Mystery deepens in Woolmer’s murder

KINGSTON – One week after the strangling death of Pakistan’s cricket coach Bob Woolmer, Jamaican police reported no arrests or conclusive leads, and stressed that team members were not under suspicion at this time.

Woolmer is well known in Namibian cricket circles. He was in the country in 2003 as an International Cricket Council development coach to assist emerging cricketing nations, including Namibia, with the finer details of the game.Investigators believe Woolmer probably knew his killer, or killers, as there was no sign of forced entry in the Kingston hotel room where the 58-year-old coach was found unconscious March 18 before he was declared dead in hospital.But they declared the Pakistani team in the clear, at least for the time being, and allowed them to leave the Caribbean island.”There is nothing to suggest any of them is a suspect at this stage,” deputy police commissioner Mark Shields told journalists on Saturday.Investigators did question three members of the team for a second time just before the players flew to London on their way to Pakistan on Saturday, after earlier interviewing all members of the team and taking DNA samples and fingerprints.”They clarified a number of points,” Jamaica’s deputy commissioner of police Mark Shields said after captain Inzamam-ul-Haq, caretaker coach Mushtaq Ahmed and manager Talat Ali were questioned.Shattered by the murder of their coach, and reeling from the loss to minnows Ireland that knocked them out of the World Cup, the team was in London on Sunday for a stopover on their way home.”All of the camp were very, very down,” said Dalawar Chaudhry, who is employed by the team to provide hospitality during their time in Britain.”I have had a word with all the boys and they have lost someone very near and dear to them.A father figure has been lost …They haven’t been sleeping well.It’s been a very emotional time,” Chaudhry said.Nagging rumours of match-fixing in connection with Woolmer’s death have cast a further shadow over the sport and the World Cup, which officials insisted had to go on despite the killing.”Of course it’s one of our lines of inquiry,” Shields said of the speculation the criminal gangs involved in match-fixing rackets may have been involved in the killing, either because Woolmer was about to expose the extent of the practice in a forthcoming book or because of sums lost by Ireland’s win.Shields, who leads the investigation took up the issue with Jeff Rees, the chief investigator of the International Cricket Council’s anti-corruption unit, who is currently in Kingston.The officer separately told the London-based Observer newspaper: “One aspect is, what were the odds on Ireland if Ireland won? I understand that they were extremely good if you bet on Ireland.”But he said he was keeping an open mind, and stressed that investigators had not yet identified any “clear suspects” or made any arrests.Authorities in Jamaica said Woolmer’s body would remain on the island until the conclusion of a coroner’s inquest to be held as soon as possible.The Woolmer family, as well as Pakistan Cricket Board chief Naseem Ashraf, have rejected suggestions the coach may have been killed over fears he would expose match-fixing in a book he planned to write.Ivo Tennant, the co-author of the proposed autobiography, also dismissed that theory, saying Woolmer had no intention of writing about “any such detail.”Nampa-AFPHe was in the country in 2003 as an International Cricket Council development coach to assist emerging cricketing nations, including Namibia, with the finer details of the game.Investigators believe Woolmer probably knew his killer, or killers, as there was no sign of forced entry in the Kingston hotel room where the 58-year-old coach was found unconscious March 18 before he was declared dead in hospital.But they declared the Pakistani team in the clear, at least for the time being, and allowed them to leave the Caribbean island. “There is nothing to suggest any of them is a suspect at this stage,” deputy police commissioner Mark Shields told journalists on Saturday.Investigators did question three members of the team for a second time just before the players flew to London on their way to Pakistan on Saturday, after earlier interviewing all members of the team and taking DNA samples and fingerprints.”They clarified a number of points,” Jamaica’s deputy commissioner of police Mark Shields said after captain Inzamam-ul-Haq, caretaker coach Mushtaq Ahmed and manager Talat Ali were questioned.Shattered by the murder of their coach, and reeling from the loss to minnows Ireland that knocked them out of the World Cup, the team was in London on Sunday for a stopover on their way home.”All of the camp were very, very down,” said Dalawar Chaudhry, who is employed by the team to provide hospitality during their time in Britain.”I have had a word with all the boys and they have lost someone very near and dear to them.A father figure has been lost …They haven’t been sleeping well.It’s been a very emotional time,” Chaudhry said.Nagging rumours of match-fixing in connection with Woolmer’s death have cast a further shadow over the sport and the World Cup, which officials insisted had to go on despite the killing.”Of course it’s one of our lines of inquiry,” Shields said of the speculation the criminal gangs involved in match-fixing rackets may have been involved in the killing, either because Woolmer was about to expose the extent of the practice in a forthcoming book or because of sums lost by Ireland’s win.Shields, who leads the investigation took up the issue with Jeff Rees, the chief investigator of the International Cricket Council’s anti-corruption unit, who is currently in Kingston.The officer separately told the London-based Observer newspaper: “One aspect is, what were the odds on Ireland if Ireland won? I understand that they were extremely good if you bet on Ireland.”But he said he was keeping an open mind, and stressed that investigators had not yet identified any “clear suspects” or made any arrests.Authorities in Jamaica said Woolmer’s body would remain on the island until the conclusion of a coroner’s inquest to be held as soon as possible.The Woolmer family, as well as Pakistan Cricket Board chief Naseem Ashraf, have rejected suggestions the coach may have been killed over fears he would expose match-fixing in a book he planned to write.Ivo Tennant, the co-author of the proposed autobiography, also dismissed that theory, saying Woolmer had no intention of writing about “any such detail.”Nampa-AFP