Woolmer died of natural causes, say Jamaican police
Thursday, June 14, 2007
FORMER Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer was not murdered but died of natural causes, Jamaican police said last Tuesday, closing an investigation into his sudden death that rocked the cricketing world.
Woolmer, 58, was found dead in his hotel room in Kingston, Jamaica on March 18, the day after Ireland surprisingly defeated the highly rated Pakistani team and sent them crashing out of the cricket World Cup tournament.
Days after his death police announced they were treating the case as a homicide, saying an autopsy report showed he had been strangled. The report sparked feverish speculation about the role of gambling mafias in the game.
But after three independent pathologists' reports, a barrage of toxicology tests and interviews with hundreds of people, police last Tuesday ruled out any foul play or match-fixing in the death of the former England Test player.
"Mr Woolmer died of natural causes," Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) commissioner Lucius Thomas said, referring to a finding by a British forensics expert that was supported by South African and Canadian pathologists.
Toxicology tests had also ruled out another earlier theory that Woolmer had been poisoned.
"The JCF accepts these findings and has now closed its investigation into the death of Mr Bob Woolmer," Thomas said.
Neither Jamaican police nor the International Cricket Council (ICC) "have found any evidence of any impropriety by players, match officials nor management during the investigation of Mr Bob Woolmer's death", Thomas added.
Police interviewed some 400 people and took statements from 250 others during the investigation. Detectives from Scotland Yard and Pakistan were also involved in the inquiry.
"We are relieved that it has been officially announced that Bob died of natural causes," Woolmer's widow, Gill said from her home in Cape Town, South Africa. "It is now over."
Woolmer suffered from diabetes. According to reports in Jamaica last month, Scotland Yard detectives had determined that the coach died of a heart attack.
The head of the cricket body's Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU), Paul Condon, said that those who linked Woolmer's death to match-fixing rumours should now "shut up".
The reputation of both the cricket World Cup tournament and the game were "unnecessarily tarnished as the theories about Woolmer's death became wilder and more bizarre with many of those theories suggesting a link to corruption and match-fixing", said Condon.
"To those who suggest that corruption is still widespread throughout the game of cricket ... we have one clear message: put up or shut up," Condon added in a statement posted on the ICC website.
Pakistani players said they were relieved at the news, but some were angry enough to call for the Caribbean investigators to be sued.
Then-Pakistani captain Inzamam-ul-Haq said however there was no need to reopen wounds with legal action. AFP
Woolmer, 58, was found dead in his hotel room in Kingston, Jamaica on March 18, the day after Ireland surprisingly defeated the highly rated Pakistani team and sent them crashing out of the cricket World Cup tournament.
Days after his death police announced they were treating the case as a homicide, saying an autopsy report showed he had been strangled. The report sparked feverish speculation about the role of gambling mafias in the game.
But after three independent pathologists' reports, a barrage of toxicology tests and interviews with hundreds of people, police last Tuesday ruled out any foul play or match-fixing in the death of the former England Test player.
"Mr Woolmer died of natural causes," Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) commissioner Lucius Thomas said, referring to a finding by a British forensics expert that was supported by South African and Canadian pathologists.
Toxicology tests had also ruled out another earlier theory that Woolmer had been poisoned.
"The JCF accepts these findings and has now closed its investigation into the death of Mr Bob Woolmer," Thomas said.
Neither Jamaican police nor the International Cricket Council (ICC) "have found any evidence of any impropriety by players, match officials nor management during the investigation of Mr Bob Woolmer's death", Thomas added.
Police interviewed some 400 people and took statements from 250 others during the investigation. Detectives from Scotland Yard and Pakistan were also involved in the inquiry.
"We are relieved that it has been officially announced that Bob died of natural causes," Woolmer's widow, Gill said from her home in Cape Town, South Africa. "It is now over."
Woolmer suffered from diabetes. According to reports in Jamaica last month, Scotland Yard detectives had determined that the coach died of a heart attack.
The head of the cricket body's Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU), Paul Condon, said that those who linked Woolmer's death to match-fixing rumours should now "shut up".
The reputation of both the cricket World Cup tournament and the game were "unnecessarily tarnished as the theories about Woolmer's death became wilder and more bizarre with many of those theories suggesting a link to corruption and match-fixing", said Condon.
"To those who suggest that corruption is still widespread throughout the game of cricket ... we have one clear message: put up or shut up," Condon added in a statement posted on the ICC website.
Pakistani players said they were relieved at the news, but some were angry enough to call for the Caribbean investigators to be sued.
Then-Pakistani captain Inzamam-ul-Haq said however there was no need to reopen wounds with legal action. AFP
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