Pakistan team homeward bound amid murder probe by AFP

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Event:

ICC World Cup 2006/07

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DateLine: 26th March 2007

 

The Jamaica police chief probing the hotel room murder of Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer at the World Cup said in an interview Monday that he let the team fly home to avoid a diplomatic row.

 

Deputy police commissioner Mark Shields told The Times newspaper in London he had no prime suspect in mind but reiterated that Woolmer probably knew his killer.

 

Investigators are poring over security videos from the hotel in Kingston, Jamaica, where Woolmer, 58, and the rest of the Pakistan team were staying at the time.

 

Police say Woolmer was strangled in his room on March 18, a day after World Cup minnows Ireland stunningly knocked Pakistan out of a competition they had won in 1992.

 

The team flew off the island Saturday for a scheduled stopover in London, where they are due to rest before flying home to Pakistan.

 

Holding the players in Jamaica "would have caused a significant diplomatic incident and had an extremely adverse effect on the World Cup," Shields said.

 

He said there would have been an uproar "if I had started holding people against their will."

 

The players have been fingerprinted, DNA-tested and questioned by police, who called in three -- captain Inzamam-ul-Haq, caretaker coach Mushtaq Ahmed and manager Talat Ali -- for further questions before they left.

 

Shields earlier told reporters that investigators were carefully looking at images taken by closed circuit cameras in the Pegasus hotel and were focusing on the 12th floor, where Woolmer was staying.

 

He told The Times that detectives were also looking at door keycard records to monitor the movements of residents: "It's a huge task. But when we do that, we get the time of death."

 

"We have not managed to eliminate anybody," he added.

 

"But we do not have suspicion about one person over another. Murder is not solved in 45 minutes like it is on TV. In reality it's not like that."

 

Shields said he was working with two Pakistani diplomats to ensure anyone who was needed for further questioning could return to Jamaica.

 

Investigators believe Woolmer probably knew his killer or killers as there was no sign of forced entry to his room.

 

A Pakistani diplomat who traveled from Washington to liaise with police in Kingston expressed anger over swirling rumours about the team.

 

"Please don't speculate. The team is traumatised," Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri, the first secretary at the Pakistani embassy in Washington told journalists, adding: "There is no suspect or suspects."

 

Dalawar Chaudhry, who organized the London stopover, said the team were all "very, very down."

 

"I have had a word with all the boys and they have lost someone very near and dear to them. A father figure has been lost ... They haven't been sleeping well. It's been a very emotional time," Chaudhry said.

 

Nagging rumors of match-fixing in connection with Woolmer's death have cast a further shadow over the sport and the World Cup, which officials said had to go on despite the killing.

 

Shields has said match-fixing is one line of inquiry and he has been in touch with Jeff Rees, the chief investigator of the International Cricket Council's anti-corruption unit.

 

Meanwhile the Mirror daily in London cited Pakistan team spokesman Pervez Mir as saying police had asked Inzamam and Ali why they moved rooms off the floor where Woolmer was staying, and asked Ahmed about cuts to his face.

 

Woolmer's body will remain in Jamaica until the conclusion of a coroner's inquest, which authorities said will be held as soon as possible.

 

A former England international, he had coached Pakistan since 2004.

 

Before that, he was coach of South Africa when their former captain Hansie Cronje was bought off by bookmakers in 1996, but he was never alleged to have been involved himself.

(Article: Copyright © 2007 AFP)