Dead MI6 spy 'was to assume new identity'

The MI6 spy Gareth Williams was training to take on a new identity eight months before he was found dead, a friend claimed yesterday. Sian Lloyd-Jones, 33, also insisted that he was not gay, after detectives had suggested the 31-year-old may have died at the hands of a mystery bondage sex partner.

Ms Lloyd-Jones told The Mail on Sunday: "He said he was learning his new identity... [One] night he came over with his box file and started going through it. He had two passports." Police have said it would have been impossible for Williams to lock himself in the holdall in which he was found dead in his flat in Pimlico in August.

Evidence indicates other people were in his flat, but detectives have been unable to trace them. An inquest will be held at Westminster Coroner's Court on 15 February.