Woolmer 'strangled' - Jamaican police

12 April 2012

Jamaican police have revealed they were treating the death of former Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer "as a case of murder".

Woolmer, 58, was found unconscious by staff at the Pegasus Hotel in Kingston on Sunday morning, the day after Pakistan's shock defeat to Ireland in the Cricket World Cup, and taken to hospital where he later died.

Police revealed on Tuesday that they were treating the former England batsman's death as "suspicious". They initially stopped short of saying that he had been murdered but, at a press conference on Thursday evening, revealed Woolmer's death "was due to asphyxia as a result of manual strangulation".

Jamaican deputy police commissioner Mark Shields confirmed Woolmer had shown no signs of life when found in his hotel room on Sunday morning, but defended the delay in announcing his death as murder until results of a pathologists' report were known.

"In these particular circumstances we had to make sure because there were no visible external signs (of his murder)," he said.

"Not until the report was concluded were we able to draw conclusions. We did seek advice from others, but we are confident of the results. We have a lot of lines of inquiry and we will see how it develops. We are ruling nothing out."

Shields said he had been in regular contact with Woolmer's wife Gill over recent days.

He said: "I have spoken to Gill on a number of occasions to give her reassurance. She is very upset and grieving, but she is holding up well at the moment."

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