Pakistan coach Woolmer dies

[Adux]

Very unlikely! No player has something that against him.

Actually webby, can we say that for certain, even if it was the Indian Team I would definitly suspect the players as prime, World of Bookies are real murky and Pakistan and India are the real leaders in them.

 

[EagleEyes]

Players are like us. I see a bigger hand. Think Politics!

 

[Adux]

Players are like us. I see a bigger hand. Think Politics!

Yes I do, But what if a player himself is involved in that very politics. Its not as if Players are innocent sheeps led by some evil sheperd.

 

[Shehz]

Yaar, webby, it wasn't as if the players had anything against him.
Again, it was impulse, not pre-meditated.

We have cases like these all the time, 3 cops, friends, have a fight, one shoots the other 2, didn't mean to, but in the heat of the argument, it just so happened.

Similarly, possible, Woolmer had a couple of drinks, said something insulting, lets say Inzi got really offended, you see what I'm saying.

You can't deny that the possibility is not there.

 

[MirBadshah]

LOL..................shehz you are going too far.

Inzy have become a Tableeghi and he also do not drink, any such act from a person who is not drunk and on top of it a tableeghi is totally out of question.

 

[Shehz]

Acha??
Pakistan mey Sherab ney problems khrey kiyey hain yah Tableeghi ney?

Every now and then these so called Tableeghi are either staging strikes, or kidnapping someone, or taking over a library. Thank goodnes they don't drink!

God forbid, we'd be eliminated if these guys drank.

Anyways, new investrigations have revealed more. I'm just quoting one paragraph of it, read the rest. Tell me, will a professional assasin not ensure that a target has in-fact been eliminated before he/she exits the room?
http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/woolmer/content/current/story/290949.html

"Woolmer was found unconscious in his hotel room in Jamaica on March 18, just a day after Pakistan's sudden exit from the World Cup, and was pronounced dead after being rushed to hospital."

 

[Shehz]

Woolmer suspect identified http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,21600023-2882,00.html

April 22, 2007 12:00am
Article from: Sunday Herald Sun

A SUSPECT in the murder of Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer has been identified from security camera footage in his hotel, according to media reports.

The reports come amid growing evidence Woolmer was drugged with the ancient poison, Aconite.
The 58 year old was found unconscious in his hotel room in the Jamaican capital Kingston, after Pakistan's humiliating loss to Ireland in the World Cup.

The Pakistan Cricket Board says it's 100 per cent confident that no Pakistani player was involved in the death.

The Independent reports that after three weeks with little apparent progress, investigators in Jamaica announced yesterday that there were "significant developments" in the hunt for Mr Woolmer's killer or killers.

The opening of an inquest into the coach's death, due to take place on Monday, was postponed after a series of breakthroughs by the team of 30 officers working on the inquiry, including detectives from Scotland Yard.

The Independent said digital enhancement by the Yard of CCTV footage from cameras on the 12th floor of the Pegasus Hotel in Kingston, where Mr Woolmer was staying, has identified at least one suspect in the killing.

The newspaper quoted a source close to the investigation: "The cleaned-up images from London show at least one individual of considerable interest to the inquiry.

"The time of the footage and its location mean that this individual must be considered a suspect. Further work is being done on statements given by individuals to look at any inconsistencies. It is good progress."

Police declined to comment on the identity of the suspect, understood to be male, or say whether he is a member of the Pakistan team or management. In a statement, the Justice Ministry in Jamaica said the inquest, at which more than 20 witnesses were due to give evidence, had been postponed because of rapid progress in the investigation.

A spokesman said: "The coroner has been advised that there are recent and significant developments concerning the death of Robert Woolmer. The coroner wishes that these new and significant developments be pursued with the utmost urgency, taking into account that the officer in charge has advised that these new developments are critical to the progress and the eventual results of the investigations themselves."

Mr Woolmer, who was 58, died on 17 March, the night after Pakistan's exit from the World Cup at the hands of Ireland. The death of Mr Woolmer, who had already decided to resign his role, came amid claims that the former Kent and England player had fallen foul of a match-fixing syndicate he was about to expose.

 

[BATMAN]

Seems like Indian press has lost their enthusism in woolmers murder.

