Bob Woolmer was NOT Murdered

Initial reports that Bob Woolmer, Pakistan's cricket coach, was killed in Jamaica, were wrong. This was the conclusion of three international pathologists from Britain, South Africa and Canada who performed independent autopsies on the body. The three all agreed that Bob Woolmer died from heart failure.

"Taking into account his medical history and the findings of the autopsy, it looks very certainly like it's a cardiac cause of death," said Martin, who is head of forensic medicine and toxicology at the University of Cape Town, in a phone interview.

As a result of these findings the murder investigation has been closed. However the Jamaican pathologist, Dr Ere Seshaiah, who did the initial autopsy that prompted the opening of the murder investigation is sticking by his report despite the findings of the three international experts:

"I am sticking to my findings. He was murdered," Dr Ere Seshaiah told The Jamaica Observer. "Woolmer is not a first for me," he said. "I have been doing autopsies here since 1995."

A Jamaican opposition lawmaker, Derrick Smith has called for the firing of Dr. Eke Seshaiah implying his incompetence:

"He led the investigation team down a wrong path," Derrick Smith said in a television interview outside parliament. "Now that we have found out that he has made an error, he should be terminated."

National Security Minister Peter Phillips announced in parliament the government will set up a commission to review the investigation into Woolmer's death. The commission will assess the "appropriateness of the techniques and the standards of professionalism employed by the police investigators as well as the medical and other professional personnel," Phillips said.

Click here to see Video Clip

For previous stories on Bob Woolmer. Click the following: 1.Murder in Jamaica 2. Bob Woolmer Update 3. Woolmer was Drugged

Bob Woolmer was Drugged

A post mortem performed on Bob Woolmer, the Pakistani cricket coach who was murdered in Jamaica on March 18th, revealed that he was drugged before being strangled. A toxicology report identified a drug in his system that was meant to incapacitate him.

"Those tests will show there was a drug in his system that would have incapacitated Mr Woolmer," Panorama's Adam Parsons says.

"It now seems certain that as he was being strangled, he'd already been rendered helpless - leaving him unable to fight back.

"The specific details of that poison are now very likely to offer a significant lead to finding his murderer."

The specific drug was not identified pending a complete report to be released by the Jamaican authorities. In the meantime his body has been released and was flown to South Africa where he resided with his wife, Gill and his two children Russell and Dale. Mark Shields, the Deputy Police Commissioner in Jamaica plans to fly to South Africa to update the family on the investigation. The funeral will be a private family ceremony.

Bob Woolmer Update

Was Bob Woolmer killed because he knew too much about corruption in cricket? That is the question on the minds of investigators, cricket officials and the public in general. There is much speculation that he was about to expose the darker side of the game where players have been known to accept money to throw games. There have been well documented cases in the past in which guilty players have been banned, either permanently or for an extended period of time, for engaging in "match-fixing". The following clips examine some of these issues.
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[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=QByEd91MOAU]
Whatever the reason for Bob Woolmer's murder, he was a man who loved the game of cricket and lived his life with integrity. His untimely demise is a blight on the sport and hopefully the perpetrators of this despicable act will be brought to justice in a timely manner. Below is a tribute to the life of Bob Woolmer - May 14th 1948 to Marh 18th 2007.
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Murder in Jamaica

Bob Woolmer, coach of the Pakistan Cricket team, was found murdered in his hotel room in Kingston, Jamaica. The Jamaican police said the cause of death was: "Due to asphyxia as a result of manual strangulation" In these circumstances, the matter of Mr Robert Woolmer’s death is now being treated by Jamaica police as a case of murder.

Mr Woolmer was found “lifeless” by a maid in the bathroom of his room at the Pegasus Kingston hotel. The former England all-rounder, a diabetic, was surrounded by blood, vomit and diarrhoea. Much of the vomit was sprayed high on the walls, suggesting a violent struggle.

Mark Shields, the Deputy Police Commissioner in Kingston and a former Scotland Yard detective, said there was no sign of forced entry into Mr Woolmer’s hotel bedroom, nor had his possessions been disturbed, increasing speculation that he was killed by people he knew. It was likely more than one killer was involved in the “particularly horrific” murder. “It would take some force because Bob was a large man and, therefore, it would have taken some significant force to subdue him.” He added: “We do not know how many people there were in the room.”

All the guests at the hotel were interviewed by the police, including the entire Pakistani Cricket team. The team was allowed to leave Jamaica the next day after leaving DNA samples and fingerprints with the authorities. The police however have no witnesses nor suspects at this stage of the investigation.

There are suspicions that Mr. Woolmer may have been murdered to prevent him from exposing illegal activities in the cricket world involving corruption and match-fixing.

Malcolm Speed, chief executive of the International Cricket Council (ICC), would not rule out corruption as a motive. “We don’t know whether this is corruption-related at this stage,” he said. “We believe that in the past few years we have been able to keep corruption under control.”

Mr Speed said that Lord Condon the former Metropolitan Police Commissioner Paul Condon, was standing by and willing to assist with the inquiry. He has been involved with helping the ICC to fight corruption within the sport.

Mr. Bob Woolmer leaves behind a wife and two children. His body will remain in Jamaica until an inquest is held. For more on Bob Woolmer's life and career check out his official website here