Police to rule out murder in Woolmer inquiry
Woolmer's death is no longer being treated as suspicious
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Saturday, 02, Jun 2007 07:05
It is believed that Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer, who died on March 18th, was not murdered as first suspected but died of natural causes.
The Daily Mail claims a source close to the investigation has told them that Jamaican police will call a press conference early next week to confirm that murder has now been ruled out.
"Mr Woolmer was not a well man. It is now accepted that he died of natural causes," said the source.
It was initially thought that Woolmer's death could have been linked to match-fixing as he died the morning after Pakistan's shock exit from the World Cup at the hands of Ireland.
Police believed Woolmer had been strangled, though there was no sign of a struggle, so toxicology investigations were carried out to see if the 58-year-old had been drugged as well.
These reports and further investigation seem to suggest that Woolmer was not murdered at all and that police had been hasty in their initial assessment.
A colleague of investigating officer Mark Shields, Jamaica's Deputy Commissioner of Police, criticised the handling of the case.
He said: "With hindsight, he should have ensured a second post mortem was carried out.
"Instead of saying the death was suspicious, he rushed out a statement saying it was murder."
Woolmer was known to suffer from diabetes and it is now thought that he died of heart-failure which could have been induced by the illness along with additional stress and ill-health.