 

[Shehz]

http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/woolmer/content/current/story/291969.html

Snake venom may have killed Woolmer - reports

Cricinfo staff

April 23, 2007

The former Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer may have been drugged with snake venom, according to the police who are investigating his death. A friend of the family said Gill Woolmer has been informed that her husband was probably subdued by a "natural toxin" which left his body by the time of the forensic examination.

Neil Manthorp, a respected South African cricket commentator, said in the English tabloid the Mail on Sunday: "I spoke to Gill and her sons Russell and Dale two days ago. The boys both said police had told their mum the toxicology results are inconclusive.

"The detective told Gill they believe it must have been a natural poison, such as a snake venom, which leaves the body fairly soon afterwards. The police theory is that this was administered to Bob in the bathroom of his hotel room to subdue him before he was strangled. The officer said that the only way to prove this was to look for tissue damage, which was why they had sent the results back to England for further testing."

The police suspect Woolmer to have been injected with venom and not bitten by a snake, as there are no venomous snakes in that part of the Caribbean. David Warrell, the professor of tropical medicine and infectious diseases at Oxford University, who has helped police in a number of international murder inquiries, said the vomit and faeces found near Woolmer's body were consistent with someone with venom in their bloodstream.

"Snake venom cannot be slipped to someone in a drink or food," he said. "It also cannot be injected into any part of the body. It has to go directly into a vein, meaning this man would have had to have been held down for the 20 minutes or so it would have taken for paralysis to set in."

© Cricinfo

 

[Shehz]

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,21650836-5006301,00.html

Radicals 'killed Woolmer'REBECCA CAMBER, LONDON
May 01, 2007 02:15am

PAKISTAN'S murdered cricket coach Bob Woolmer may have been murdered after angering radical Muslims, a BBC investigation has alleged.

The claims come as preliminary toxicology tests confirm Woolmer was rendered helpless with a powerful poison before being strangled.
According to British program Panorama , preliminary drug tests revealed a substance in Woolmer's body that would have weakened him. The show also suggests some players followed extremist Muslim movement Tablighi Jamaat.

Woolmer, 58, was found dead in his Kingston hotel room on March 18, the day after Pakistan crashed out of the World Cup in an upset loss to minnows Ireland.

According to the team's former media manager, PJ Mir, Woolmer shared his view that senior members of the squad were more interested in praying than playing. Mr Mir claims it was this preoccupation with religion that explained their poor performance in the contest.

"(Bob) wasn't particularly pleased when players were going out to say their prayers in the middle of the game and a substitute was coming in," he said.

Mr Mir's comments led to a fatwa being issued against him and he fled Pakistan. He believes Woolmer may have faced the same fate. The officer leading the investigation, Jamaican Deputy Police Commissioner Mark Shields, said it would have been difficult to strangle a man the size of Woolmer, who stood 1.88m tall.

"Bob Woolmer was a large man and that's why one could argue that it was an extremely strong person, or maybe more than one person, but equally the lack of external injuries suggests that there might be some other factors and that's what we're looking into at the moment," he said. Though the final results of toxicology tests are not expected until next week, they are likely to confirm the preliminary findings, according to Panorama.

Woolmer's death led to a fevered round of speculation as to the motive for the murder.

The most common theory is that his killing was linked to match-fixing and illegal betting in cricket.

 

[melb4aust]

Guess who will be next suspect ....... AQ

 

[Wounded Healer]

hehehe, right yaar..........i also think AL-QAEDA will be blamed.........and BUSH will provide them with solid proof

 

[Shehz]

http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1096017

New twist to Woolmer murder case; channel claims Mustaq’s involvement

PTI Thursday, May 10, 2007 18:47 IST

KARACHI: In a sensational turn to Bob Woolmer's murder case, it was disclosed on Thursday that two champagne bottles were passed on to him by the team's bowling coach Mushtaq Ahmed, which may unravel the mystery of the poison-laced drink the Pakistani coach is believed to have had on the night he died.

The disclosure was made by the Pakistan team's media manager Pervez Mir who said that the team manager Talat Ali was a witness to the bottles being passed on to Woolmer in the team hotel in Jamaica about 7 weeks ago during the cricket World Cup.

