Was Woolmer poisoned?

APR 1 - In a new turn of events, it was reported yesterday that police had found a blood-stained pillow in Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer's hotel room.

But Jamaican police chief Shields has refused to divulge what items police recovered from the scene.

Meanwhile, a British newspaper has claimed that police in Jamaica now believe Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer was poisoned by an ancient drug used by witches in the Middle Ages.

The Sunday Mirror says detectives have ordered new tests on Mr Woolmer's body after an anonymous tip-off that the 58-year-old was killed by aconite, also known as wolfsbane. The drug causes death by asphyxiation and has been used in a series of assassinations in Pakistan. It is common in Pakistan where its poison is known as bikh, bish or nafee. Aconitum ferox, a very toxic species of the plant, grows around the Himalayas and Nepal, says another report.

Toxicologists describe it as the perfect drug to mask a murder. It causes the victim's internal organs to seize and slows down their breathing until it stops. It is a drug given to werewolves to stop them from going mad during a full moon.

Media reports quoting 'Sunday Mirror', say that an anonymous man, thought to be from Pakistan, phoned the police claiming that aconite killed the coach, following which Jamaica's Deputy Commissioner Mark Shields, who is leading the probe, has ordered new tests on Woolmer's body to look for traces of the drug.

"The aconite tip is a major breakthrough and is being taken extremely seriously. The man who called Kingston police station had a Pakistani accent and was very specific about aconite and how it was administered," Shields was quoted as saying by the paper.

"The symptoms Bob suffered before he died are identical to aconite poisoning, which is why it is a major line of inquiry now. It would also explain how such a physically imposing man, at 6ft 1in tall, died without putting up a fight. You'd struggle to get two people into his bathroom let alone three, so it could be no one was there," he added.

Toxicologists say aconite is the "perfect" drug to mask a murder. It also explains why Jamaican pathologist Dr Ere Seshaiah found no marks around his neck to suggest he had been strangled.

Toxicologist Prof John Henry, of St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, London, told the Sunday Mirror that "Woolmer would have felt nauseous after the drug began to work and would have gone to the bathroom to be sick. He wouldn't have realized straightaway how serious his condition was, so it was doubtful he'd have phoned the hotel's reception.

"By the time he realized how ill he was, it would be too late... the drug causes a loss of power in the limbs. Aconite works like cyanide... it makes the skin clammy and hands and feet tingly. It also causes vomiting and diarrhea... all the while the victim's mind remains clear, so it is a cruel death.

"It is the perfect drug to make a murder appear to be a suicide because it leaves no mark on the body. It is difficult to detect in a post-mortem unless it was specifically looked for," he said.

Meanwhile, the 'Mail on Sunday' said Woolmer, who was working on two books, feared harm by bookmakers since the 2000 match-fixing scandal broke.

When a reporter asked him to move to a quieter place like his room for a chat, Woolmer said: "I feel more comfortable in public places."

Asked if he was worried about his safety, he replied: "You don't know how those people (bookmakers) will react" and added that someone might be upset at the news (about match-fixing) and take it out on him.

The paper also said Woolmer in his last interview had claimed to have rejected a 125,000 pounds bribe to fix an international match in Mumbai in 1996 when he was coach of South Africa.

"I've never betted on anything in my life. It was voted out handsomely. The players shoved it aside... what we did not know was that he (then South African captain Hanse Cronje) took money," Woolmer was quoted as saying by the paper.
 

Hotel towel was used to strangle Woolmer

MAR 30 - Cricket coach Bob Woolmer's killer used some sort of fabric - possibly a hotel towel - to strangle him, police said today. Such a method would explain why no marks were found on his neck. Mark Shields, Jamaica’s Deputy Commissioner of Police, also revealed today that police now had “video grabs”, or images, of every person who entered Woolmer’s 12th-floor hotel corridor on the night he was killed.

One of the mysteries of Woolmer’s death, which the Kingston coroner said was caused by “manual strangulation”, was that there were no external marks on his neck, a fact that had led to speculation that he could have died of natural causes.

 Mr Shields, a former Scotland Yard detective, said it was “categorically” a murder investigation, and revealed for the first time the strangulation technique that police suspect was used.

 “If it’s some form of manual strangulation and there are no physical marks on the neck of the victim, therefore there may have been something between the hands of the assailant and the neck of the victim. That is as far as I will go.”

