One week after Woolmer murder, Jamaica searches for clues but clears team by AFP

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Event:

ICC World Cup 2006/07

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DateLine: 25th March 2007

 

One week after the murder of Pakistan's cricket coach Bob Woolmer, Jamaican police Sunday struggled to find clues but cleared the team, who were on a London stopover on their way home.

 

"The fact is everybody is free to go unless we have a reasonable suspicion in the murder," Jamaica's deputy police commissioner Mark Shields told journalists on Sunday, one day after the team left the island.

 

Investigators believe Woolmer probably knew his killer, or killers, as there was no sign of forced entry in the Kingston hotel room where the 58-year-old coach was found unconscious on March 18. Police said he was strangled to death.

 

But authorities declared the Pakistani team in the clear, at least for the time being.

 

"There is nothing to suggest any of them is a suspect at this stage," Shields said, stressing that team members were "100 percent cooperative throughout."

 

Investigators did question three members of the team for a second time just before the players flew to London. Police earlier interviewed all members of the team and took DNA samples and fingerprints.

 

"They clarified a number of points," Shields said on Saturday after captain Inzamam-ul-Haq, caretaker coach Mushtaq Ahmed and manager Talat Ali were questioned.

 

The officer also dismissed claims the players had been involved in a row with Woolmer after their defeat to Ireland on the eve of the killing.

 

"As far as I'm aware at the moment, the players and officials were very subdued and there was no heated exchange," he said.

 

A Pakistani diplomat who traveled from Washington to liaise with police in Kingston expressed anger over swirling rumours about the team.

 

"Please don't speculate. The team is traumatized," Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri, the first secretary at the Pakistani embassy in Washington told journalists on Sunday, adding: "There is no suspect or suspects."

 

Shattered by the murder of their coach, and reeling from the loss to minnows Ireland that knocked them out of the World Cup, the team players and officials were in London on a stopover organized to give them time for reflection before they return home.

 

"All of the camp are were very, very down," said Dalawar Chaudhry, who is employed to cater to the team in Britain.

 

"I have had a word with all the boys and they have lost someone very near and dear to them. A father figure has been lost ... They haven't been sleeping well. It's been a very emotional time," Chaudhry said.

 

Nagging rumours of match-fixing in connection with Woolmer's death have cast a further shadow over the sport and the World Cup, which officials insisted had to go on despite the killing.

 

"Of course it's one of our lines of inquiry," Shields said of the speculation the criminal gangs may have been involved in the murder, either because Woolmer was about to expose the extent of the match-fixing practice in a forthcoming book or because of sums lost by Ireland's win.

 

Shields, who leads the investigation took up the issue with Jeff Rees, the chief investigator of the International Cricket Council's anti-corruption unit, who is currently in Kingston.

 

The police officer separately told the London-based Observer newspaper: "One aspect is, what were the odds on Ireland if Ireland won? I understand that they were extremely good if you bet on Ireland."

 

He made it clear police had no hard leads and made no arrests.

 

Investigators were reviewing extensive footage taken by closed circuit TV cameras at the hotel where Shields was killed, focusing on images from the 12th floor, where the coach was staying.

 

Woolmer's body will remain on the island until the conclusion of a coroner's inquest, which authorities said will be held as soon as possible.

 

A former England international, Woolmer had coached the Pakistan team since 2004.

 

Before that, he was coach of South Africa when their former captain Hansie Cronje was bought off by bookmakers in 1996, but was never alleged to have been involved himself.

(Article: Copyright © 2007 AFP)