Coach Woolmer 'was not murdered'

[Hatebreed]

Coach Woolmer 'was not murdered'

There have been a host of theories surrounding Mr Woolmer's death

Scotland Yard detectives have told Jamaican police that the former Pakistan cricket coach, Bob Woolmer, was not murdered, the BBC understands.

The apparent verdict follows work by a UK Home Office pathologist, who flew to Jamaica to probe Mr Woolmer's death.

Bob Woolmer's widow Gill said she had heard nothing new from the Jamaican police about her husband's death.

Mr Woolmer was found dead in his hotel in Jamaica on 18 March after Pakistan's first-round exit from the World Cup.

Days later Mark Shields, Jamaica's deputy police commissioner, announced at a news conference that the 58-year-old former England Test cricketer had been murdered.

But a UK newspaper has reported that Jamaican police are to announce that Mr Woolmer died of natural causes.

According to the Daily Mail, police in Kingston now believe Mr Woolmer died of natural causes, brought on by chronic ill-health and possibly diabetes.

Former Pakistan player Asif Iqbal has criticised the Jamaican police investigation.

"When they said it was suspicious, after that it should have been dealt with in a normal way instead of being a Hollywood, or Bollywood kind of investigation," he told the BBC.

"Every day there were different stories in the newspaper, every day there was a different way of his being murdered. I think they made a mess of it to be very honest."

There has been no confirmation of the report.

In May, several other reports suggested Mr Woolmer was not murdered, often citing sources close to the investigation.

One member of Jamaica's Labour Party said the case had become a "global embarrassment" for the country's police force.

BBC