London - Professional escapologists today queried the latest dramatic twist at an inquest into MI6 cryptographer Gareth Williams' death.
A former landlady testified about having to rescue the spook in an
unlikely sounding solo bondage crisis where he'd tied both his hands to 'some knobs' on the bedstead.
Jennifer Elliot, who had rented the self-contained accommodation to Williams, said she had to rescue him in the middle of the night after hearing his screams for help.
On entering the annex where Williams lived the Cheltenham landlady and her husband were aghast at finding the very distressed tenant in bed with both his hands secured to the bedposts with some sort of ligatures.
In her evidence there was no mention of any handcuffs which, theoretically at least, could be used in a self-bondage experiment by someone trying to make a point.
Otherwise such a feat is virtually impossible - unless a third party is in the frame.
"There's bedknobs and then there's bedknobs," retired movie stuntman Dave H Houdini tweeted this afternoon.
"Important to state if the knobs were part of the furniture or, er, of the human variety."
The inquest continues.
