CATEGORY:CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION ------------------------------------- INSIDE GRENADA Friday March 23,2007 by Wallace J.A The recent death of Pakistan’s cricket coach, Bob Woolmer (in Jamaica on Sunday 18), shortly after loosing to Ireland - came as a shock to the cricket lovers around the world. He was 58 years old and seemed to have been in good physical health. Many persons had speculated, therefore, that he had died as a result of a heart attack, or some other ailment that could have been brought on by stress. Recent developments, however, have seriously stunned the cricket world and left the Cricket World Cup in the Caribbean in a state of disarray. Sometime yesterday, the Jamaican authorities informed the public, via a press conference, that an autopsy carried out on the deceased (Bob Woolmer) has established that he had died as a result of ‘manual strangulation’. According to police commissioner, Lucius Thomas, “In these circumstances, the matter of Mr. Woolmer’s death is now being treated as a murder.” Mr. Woolmer was found unconscious in his room by the staff of the Pegasus Hotel in Kingston on Sunday morning. The police have established that there were no signs of forced entry into his room and none of his possessions had been taken. Police investigators believe that Woolmer may have known his killer or killers. Mark Shields, Deputy Police Commissioner, believes that it would have required significant force to subdue Woolmer because he was a large man. Authorities are presently studying CCTV footage of the hotel and according to Mark Shields, they have ‘lots of lines of inquiry’ and there might now be a hunt for more than one killer. He advised the perpetrators of this callous criminal act to give themselves up. Yesterday, police questioned members of the Pakistan cricket team over the death of Woolmer and fingerprinted them before they left for their hotel at Montego Bay. The team is scheduled to leave the country for Pakistan tomorrow (Saturday 24) but it is not known at this time whether the authorities will allow them to leave just yet. There are heavy speculations in some quarters that Woomler’s murder may be connected to gambling cartels and the fact that Pakistan was booted out of the Cricket World Cup at this early stage. Some are also speculating that his death may have been caused by some fanatic supporter. Authorities in Jamaica are working feverishly to get to the bottom of the matter which will enable them to make the necessary arrest /arrests. There has been a call by some persons for the Cricket World Cup 2007 to be called off as a result of the tragic murder, which had tarnished the image of a sport that has been plagued by controversies in recent times. The International Cricket Council (ICC), however, has said the competition will continue as planned to "demonstrate that cricket cannot be put off by a cowardly criminal act".