Police in Jamaica have intensified the hunt for Bob Woolmer’s killer after new suggestions that the World Cup cricket coach may have been poisoned before he was strangled in a Jamaican hotel room.

Findings by scientists at the government forensic laboratory in Kingston are believed to have added a new piece to the jigsaw as detectives try to determine how and why the 58-year-old Briton was murdered — and by whom.

A postmortem examination conducted soon after the death of Woolmer, on March 18, at the Pegasus Hotel, Kingston, determined that he died of asphyxiation as a result of manual strangulation. But results from toxicology tests are understood to have brought a possible fresh twist to the already complex investigation.

The precise contents of the report are unlikely to be revealed until the inquest into his death, which has been scheduled to begin next Monday, and could last for weeks.

Mark Shields, Jamaica’s Deputy Commissioner ofpolice, said that it would be “totally inappropriate” for him to comment on any toxicology test results, adding: “We have some results back and that will require further analysis and investigation.”

The discovery of poison, if confirmed, would add credibility to theories that Woolmer — who was 6ft 1in (185cm) tall and weighed almost 18 stone (114kg) — was in a weakened state and unable to fight back before he was fatally overpowered by a mystery attacker. It could also suggest that the murder was premeditated, rather than the result of a dispute in the hours after Pakistan’s shock exit from the cricket World Cup three weeks ago.

Woolmer was found slumped in the bathroom of his room on the 12th floor of the Pegasus Hotel, where he was staying with the team.

Officers are working their way through hundreds of investigative tasks and pursuing a number of “priority lines of inquiry”. They have also received tips and information by telephone and e-mail, some from within the cricketing world.

Production of the toxicology report prompted a flurry of discussions on Friday between Mr Shields, Patrick Murphy, the Coroner, and Kent Pantry, QC, the Director of Public Prosecutions. Mr Murphy and Mr Pantry will meet early this week to finalise which witnesses will be required to give live evidence at the inquest. The list is likely to include members of the Pakistan cricket team, who left Jamaica within days of Woolmer’s murder.

Mr Pantry, who will attend the inquest with two of his officers, said that witnesses “will be questioned directly”, ruling out suggestions that some could be allowed to give their testimony by video link.

Closer scrutiny of footage from closed-circuit television cameras in the Pegasus Hotel has been completed in London, by specialists at Scotland Yard.

“I now have some of the results, which are excellent and give us a clearer picture of people’s movements within the Pegasus Hotel and elsewhere,” Mr Shields revealed. “We will get some form of breakthrough and therefore a suspect will emerge.” He added: “Well over 100 witness statements have been taken, officers will be travelling abroad in order to conduct further enquiries and the size of the investigation grows, I would think, day by day.” Two of the four Scotland Yard detectives who travelled to Jamaica two weeks ago to assist the inquiry returned to London on Friday, with the other two due to follow today.

The team, led by Detective Superintendent John Sweeney, of the Specialist Crime Directorate, was drafted in to undertake a review of the investigation in line with standard operating procedure, and will continue to lend support from London. Two Pakistani police officers remain in Kingston, where they are working alongside members of the Jamaican constabulary.

Mr Shields added that he was “surprised and disappointed” by suggestions by Younis Khan, a member of the Pakistan cricket team, that the players had been treated like criminals in the days after Woolmer’s death.

“Nothing could be farther from the truth,” Mr Shields said. “They were treated with dignity and respect.”

Woolmer’s widow, Gill, who lives in South Africa, has been kept abreast of latest developments.