

In a written statement read to Westminster Coroner’s Court, his landlady Jennifer Elliot described the startling scene that confronted her and her husband in the middle of the night three years before their tenant’s death.

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Ms Elliot, who rented out an annex to her home to Mr Williams, said: “We were in bed and we heard Gareth shouting for help. It was about 1:30am and during winter. We both got up, got the spare key and opened the door to the annex.

“I called ‘are you OK?’ Gareth replied ‘can you help me?’ We went upstairs and found him lying in his bed with both hands tied with material attached at the headboard.”

The spy was dressed in boxer shorts, she said. “He was very embarrassed.”

Ms Elliot could not describe what material he had used to tie up his wrists, she said, adding that her husband thought he had formed two loops and put his hands through them.

The couple thought the material looked taut enough to cut into the codebreaker’s skin, the court heard.

Ms Elliot’s statement continued: “My husband said ‘what the bloody hell are you doing?’ and he said ‘I just wanted to see if I could get free’.

“He told my husband there was a knife on the side and my husband cut him free. We said ‘Gareth, we can’t have you doing this’. He agreed and said it wouldn’t happen again.”

There was no repeat of the strange incident, Ms Elliot said, and she and her husband never spoke of it to anyone but each other. “We obviously discussed it and thought it more likely to be sexual than escapology,” she added.

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But apart from this, Mr Williams’s flat was always immaculate and his landlady “never saw anything of a sexual or fetish nature” there, the inquest was told.

Mr Williams’s body was found locked in a hold-all in his flat in Pimlico, London, in August 2010 but 20 months on his death remains a mystery.

When police entered Mr Williams’s flat they found some £20,000-worth of high-end women’s clothing and shoes among his possessions, the inquest has heard.

A member of staff who worked at upmarket west London fashion store Dover Street Market recalled him coming in regularly and buying women’s items he said were for his girlfriend.

In her written statement, Carol Kirton said he had never mentioned his girlfriend’s name. She said: “He described his girlfriend as tall and slim.”

She described Mr Williams as “shy” and “on a mission to buy an item” when he came into the store.

Elizabeth Guthrie, a friend of Mr Williams, was asked in court whether the spy had ever expressed an interest in cross-dressing. She said: “Nothing of a sexual bent but we were going to a fancy dress ball together. He was going as a ninja, not as a queen.”

She also suggested that his collection of female clothing might have been “Gareth’s attempt at a support strategy for someone. They certainly would not have been for him”. Asked about his sexuality, she said: “I have a personal view that he was straight.”

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The court also heard that it had somehow been leaked to the press that Mr Williams’s home computer showed he visited websites about claustrophilia – the love of enclosure – and bondage and sadomasochism.

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