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Jamaican police today confirmed that British-born Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer was murdered.
The 58-year-old was found unconscious in the bathroom of his Kingston hotel on Sunday morning, hours after Pakistan had been knocked out of the competition by Ireland, one of the greatest upsets in the tournament’s history.
At a press conference Lucius Thomas, the Commissioner of Police for the Jamaica Constabulary Force, said that a pathologists report had found that he had been strangled to death.
He said a full murder investigation had been launched and appealed for anybody with any information to come forward.
Earlier in the day it had emerged that the police were questioning and fingerprinting every member of the Pakistan cricket team yesterday over the death.
International Cricket Council chief executive Malcolm Speed said the World Cup would continue.
He said Woolmer’s death had been a “huge shock” for the cricketing community.
Mark Shields, the Deputy Police Commissioner in Kingston and former Scotland Yard detective, who said on Tuesday that Woolmer’s death was “suspicious”, told the press conference that there had been no signs of forced entry into his hotel room and said that officers had not yet established whether more than one person had been in the room at the time he was murdered.
He said: “It would take some force, because Bob was a large man, It would have taken some significant force to subdue him, but of course at this stage we do not know how many people were in the room at the time.
“It could be one or more people involved in this murder.”
Mr Shields confirmed Woolmer had shown no signs of life when he was found in his hotel room, and said there had been no signs of a struggle.
“In these particular circumstances we had to make sure because there were no visible external signs [of his murder],” he said.
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From all reports as to the death of Mr Woolmer, the state of the living room, the bathroom and the fact he was strangled, it is obvious the authorities knew he was murdered Sunday, yet they have waited until after the Pakistan final game to announce the result, money is the new god of this planet. Should the tourneyment continue, well no doubt the icc have money from sponsors to think of, hey only a murder here , sponsors must come first, and lets not forget the bookies, no doubt the chair of the icc will be murdered if he lets the bookies down on the other fixed matches still to be played.
Cricket = fair play END THIS TOURNAMENT NOW. Oh sorry got carried away , NO SUCH A THING AS BAD NEWS, mabe the icc see a chance here to up the sponsors, as now the whole world will be watching, but what a chance in this money driven world to make a statement the the children of the world, WE CARE ABOUT HUMAN LIFE, i know i am dreaming and should face reality, i should realy put a bet on who killed bob.
Ged, manchester,
Bob Woolmer's murder is a tragic event in the history of World Cup. A coach who dedicated his life for bringing a country's cricket team to the highest heights in the international arena, whose psychological characters are marred with religious fundamentalism, without any respect for the humanity. On the 1st day of the news that "Bob Woolmer died" itself gave me suspicion that he was murdered, because the Pakistan wants not to show the inefficiency of their cricket team, addicted to not only match fixing and the banned drugs,which came to the light last year resulting ICC banning of Asif and Soheb, but the PCCB on the pretext of their own inquiry, cleared them off, but to blame the Coach Bob Woolmer, indirectly,after his munder and to pretend as if they dedicated their last match in honour of their coach. It is suspected that the murder plan was hatched after their first defeat, in case they defeated in the second match itself. Not only that, as Sarfraz alleged, a match fixing.
Prakash J.B., Hyderabad, India -Andhra pradesh.
No question
this is a case for inspector Clouseau.
Only he can get to the bottom of this darstadly deed..
Agatha, Port Douglas, Australia
Condolences to the family on this sad loss of great cricketer and family man.
Match fixing and death seems to have a pattern. cricket is becoming dangerous. First Hansie now Bob. What the game coming to........Let get to the bottom of this and put our foot down.
Dev Aeswara Ram, Bandar Baru Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia.