VARIOUS: Jamaican police say Pakistan's cricket coach Bob Woolmer was murdered

Police in Jamaica say Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer was strangled and they are treating his death as murder. Jamaican police said on Friday (March 23) that Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer, who died last weekend during the Cricket World Cup, had been strangled and his death was being investigated as murder. "The news from Jamaica on Bob's death is devastating. It is very difficult for the family to come to terms with and they have no idea why this happened," Woolmer's manager Michael Cohen said. At a news conference, a police spokesman quoted a pathologist's report as concluding that Woolmer's death on Sunday (March 18) was "due to asphyxiation by manual strangulation". The 58-year-old Briton was found unconscious in his hotel room on Sunday morning and was pronounced dead later in hospital. The previous day, Pakistan were eliminated from the Cricket World Cup by debutants Ireland. Director of Communications for the Jamaican police Karl Angell appealed for anyone with information to come forward. "In these circumstances, the matter of Mr Woolmer's death is being treated as murder," Director of Communications for Jamaican Constabulary Force, Karl Angell said. The death of Woolmer, regarded as one of the best coaches in the world, has overshadowed the World Cup in the Caribbean which lasts for seven weeks and culminates in the final on April 28. Former London police commander John O'Connor said the initial failure by the Jamaican authorities to realise that Woolmer had been strangled might adversely affect their hunt for his killer. British police have volunteered to help with the investigation and retired Metropolitan Police Commissioner Lord Condon is on standby to travel to Jamaica. There was speculation that Woolmer's death might be connected to a "betting mafia" involved in match fixing. Woolmer was coach of South Africa from 1994-99, a period in which their late captain Hansie Cronje was implicated in match-fixing.

ITN Source | March 24, 2007

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