Dead spy: MI6 staff face inquiry
The Met Police Commissioner has announced that detectives investigating the death of MI6 officer Gareth Williams will have direct access to his colleagues and material for the first time.
- Juliet Bremner: ITV News Correspondent
Police were 'not called for more than a week' after Gareth Williams' disappearance
Despite mounting concern for the missing M16 spy Gareth Williams, police were not called for more than a week.
The alarm bells didn't start to ring until Friday 20th August 2010. By this time Gareth hadn't been seen at work in London for a week.
Another three days elapsed before the police were finally informed.
On the Friday afternoon, the human resources (HR) department at GCHQ in Cheltenham told Gareth Williams' line manager in London, where he was on secondment to M16, that he needed to check Gareth's flat, and if he couldn't be found, call in the police.
However, the witness from HR, Helen Yelland, told the inquest she returned to work after the weekend on Monday 23rd August to discover the police still had not been called.
She finally made the call herself to the Metropolitan Police at 4:41pm on Monday afternoon.
She admitted that she would have expected the London line manager at M16 to have contacted the police on the Friday when there was no response from the flat in Pimlico.
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Police to intensify inquiries into death of spy
Police investigating the death of MI6 code-breaker Gareth Williams are to intensify their inquiries into his colleagues and work.
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Unanswered questions remain over spy's death
Whatever the coroner's verdict today at the inquest into the death of MI6 spy Gareth Williams, many questions will remain unanswered.
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Coroner concludes MI6 agent 'probably' killed unlawfully
MI6 codebreaker Gareth Williams was probably killed unlawfully but the case might never be solved, a coroner has concluded.