Dr Fiona Wilcox is expected to deliver a narrative verdict after saying evidence is not available for a ruling of unlawful killing
The coroner investigating the death of the MI6 officer Gareth Williams has ruled out a formal "unlawful killing" verdict as she retired to consider her findings.
Dr Fiona Wilcox agreed with lawyers for Williams's family, the Secret Intelligence Service and the Metropolitan police that the evidence available was not of the criminal standard needed for such a verdict.
She has indicated she will deliver a narrative verdict at the conclusion of the eight-day hearing on Wednesday.
A barrister for Williams's family, Anthony O'Toole, said: "We would invite you to say that, on the balance of probability, there was an unlawful killing in this case."
Wilcox, who heard legal submissions before retiring, said an "open verdict would not do justice to the positive findings I can make".
A narrative verdict, where no firm conclusions are drawn, would allow her to make findings and recommendations.
The naked body of the 31-year-old codes and ciphers expert was found in a padlocked holdall in the bath of his top-floor flat in Pimlico, central London, on 23 August 2010.
Williams, who was on secondment to MI6 from GCHQ in Cheltenham, was due to return to Cheltenham the week after he died.
Detective Chief Inspector Jackie Sebire has told the inquest the police investigation was never classed as a "murder inquiry" but an investigation into a suspicious unexplained death. She said she had believed from the start that a "third party" was involved either in the death or in locking Williams into the holdall.
The coroner is expected to begin her verdict shortly before midday on Wednesday.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/may/02/gareth-williams-inquest-coroner-verdict
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