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To: FostersExport; BaBaStooey

Things seem to get more ugly by the hour.....


http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21425151-601,00.html

Police found marks on Woolmer's throat
Jon Pierik and Robert Craddock, St Kitts
March 22, 2007

POLICE are investigating whether former Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer was murdered after an autopsy revealed suspicious marks on his throat.
Woolmer, 58, was found unconscious and lying in his hotel bathroom near pools of blood, vomit and faeces on Sunday, less than 24 hours after Pakistan's shock World Cup loss to debutants Ireland.
That there was vomit in unusually high places on the walls indicated to police the former English Test batsman may have been involved in a struggle and, if so, may have known his assailant, given there was no evidence the door to his room had been tampered with.

Jamaican police will interview all members of Pakistan's World Cup squad as part of the murder investigation.

Investigators have also begun to trawl through security tapes from the Pegasus Hotel in Jamaica where the team is staying, with claims last night Woolmer was about to reveal the shady world of match-fixing in a new book called Discovering Cricket.
Former Pakistan fast bowler Sarfraz Nawaz suggested that Woolmer may have been murdered by a betting syndicate.

"Has Woolmer carried with him to the grave dark secrets that could have brought ruin upon Pakistan's players?" he said. "Did he pay for being the unwitting receptacle of information that was never to be shared?"

Nawaz claimed that at least five bookies from Pakistan had landed in the West Indies when the World Cup began and had been in touch with Pakistani players.

Jamaican police have made it clear no one is above suspicion but Pakistani officials insist the team will still head home from the World Cup on Saturday.

Deputy Police Commissioner Mark Shields confirmed a murder investigation was under way.

"We have already informed the Woolmer family of these developments," he said. "Having met with the pathologists, our medical personnel and investigators, there is now sufficient information to continue a full investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of Mr Woolmer, which we are now treating as suspicious."

It has been revealed there were two marks on Woolmer's throat.

The 58-year-old ordered room service after returning to the hotel on Saturday night. He was found by a maid who called an ambulance, but he was pronounced dead soon after arriving at hospital.

The room in which he collapsed remains sealed off by police as investigators search for clues.

Hotel staff were last night banned from talking about the incident, which has left players questioning whether the World Cup should continue.

"There are many conspiracy theories," Pakistan media manager Perves Mir said. "The police are definitely treating it as suspicious. We cannot believe what has happened."

Early reports suggesting Woolmer was a diabetic have been proved false. Woolmer's wife Gill told CNN that her husband had not complained of any chest pain after the match.

Suspicions of foul play were raised early yesterday when drug and fingerprint experts were called in after the initial post-mortem failed to determine the cause of death.

Investigators called in a toxicologist and a histologist - a scientist who examines body tissue.

Pakistan, which cannot make the Super Eight phase, played its final match overnight against Zimbabwe. Team manager Talat Ali denied suggestions his squad would not be allowed to head home on Saturday.


14 posted on 03/21/2007 8:10:47 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
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To: sukhoi-30mki

Pakistan play Zimbabwe today.


15 posted on 03/21/2007 8:54:34 AM PDT by BaBaStooey (I heart Emma Caulfield.)
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To: sukhoi-30mki

Interesting info.. but I think his wife issued a statement that it wasnt a murder ?


19 posted on 03/22/2007 1:03:26 AM PDT by design engineer
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