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<span style='font-size: 17pt'>Woolmer not murdered, say Jamaican police</span>
Peter Walker and agencies
Tuesday June 12, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
Bob Woolmer was not murdered, Jamaican police confirmed today, ending months of speculation about the Pakistan cricket coach's death.
The head of the Caribbean island's police force, Lucius Thomas, told a press conference in Kingston that Woolmer had died of natural causes and had not been murdered by strangulation, as the force initially said.
It is an embarrassing u-turn for the police, and follows a number of separate investigations, including one by a Home Office pathologist.
However, Mr Thomas insisted his force had carried out "a thoroughly professional investigation where nothing was left to chance or assumption".
He added: "Every effort has been made by the Jamaica Constabulary Force to seek the truth surrounding the circumstances of Bob Woolmer's death and bring the facts to his widow and family."
The 58-year-old Briton was found dead in his hotel room in Kingston in March, a day after Pakistan were beaten by minnows Ireland in the Cricket World Cup. He was found by cleaning staff.
An initial postmortem examination proved inconclusive, but four days afterwards Mr Thomas announced that a second pathologist had concluded Woolmer died from "manual strangulation" and the case was being treated as murder.
The announcement unleashed a torrent of speculation about possible poisoning or the involvement of criminal gangs and match fixing, largely overshadowing the World Cup itself.
Investigators had not found "any evidence at all of impropriety" involving players during the World Cup, Mr Thomas said today.
Scotland Yard officers flew to Jamaica to help the investigation, while Pakistani police were also sent in. Members of the Pakistan team were interviewed, fingerprinted and gave DNA samples in connection with the death, and may now begin legal action against Jamaican police.
The crucial piece of evidence that pointed to murder was the verdict by Dr Ere Seshaiah, a Jamaican pathologist, that the hyoid bone in Woolmer's neck was broken, a sign of strangulation.
It was reported 10 days ago that the Scotland Yard detectives had found the former English cricketer died of natural causes. That finding has been supported by a South African strangulation expert.
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Last Updated: Tuesday, 12 June 2007, 15:13 GMT 16:13 UK
<span style='font-size: 17pt'>
Woolmer 'died of natural causes'</span>
Jamaican police have confirmed that Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer died of natural causes and was not murdered, as they stated earlier.
Mr Woolmer died after being found unconscious in his Kingston hotel room on 18 March, after his team lost to Ireland in the cricket World Cup.
An initial pathologist's report concluded that he had been strangled.
Every member of the Pakistan team was interviewed and fingerprinted before returning home from the Caribbean.
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