Asked if the killer or killers might have used a towel, he replied: “I say no comment.”

Mr Shields confirmed that when Woolmer’s naked body was found in his room at the Pegasus Hotel in Kingston, “there were towels nearby, there were towels in the room”. (The Australian)

Jamaican police to DNA all hotel guests

MAR 29 - Jamaican police are planning to collect the DNA samples, fingerprints and photographs of every person in the 300-room hotel where Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer was killed earlier this month. Police do not know how many people were in Kingston's Pegasus hotel on the weekend that Woolmer, one of the world's most famous cricket coaches, was strangled but concede it could easily be more than 1,000. Allied to other forensic evidence they hope this will give them the identity of the killer. Meanwhile, Pakistan cricket board officials said they suspect Woolmer died of natural causes and that Jamaican police acted hastily to declare it a murder, Daily Star of UK reported today.

Furious fans taunt returning players

MAR 28 - Angry fans told Pakistani cricketers to "go to hell" as they returned home Wednesday, still reeling from the murder of coach Bob Woolmer and their humiliating World Cup exit. All-rounder Shahid Afridi, spinner Danish Kaneria, wicket keeper Kamran and Akmal and paceman Mohammad Sami were heckled by a crowd of around 100 people after they touched down at Karachi international airport. "Why have you come back?" one fan shouted as the players were protected by dozens of uniformed police, while another supporter bellowed "Go to hell" at Afridi, an AFP reporter said. When Kaneria tried to leave the arrivals lounge the crowd shouted "Shame on you" and he went back inside, before asking for police protection to help him leave, witnesses said. (AFP)

Jamaica police searching for three Pakistani fans

MAR 27 - Jamaican police investigating the murder of Pakistan's cricket coach Bob Woolmer are searching for three of the team's fans who spent a great deal of time with the players, a British newspaper reported in an early edition of its Tuesday paper. The three reportedly were close to the players and appeared with them at press conferences and after matches. The paper said they are believed to have left Jamaica shortly after Woolmer was found dead on March 18.

According to the newspaper, Jamaican police are anxious to speak to the three because of the ready access they had to the team before Woolmer's death, and were not singling them out for special attention. The three are all Pakistanis and were identified by the daily as Hamid Malik, Jundie Khan and Efran Chaudhray.

BBC News quoted police in Jamaica saying they did not think Woolmer's killer was from the local community. But they have not ruled out the involvement of a professional hit-man in the death of the 58-year-old. Deputy police commissioner Mark Shields believes suspects are unlikely to be Jamaican, as firearms or knives are the local "favored weapons", BBC reported.

Enraged Woolmer 'threw bookie out'

MAR 26 - The British newspaper The Guardian has reported that two anonymous Pakistan players allegedly told the Jamaican police that on the evening before his death cricket coach Woolmer supposedly threw a Mumbai bookmaker out of his 12th floor room of the Pegasus Hotel "in a serious fit of rage". However, Rishad Mahmood, sports editor of Pakistan's biggest English newspaper, Dawn, said the main suspicion in Pakistan is that South African bookmakers are behind the murder. Meanwhile, the Jamaican police said on Monday that a study of the video tapes of the security cameras in the hotel have brought them "closer" to solving the murder.

Ireland betting to be probed

MAR 25 - The police chief heading the investigation into the murder of Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer told a British Sunday newspaper that the odds on Ireland beating Pakistan would be probed. Mark Shields, Jamaica's deputy commissioner of police, raised suspicions over generous odds of eight to one being touted for an Irish win in the hours before the Pakistan match, The Observer reported. Shields told The Observer: “One aspect is what were the odds on Ireland if Ireland won. I understand that they were extremely good if you bet on Ireland.

Brian Lara to be questioned in Woolmer case

MAR 25 - West Indies Captain Brian Lara will be questioned in deceased Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer's case according to a report by India's premier news channel 'NDTV'. Lara had been staying in the same hotel where Bob Woolmer was murdered last Sunday. The mystery surrounding his murder by manual strangulation has been taking new turns and twists daily with new developments occurring every single day.