The British media in recent days has reported that the Scotland Yard, with which the Jamaican Police has been in touch, suspects that a "killer weed" had been mixed with champagne taken by Woolmer in his hotel room before he was found dead on March 18.

Mushtaq, currently in England, said after Mir's statement that some persons of Pakistani origin based in England had left the two bottles in his hotel room and since he does not drink, Woolmer had picked them up four days before he was found dead.

Former leg spinner, Ahmed is an activist of Tablighi Jamaat, an Islamic religious outfit, and former skipper Inzamam-ul Haq had come under criticism for taking Ahmed as a bowling coach.

He said that he knew the people who had given him the bottles but would not go public with their names because they had families and would be unneccesarily tarnished.

"I am not not worried" by the disclosure, Mushtaq said, describing Woolmer as part of the family.

Mir's disclosure on Pakistani TV channel ARY came amid reports that a Jamaican Police team had left for London for high-level discussions with Scotland Yard after which a suspect is expected to be named soon.

Police believe that the burly Woolmer had been subdued with a killer weed before being strangled in the hotel room a day after Pakistan's shocking loss to Ireland.

Mir, who had been questioned by the Jamaican Police alongwith members of the Pakistani team before it was allowed to fly back home, said that he had not spoken to the police about the bottles.

However, he maintained that Ahmed would have given the bottles to Woolmer in "the best of spirit and as a matter of goodwill".

An eye-witness, who did not want to be named, said on Thursday night that the champagne bottles were not intentionally gifted by Ahmed to the late coach. Woolmer had come to Ahmed's room to inquire about a nose injury suffered by him during nets.

Spotting the two bottles Woolmer had inquired if he could take them to which Ahmed had said that he was welcome to do so. The then Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul Haq and all-rounder Shahid Afridi were also present in the room, the eye-witness said.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) refused to comment on Mir's statement saying that it had no official communication from the Jamaican authorities.

When contacted, Ali said that he could not understand all the speculation surrounding the case. "All I can say is that this is a police case and we all recorded our statements to the police in Jamaica. Saying anything on this issue will only add fuel to fire", he said.

Ali said that he was fed up with the efforts being made by a section of the media to link the Pakistani players and officials with Woolmer's death. "It is reprehensible", he added.

Ahmed said his guests from England had left the bottles in his room and Woolmer came to his room and asked him for them since he did not drink as he was a Muslim.

Mir said he did not know who the guests of Pakistani-origin were and he was not sure whether Ahmed knew them.

Replying to a question, Mir said journalists were stretching the issue too far.

He said the Jamaican Police did not question him on this issue.

Mir said he would go along with the version given by Ahmed.

Also read: Woolmer murder suspect could be named soon
http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1096038

Mir, Ahsan, what did I tell you guys?

 

[Interceptor]

No foul play in cricket coach death, report says
Woolmer died of natural causes, not strangling, Scotland Yard concludes
The Associated Press
Updated: 7:36 p.m. ET May 13, 2007

KINGSTON, Jamaica - Scotland Yard investigators have concluded that Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer died of natural causes and was not strangled as local police have said, a Jamaican newspaper reported on Sunday.

In London, Scotland Yard declined to comment on the report in the Jamaica Gleaner newspaper that Woolmer died of heart failure and said it would not discuss an analysis of toxicology tests that a British government lab conducted on behalf of Jamaican authorities.

“This is an inquiry being conducted by the Jamaican authorities,” said a Scotland Yard spokesman, on customary condition of anonymity in line with policy. “It’s down to them to comment on developments.”

The report, which did not identify its source beyond saying it was in London, was the latest in the slew of conflicting media accounts since Woolmer was found unconscious in his Kingston hotel room on March 18 and pronounced dead at a hospital. The previous day, his powerhouse team had lost to underdog Ireland in the World Cup, ensuring Pakistan’s first-round exit.

Jamaican police later said Woolmer had been strangled, after initially saying the cause of death was inconclusive. A barrage of unsourced media reports, especially in the British press, has said Woolmer was first drugged or poisoned before being strangled.

Mark Shields, the lead Jamaican police investigator in the case, has refused to comment on the reports, saying he was awaiting independent verification in a British government-owned lab of toxicology tests that were done in Jamaica.

