Just days before a British spy's body was found in a locked holdall in his London flat, cars with number plates registered to the Russian Embassy were seen near his home.
Just days before a British spy's body was found in a locked holdall in his London flat, cars with number plates registered to the Russian Embassy were seen near his home.
The reason why Russian diplomats were in the area near an MI6 spy's home just days before the tragedy will raise suspicions over whether he was killed because of his work.
Gareth Williams, 31, was working on spy technology to be used in tracking the movement of Russian money into Europe.
However, he was last seen alive on August 15, 2010, the exact same day a Kremlin car was seen in close proximity to his flat.
The cars were spotted by a former KGB agent living in the area, who defected and moved to London 12 years ago.
Trained in counter-surveillance and surveillance, he believes that the sudden appearance of these vehicles linked with the KGB raises suspicions.
"I still have to worry about my own security, so when I saw these cars I was very concerned and at the time made a detailed note of each of the sightings," he explained.
"I hadn’t seen any Russian Embassy cars in the area before this and I haven’t seen any since."
The blue BMW 3 Series vehicle with diplomatic number plate 251D198 was seen by the former agent, just 50 yards from Mr Williams' flat.
On August 12, the Russian car was seen parked close to Mr Williams' flat, with the driver inside and the engine running.
One day later, the agent saw another blie BMW 3 Series car with number plate 251D306, this time it was parked in a multi-storey car park behind Mr Williams' flat.
Post mortem tests have failed to explain the cause of Mr Williams' death.
A DVLA spokeswoman said: "We are unable to help with identifying any cars with diplomatic number plates."
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An inquest into Mr Williams' death will be conducted next month.
