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KINGSTON, Jamaica - Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer's death is "still considered suspicious", Jamaican police deputy commissioner Mark Shields said today.
"There has been no change in status. It is still considered suspicious. We hope to get the pathologist's report later today and then we can make a formal statement later today," he said.
Police had been questioning the entire Pakistan cricket team and staff about Woolmer's death, which followed the team's shock defeat to Ireland in the World Cup.
But this morning, Mr Shields said: "We do not have any suspects. The Pakistan team are free to leave."
Mr Woolmer found unconscious by staff at the Pegasus Hotel in Kingston on Sunday morning, the day after Pakistan's defeat, and taken to hospital where he died.
The 58-year-old ex England cricketer was said to have had a fractured bone in his neck - an injury often found in victims of strangulation, police sources said.
His death has lead to fervent speculation and rumour that he was murdered.
An unconfirmed report claimed that the Jamaican police were preparing to open a murder inquiry into the incident.
But the Jamaican authorities said they were still awaiting the outcome of a second post mortem.
Earlier Mr Woolmer's widow Gill said she had not ruled out the possibility that he was murdered, and rejected the possibility of suicide.
The suggestion of foul play is partly supported by new medical evidence that Mr Woolmer had a fractured bone in his neck, police sources have confirmed.
The injury is often found in people who have been strangled, although it could have been caused by someone collapsing after a heart attack.
A police source said that initial results revealed that "he had a fractured bone in the his neck which is consistent with strangling, but equally an injury like that could have been caused by someone falling to the ground."
Channel 4 News yesterday reported that it had been told by a senior Jamaican policeman that Mr Woolmer may have been murdered.
The source was quoted as saying: "We're having to be very careful to avoid looking silly, but we will soon announce that there is to be a murder investigation and there will be an appeal for witnesses."
Carl Angel, a spokesman for Jamaica police, said: "We are still awaiting an official report from the Jamaican pathologist."
He added: "We made it very clear in our statement on Tuesday that we are treating this as a suspicious death and suspicious means that we rule out nothing."
The rumours of murder were fuelled by allegations from Sarfraz Nawaz, a former Pakistani fast-bowler, who claimed that Mr Woolmer was killed to stop him blowing the whistle on match-fixing.
Cricket sources said that although there are rumours that a small number of players are starting to rig results again for bookmakers, no-one believes that the former England all rounder was involved.
Friends have also dismissed the idea that Mr Woolmer could have taken his own life.
He was about to stand down as the coach of Pakistan and planned to write a cricket book and update his autobiography.
Earlier Gill Woolmer, the wife of the dead man, commenting on the possibility that her husband was murdered, said: "I suppose there is always the possibility.
"I mean, some of the cricketing fraternity, fans, are extremely volatile and passionate about the game and what happens in the game, and also a lot of it in Asia, so I suppose there is always the possibility that it could be that."
She added: "It fills me with horror. I just can't believe that people could behave like that or that anyone would want to harm someone who has done such a great service to international cricket."
She said he had been very down after the Irish defeat but categorically ruled out suicide.
Mrs Woolmer said she had been given "some indication" of why police thought her husband's death was suspicious but did not reveal what it was.
"The second pathologist's test should be available and as soon as we get that, the investigation will be winding down and they will be able to send his body back to South Africa," she said.
The Metropolitan Police said yesterday that they had not yet been asked for help in investigating the case, but were ready to assist if asked.
Jamaica's deputy police commissioner Mark Shields, who announced that the death was being treated as suspicious, is a former Scotland Yard officer with expertise in kidnap cases.
- INDEPENDENT
