Dead Spy Locked Himself in Sports Bag: Police

Scotland Yard has concluded that MI6 Codebreaker Gareth Williams probably locked himself inside the duffel bag he was found dead in, sources close to the inquiry tell the Telegraph. Police re-opened the case after the coroner ruled that a third party had likely been involved—possibly even one of Williams' security service colleagues—but after taking DNA samples and re-interviewing MI6 employees, the detectives "have been unable to find any trace of anyone who should not have been in the flat," the source says.

During the inquest, two experts told the jury that Houdini himself "would have struggled" to lock himself inside the sports bag, after trying the trick in vain themselves 400 times. But after those proceedings a retired Army sergeant came forward demonstrating how it could be done, and police detectives were able to repeat his process. Investigators now believe the incident was likely an auto-erotic event gone wrong—a possibility the coroner rejected. An official police spokesman, however, says detectives are still pursuing "a number of lines of inquiry." (More Gareth Williams stories.)