Shields, a former Scotland Yard veteran, did not immediately respond to calls for comment on Sunday’s report. He traveled to Britain last week and then had been expected to go to South Africa, where Woolmer’s family lives.

One of two Pakistani detectives who traveled to Jamaica to assist in the probe told The Associated Press on May 7 that the investigation was so far “inconclusive.” The detective, Mir Zubair Mahmood, said it was still unclear whether Woolmer was murdered or had died of natural causes.

© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18646182/

 

[Interceptor]

POLICE CONFIRM WOOLMER DIED OF NATURAL CAUSES


12 June 2007

By Andy Hampson, PA Sport

Jamaican police have confirmed they now believe Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer was not murdered and died of natural causes.

Woolmer, 58, died after being found unconscious in his Kingston hotel room on March 18, the day after his side had suffered a shock defeat to Ireland in the World Cup.

An initial pathologist's report concluded Woolmer had been strangled to death and a murder investigation was launched.

After further investigations, however, police are now confident that the initial report was wrong.

Deputy Police Commissioner Mark Shields said: "We have conducted a thorough, professional investigation throughout. We said from the very beginning we would keep an open mind, we said we would search for the truth.

"Had we not gone elsewhere for assistance in terms of getting second, third and fourth opinions from pathologists and seeking a review at an early stage, we may be in a different position today.

"I believe it is through the JCF [Jamaica Constabulary Force] conducting such a thorough investigation that we are in a position to give you the facts as they are today.

"Ultimately it will be a decision for the coroner, but it is our belief that from all the work we have done, and from the opinion of three pathologists, that Bob Woolmer died of natural causes."

The announcement that Woolmer had been strangled sparked a number of conspiracy theories and overshadowed the tournament.

The entire Pakistan squad were questioned and there have been suggestions the country's cricket authorities would consider legal redress for the speculation and suspicion they were subjected to.

The police's handling of the case, particularly with regard to the number of theories that arose from it in the media, has attracted considerable criticism but Shields made a robust defence of his investigation.

He said: "We were given facts or an opinion at the beginning which we took at face value. We had to conduct an investigation there is no alternative.

"We are not in a position where we can second guess, publicly, a pathologist's opinion.

"Our job is to keep an open mind, conduct the investigation and see where the evidence takes us, and as it developed, that's exactly what we did."

Woolmer was diabetic and had been suffering from breathing difficulties at the time of his death but the initial pathologist's report concluded he had been strangled.

There were rumours that he might have been killed by someone linked to illegal match-fixing and betting or by an angry fan.

Mushtaq Ahmed, who was assistant coach to Woolmer during the tournament, is relieved that any lingering suspicion had now been lifted from the Pakistan team.

Mushtaq told Sky Sports News: "It was quite tiring and draining for the cricketers. We had lost a family member.

"Every week we were hearing different stories and people were saying things when there was no evidence.

"We have a lot of sympathies for Bob's family but at least we know the reality and that natural things happened to Bob.

"The pain is still there for losing Bob but at least we have got rid of these problems.

"I think the players got very sad and annoyed with what happened."

Mushtaq was not critical of the police's investigation and Inzamam-ul-Haq, the captain during the tournament, does not believe taking legal action would serve much purpose.

"I don't feel court action would be of any use now," Inzamam told Geo TV.

"The players in general and I, as captain in particular, went through hell and those were the most terrible days of our lives.

"We must be ready to handle such things better in future by involving the government and the (Pakistan Cricket) Board from the initial stages."

However, Inzamam's view is in stark contrast to that of another former Pakistan skipper, Imran Khan, who is furious with the way the incident was handled."No-one should be able to go away scot-free after tarnishing and damaging the reputation of players and cricket so much," Khan said.

"Pakistan Cricket Board should sue everyone with responsibility because this was so damaging for the Pakistani team, for Pakistan cricket and to the country.

"They should have ruled out first whether this was natural causes.

"By what Pakistan cricket has been through - players being DNA-tested, finger-printed, insinuations of match-fixing, insinuations that the players might have killed their coach - all this was so damaging and this went on for a good two months.

"I think someone should be held responsible for it."

http://www.sportinglife.com/cricket...cket/07/06/12/CRICKET_Woolmer_Nightlead.html#