The man has been identified by neighbors as Gareth Williams, the BBC reports, and is believed to have been in his 30s. He was a communications officer with GCHQ, the government's eavesdropping division that, among other tasks, monitors calls and e-mails from suspected terrorists, and was thought to have been seconded to MI6, Britain's foreign intelligence agency, according to Sky News.
Officers broke into his home in the posh central London district of Pimlico on Monday afternoon after work colleagues notified authorities that they hadn't been seen him for at least 10 days. Detectives discovered his corpse in the bathroom of the top-floor flat.
Williams had been stabbed several times, according to the Daily Mail, and his body had partially decomposed, leading authorities to suspect that he may have been killed up to two weeks ago.
Neighbor Laura Houghton, a 30-year-old secretary, told the Mail that Williams "was extremely friendly and had a Welsh accent." However like most of the street's residents, she knew nothing about his work or personal life. "His windows were always shut and curtains were often closed. I could never tell if anyone was in," she said. "'It was strange that we never saw him come and go. I just assumed he worked away."
It's not known whether Williams' slaying was connected to his day job. But the Daily Mail reported that a private company called New Rodina -- which means "motherland" in Russian -- owns the apartment block where the spy lived, and in an article headlined "Did al-Qaeda Bump Off Suitcase Spook?" The Sun newspapern newspaper reported that Williams' cell phone and several SIM cards were "laid out in a ritualistic manner at the murder scene."
The government has refused to give out any information on the case. "There is an ongoing police investigation," said a Foreign Office spokesperson. "It is long-standing government policy not to confirm or deny that any individual who works for the intelligence agencies."