Woolmer was to reveal cricket's dark side

MAR 24 - There are fresh claims that Bob Woolmer had plans to start writing a book after the World Cup that would expose match-fixing. "There was a feeling around that Bob was going to expose something," Barry Richards, one of South Africa's finest Test cricketers and the best man at Woolmer's wedding, told The Daily Telegraph in London. Woolmer was reportedly distressed after hearing of suspicious movements in betting markets in Mumbai a month before the humiliating loss of  the Pakistan team to World Cup minnow Ireland, the Sydney Morning Herald reported today.

Two Pakistani players ordered to stay back in Jamaica

MAR 24 - Jamaican authorities have ordered two of the Pakistani players to stay back while an inquest was conducted, the Indian news agency PTI reported today quoting local media. According to TV Jamaica, the two unnamed Pakistani players have been asked to remain in the country while the rest of the team were free to leave.

Man who frequently visited Woolmer held

MAR 23 - GEO TV channel claimed today that the Jamaican police had already arrested a man in connection with Woolmer's murder by manual strangulation, IBN-live has reported. The report claimed that the person, who was not a native of Jamaica, was in touch with the members of the Pakistan, Sri Lankan and Indian teams. Meanwhile, Geo TV's CEO Hamid Mir told an Indian news channel that the man was a frequent visitor of Woolmer and he was in contact with many members of the Pakistan team.

Police say Woolmer death was 'suspicious'

MAR 21 - Jamaica's deputy police commissioner Mark Shields told AP the death of coach Bob Woolmer was being treated as suspicious. At least 10 forensics experts on Wednesday were examining the hotel room where Woolmer was found unconscious Sunday. A Pakistan team official said there were signs of blood and vomit in the room and Woolmer was found by hotel staff on the floor with his mouth wide open. Woolmer was pronounced dead later Sunday after being transferred to hospital, a day after Pakistan had slumped out of contention at the World Cup on an upset loss to Ireland. Asked directly if Jamaica police were pursuing a murder investigation, Shield said: "No, we are not saying that." PCB told CNN "Can't say Woolmer poisoned."

Bangladesh stars send India crashing

PORT OF SPAIN, MAR 17: Tamim Iqbal and Mashrafe Mortaza turned giant-killers to script Bangladesh’s dream five-wicket victory over India in their opening World Cup match here on Saturday. Left-handed opener Iqbal smashed a rapidfire 51 for his maiden half-century as his team successfully chased a 192-run target. (AFP)

Tendulkar featured as comic superhero

MAR 17 - Sachin Tendulkar is to be featured as a superhero in a new range of comic books, animation and games to hit the stands in UK in June. The character is to be known as "Sachin Tendulkar -- the Master Blaster" and the advanced images released by Virgin Comics shows him dressed as a modern animation action hero. Dressed in a body armor, the superhero wields a flaming cricket bat.  Tendulkar, 33, who begun his cricketing carrier as a curly-haired 16-year-old in 1989, holds the records for most hundreds in tests (35) and one-dayers (41) and most runs in one-day cricket (14,783).

India wary of unpredictable Bangladesh

MAR 17 - Indian skipper Rahul Dravid has said that he and his team-mates have not left any stone unturned and are not taking Bangladesh lightly as the neighbors clash in a group B fixture of the World Cup Cricket today. �In an event like the World Cup, there is no second chance. We respect Bangladesh. We have just seen what they have done to New Zealand. So we know we will have to be switched on for that game. I expect everyone to be switched on for each and every game of the World Cup.� Bangladesh, after their warm-up heroics against New Zealand, are once again banking on 24-year-old Mashrafe Mortaza and 22-year-old Aftab Ahmed. �The team fears no-one now. The team is very confident of beating any side now. The victory against New Zealand has given us confidence and inspiration for this match. Being the favorites, the pressure will be on India,� said Mortaza.

Two cricketers killed in road accident in Khulna

MAR 16 - A day before Bangladesh's World Cup campaign in West Indies, two cricketers, including famed left-arm national cricketer Manjarul Islam Rana, were killed in a road accident in Khulna district Friday. Police said a Khulna-bound microbus rammed a motorcycle coming from opposite direction near Baliakhali Bridge, 380 km southwest of capital Dhaka, at about 4:15 p.m., killing Manjarul Rana on the spot and injuring Sajjadul Hasan Setu critically. Setu, a first class cricketer who played Dhaka and Khulna premier leagues, later died in a local hospital. The Bangladesh national cricket team, now in West Indies, will wear black bands as a mark of respect to the two deceased cricketers in their first match against India in the Cricket World Cup 2007.