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British spy Gareth Williams was “dead or unconscious” and was almost certainly placed in a sports bag by another person, an inquiry into his death in London was told Friday, it is reported.
Expert Peter Faulding tried to re-create the code-breaker’s bizarre death by trying to climb into a bag inside a bathtub and lock it himself 300 times. He failed every time, according to a report of the day’s inquest evidence in the Daily Telegraph.
Faulding said the task would have eluded even escapologist Harry Houdini.
UK intelligence officer: No cover-up in 'spy in the bag' case
He said he believed a third party was present, describing theories that Williams got inside the bag unaided as "unbelievable."
Video footage of Faulding attempting to re-create the death was shown to the inquest.
Police discovered the naked decomposing body of the 31-year-old spy padlocked inside a red sports bag in the bathtub of his flat in London in August 2010.
The strange circumstances surrounding Williams’ death have prompted a number of theories, and police eventually concluded he had been playing an auto-erotic sex game that went badly wrong.
Earlier this week, the inquest heard from Williams’ former landlady, who once found the spy in bed with his hands tied to the headboard wearing nothing except boxer shorts.
Faulding, a former Parachute Regiment reservist who specializes in rescuing people from confined spaces, was unable to lock himself inside an identical bag in the bath, according to a Press Association report.
"I couldn't say it's impossible, but I think even Houdini would have struggled with this one," he said, according to the PA. The expert added: "My conclusion is that Mr. Williams was either placed in the bag unconscious, or he was dead before he was in the bag."
He also raised the idea the bag was deliberately placed in the bath so “bodily fluids” could drain away.
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Leave a Comment:
I'm no expert, but usually the bedroom is the best place for sex games. And even without attempting it on my own, it seems highly unlikely someone could very easily put themselves into a sports bag AND lock it...assuming the zipper was closed.
yuk!
I was referring to the zipper on the bag, doofus lol. Besides, within reason, what's yuk about sex games? There's allot of fun to be had there lol...though, I don't think locking myself or having myself locked in a gym bag falls under that category.
I once knew a guy in the army. He left for OCS and I never saw him again. His friends and I would talk about him because he was a pretty good guy and we wondered how he was doing. We found out one day when his wife called one of us. She told Harry (Doc, we called him) that he was dead. Long story short, he was found in a motel room, stripped to his shorts, wrapped in stripped zip cord with his elbows in a pan of water on the floor, and the cord plugged into the wall outlet. The police and military investigators called it suicide. Funny thing, he was still in the military but he never went to OCS. We assumed he had gone to Special Ops because that would be about the only way he would have lied to us and then dropped from all communications.
That's why the police conclusion was duhluded.
WTF-when there's forensics
Mr. Murphy -
Mr. Williams was dying to try it. I hope you aren't.
Puts a new twist on being "Bagged"
Leave it up to law enforcement to come up with excuses not to perform a thorough investigation. Sad to hear that the U.S. isn't the only country to depend on bonehead law officials. There could possibly be a link here to sex games - did anybody ask if he was once or currently employed by the U. S. Secret Service?
Yes, the official story is as likely as the one where a guy shoots himself twice in the head
That's sort of like what happened to David Carradine.
Actually, it's nothing at all like what happened to David Carradine. Carradine was involved in auto-erotic asphyxiation that went overboard, from what I read of the case. He was found naked and dead with a cord wrapped around his neck and genitals, in the closet of a Bangkok hotel.
Did he tie his hands in front or behind him? Did the irony of being in the closet, seal the deal? Somebody's previous encounters with cleaning up their mess created a sophisticated array manipulation.
WTF-why there'sa fineline between convincing and almost convincing
Trying to zip oneself up in a bag is the first thing that would be next to impossible. But doing it inside a tub, or trying to get into the tub afterward, makes the theory twice as ludicrous.
"Nothing to see here folks, move along!"
Doin' it while dead is the clincher.
And the zipper and lock at the end with his feet. He needs to get an award. Don't try this alone.
Maybe he just got through reading "Fifty Shades of Gray", and couldn't live with himself for reading such vapid phlegm...
Kinda' like the prisoner that "flang" himself against the bars in his cell and suffered severe brain damage.
OK, a spook playing boy games, in Britain, and the police are investigating it? Lots of luck getting any kind of truth out of that situation. You can take any line you want - one of the former employers, boy friend, USSR, just about any direction you want to point is a reasonable chance.
A Danny DeVito movie gone awry.
The Spy Who Bagged Me - Austin Powers movie, right?
Maybe someone should ask Russia or China...or even Israel, how they "would have" done it???
Not much of a spy then, more like Mr. Bean.
"cardboard box" I thought was the standard according to "pink floyd".....
Lets see he's a spy and a code breaker. He ends up zipped in a bag that is padlocked from the outside and your wondering whether or not he was put there?? Wow. This story reminds me of the Bill Clinton case where an aide with direct knowledge of the White Water case went for a stroll in the woods and shot himself in the head. By the time they got to his office on Capitol Hill the White Water files were "Missing". Amazing.....Sure pass me the Kool Aide i need another sip
Where was his body discovered ?
In the US ? It must have been in San Diego, CA because that's where most homicides are declared suicides.
Lee -
Read the first sentence. While they did move London Bridge once, the rest of that English city remained in place.
"Westminster Abbey, the tower of Big Ben,
the rosy red cheeks of the little children."
If not Houdini, then Houdunnit?
I believe the cause was another sexual partner (of coarse), but one that was able to put him in a vulnerable position (which im sure he realized, but was part of the game of espionage). The last act obviously silenced him. I heavy loss paid for the gain or loss of information...
bobs ur uncle! "The Spy Who Bagged Me" BWahahhahahahA