ＭＩ６スパイ変死事件の解けない謎
ロンドン警視庁は６日、政府通信本部（ＧＣＨＱ）の職員ギャレス・ウィリアムズ（31）の変死に関する声明を発表した。だがこれを読む限り、死体の状況は分かってもその原因についてはさっぱり見えてこない。イギリス、アメリカ両国の政府関係者によれば、今の時点でウィリアムズの遺体が見つかった奇妙な状況を説明するに足る情報はつかんでいないという。遺体は８月23日、過去１年の間出向していたＭＩ６（英国情報部国外部門）の本部からそう離れていないアパートで見つかった。ちなみにＧＣＨＱは通信傍受システム「エシュロン」をイギリスで管轄する機関で、彼はつい最近まで１年間、ＭＩ６に出向していた。
発見現場のアパートはＭＩ６から１キロ弱離れた高級住宅地ピムリコにあり、イギリス国内の報道によれば、ＭＩ６の「アジト」だった可能性がある。ロンドン警視庁の声明によればウィリアムズは「服を着ていない状態で...遺体は空っぽの浴槽に置かれた大型の赤いスポーツバッグに入れられ、ファスナーは閉められ南京錠がかけられていた」という。
声明によるとアパートに誰かが押し入った形跡はない。「内部で争った形跡もなく、部屋から持ち去られた物はないと思われる。物の置き場所がわざと動かされた形跡もない。薬物そのものも、薬物を使用した痕跡も一切見つからなかった」
25日に行われた死体解剖でも「明確な死因は分からなかった」という。アパートや遺体から採取したサンプルを使った科学捜査が続いているが、「今の時点では毒物検査でアルコールは検出されず、常習的にであれ一時の気晴らしのためであれ、薬物の使用を示す結果も出なかった」という。声明によれば、「以前から予定されていた休暇でアメリカに」出かけていたウィリアムズは８月11日にロンドンに戻ってきたことが確認されている。ロンドン各地に設置されている監視カメラの映像には、帰国後に有名なロンドンの商業地区で買い物をするウィリアムズの姿が捉えられている。
警察は６月か７月の夜遅く、ウィリアムズのアパートを訪れた男女２人組の身元を追っており、市民からの情報を求めている。２人組は「共用の表玄関」からアパート内部に入っており年齢は20～30歳。どちらも「地中海地方出身のような外見」だったというが、声明ではこれ以上の手がかりは提示されていないし、２人とウィリアムズとの関係を示す証拠も示されてはいない。
地元イギリスの報道では事件についてさまざまな憶測が飛び交っている。例えばロンドンで最も過激なタブロイド紙の一つであるデイリー・メール紙は、事件現場のアパートに侵入した人物はイスラム過激派だ、いや北アイルランドのテロリストだ、いやロシアのスパイだといった相矛盾する仮説を次々と展開。ウィリアムズの私生活に何らかの関係があるのではとの説も飛び出した。
すらっとした体型のウィリアムズが体にフィットした自転車レースのユニフォームを着ている写真があちこちのメディアに登場するや、事件とロンドンのゲイ社会とのつながりを疑う声も出た。もっとも遺族はウィリアムズは同性愛者ではなかったと主張している。
事件をめぐってはっきりしている事実といえば、ウィリアムズの基本的な人物像くらいのものだ。ほとんどの人が彼のことを、自転車を愛する若き数学のエキスパートだったと口を揃える。彼はＧＣＨＱの正規職員だったが１年の期限付きでＭＩ６に出向中で、まもなく古巣に戻るはずだった。(NEWSWEEKJAPANより引用→http://bit.ly/9woMwc )A statement released by Scotland Yard on Monday and posted on the Web site of the London Metropolitan Police Service reveals more details about the peculiar death of Gareth Williams, a 31-year-old mathematics wizard who worked for Britain's electronic-eavesdropping agency, Government Communication Headquarters, but sheds no light on possible causes. Officials on both sides of the Atlantic acknowledge that at the moment, they have no hard information—and no real leads—to explain the bizarre circumstances in which Williams's body was found late last month in an apartment not far from the headquarters of MI6, Britain's foreign intelligence service, where he for the last year had been on temporary assignment.
The statement describes how Williams's body was discovered by uniformed London bobbies in his apartment—possibly an MI6 "safe house," depending on which British media account you believe—in the posh Pimlico neighborhood about half a mile from MI6 on Aug. 23. The police account describes the exceptionally strange circumstances in which the body was discovered: he was "found unclothed, in a zipped and padlocked red North Face holdall which was in an empty bath," Scotland Yard said.
The police account notes that there was no sign of forced entry into the apartment, "and no signs of disturbance inside ... We do not believe there is any property missing from the flat. There is no suggestion the items within the flat were specifically posed. No drugs, or indications of drug usage were recovered."
The police statement also notes that an autopsy conducted on Aug. 25 "established no obvious cause of death." The police account says that extensive forensic examinations of the Pimlico apartment and of samples taken from Williams's body during the autopsy continue, but adds, "Initial indications from the toxicology examinations show no trace of any alcohol or routine or recreational drugs."
In the statement, the police say they have confirmed that Williams, who had been on a "planned holiday in the U.S.," had returned to London on Aug. 11; video from London's wide-ranging closed-circuit video surveillance network shows him shopping after his return in well-known London retail districts. Police say they are appealing to the public for information to help identify a man and a woman who turned up late one evening at his building on an unspecified day in June or July. The cops say that the couple, who were admitted to the building through the "communal front door," were between 20 and 30 years old and were both of "Mediterranean appearance." But the statement offers no other clues as to their identity, nor any further indication as to what, if any, evidence the authorities might have to link them to the dead man.
British media have been gorging themselves on ever more baroque theories about what's behind the case. A story in the Daily Mail, one of London's most aggressive tabloids, offers a menu of conflicting speculations for possible perpetrators, ranging from Islamic or Irish terrorists to Russian spies or some sinister connection to Williams's personal life. Following the widespread publication of pictures showing a svelte Williams in a tight-fitting cycling uniform, some stories suggested a possible connection with London's gay scene, noting that at least one of London's best-known gay bars was located not far from MI6 headquarters on the South Bank of the river Thames. Williams's family has denied that he was gay.
Among the few undisputed issues in the case are certain basic facts about Williams's background. Most accounts describe him as a youthful mathematics expert and keen cyclist who was permanently assigned to GCHQ, Britain's version of the American code-breaking and eavesdropping National Security Agency, but who was just about to complete a one-year temporary assignment at MI6 headquarters in South London.
Some accounts suggest that as part of his work for GCHQ, he made periodic trips to the headquarters of both the CIA and NSA, and that the American agencies were deeply concerned about his death. However, U.S. officials have denied British media reports that the CIA is now investigating the case, and there is little indication that the FBI or the U.S. Justice Department is in any way involved. (As is its customary practice, the NSA declined to offer any comment on the case.)
Apart from the latest police statement confirming that before his death Williams had been on vacation in the U.S., there is no confirmation that he ever paid visits—official or unofficial—to any U.S. intelligence headquarters. Moreover, several U.S. officials who should have been briefed if there was any concern inside U.S. agencies that his death somehow involved the compromise of U.S. or U.K. spy secrets say they have been given no information about the case whatever. Knowledgeable officials on both sides of the Atlantic stress, however, that at this point, whatever mysteries the case does appear to present, there is no evidence that Williams was involved with a spy unit other than the British agencies that employed him, and therefore no evidence suggesting he was a double agent.
The case that a mystery sends for a mystery to...