Woolmer case ends with no match-fixing, no poison, no killers - and no resignations

· Pakistan cricket coach died from natural causes
· Pathologist's initial report incorrect, police admit

Sandra Laville and Omar Waraich
Wednesday June 13, 2007
The Guardian

The case of the cricket coach, the hotel room and the broken hyoid bone finally ended yesterday with the prosaic admission by the Jamaican police that Bob Woolmer was not murdered.All talk of match-fixing, poison, and killers waiting in the shadows was dismissed by Lucius Thomas, the Jamaican police commissioner, and Mark Shields, the British police officer who is his deputy.

After three months, acres of newsprint and rampant speculation, Mr Thomas announced that Woolmer, an overweight man in his 60s with diabetes and heart problems, had suffered what perhaps was always a far more likely fate: death by natural causes.

But none of the men responsible for launching the costly murder inquiry, involving scores of police officers taking hundreds of statements, DNA samples and fingerprints, resigned from their posts yesterday. Neither Mr Thomas nor Mr Shields would concede that the affair had been embarrassing for the Jamaican police service. "I don't know what is embarrassing about it," said Mr Thomas.But Inzamam-ul-Haq, the Pakistan cricket captain during the World Cup, condemned the Jamaican police's handling of Woolmer's death. Inzamam, who was questioned at length by the police investigating what they thought was murder, told the Guardian: "We were convinced from the start that it was a natural death.

I feel that the Jamaican police and the doctors misrepresented the investigation. At an international level in cricket this should never have happened.
"It's not a matter of me wanting an apology. Nothing could diminish the tension and hassle I suffered."

Mr Woolmer was found dead in his hotel room by a chambermaid on March 18, the day after his team were knocked out of the cricket World Cup by Ireland in the biggest shock of the tournament's history.

Mr Shields, the former Met officer who led the inquiry, said it was not the police's job to publicly second-guess the written findings of a pathologist, in this case that of Dr Ere Seshaiah, the government pathologist who stated that Woolmer had been strangled on the evidence that the hyoid bone in his neck was broken.
Mr Shields admitted that it was he who had stated early on he was "100% sure" that Woolmer had been murdered because there was evidence in the hotel room pointing to that conclusion. But he said that was no reason for him to step down.

"I would ask why?" he said. "We conducted a thorough, professional investigation. We were given facts in the beginning which we took at face value. We had to conduct an investigation. We cannot publicly second-guess a pathologist and his opinion, our job is to investigate."

Asked to account for his comments about the compelling evidence in the room, he said he was referring to a pillow in the room which could have been used during the strangulation and would have accounted for the fact there were no marks on Woolmer's neck. Other evidence found included a pool of vomit.

Mr Shields said the fact that the Jamaican police set up a review by Met officers and called in second and third opinions from the British Home Office pathologist Dr Nat Carey and two other experts showed they were being thorough.

Although the pathologists involved did not conduct a second postmortem examination, digital photographs and X-rays of the first analysis and the hyoid bone in question were sent to Dr Carey and the other experts. "They all formed the opinion that the bone was not fractured," Mr Shields said. "We have stated today that his [Dr Seshaiah's] report was incorrect."

Asked if it would not have been better to keep the initial findings private until further investigations were made, he said in an ideal world that might have been so. "But I had to consider the circumstances ... every step of the inquiry became the subject of media speculation."

The decision to reveal the findings of the pathologist's report was a "collective" one. He added that withholding the information would undoubtedly have led to accusations of a cover-up.

Mr Thomas said his officers had investigated allegations that match-fixing had been at play, and found no evidence. There was also no evidence that Mr Woolmer had been poisoned. After releasing Dr Seshaiah's findings - that Mr Woolmer had been asphyxiated by strangulation - police launched a murder inquiry. But behind the scenes they sent the results to Dr Carey in the UK, and two other experts, one in South Africa and one in Canada, all of whom disputed the findings and said the death was as a result of natural causes. The last expert gave their findings last week. Dr Seshaiah was not available for comment last night. An aide in his office in Kingston said: "Dr Seshaiah is not here, he is carrying out a postmortem at the moment. We don't know whether he wants to say anything or not."

Neither Mr Shields nor Mr Thomas would comment on Dr Seshaiah's credibility. They referred all questions to Gilbert Scott, permanent secretary in Jamaica's department for national security. Mr Scott was contacted but made no comment.
In South Africa, Mr Woolmer's wife, Gill, and her two sons, said they were relieved to learn that no foul play had been involved. Mrs Woolmer thanked the Jamaican police and Mr Shields in person for the way they had treated her family and asked to be allowed to grieve.

Additional reporting by Ross Sheil in Kingston

Timeline: The murder that wasn't
March 17: Ireland beat Pakistan in Jamaica. Bob Woolmer tells a press conference: "I'd like to sleep on my future as coach of Pakistan."
March 18: Early in the morning Woolmer emails his wife in Cape Town. 10.45am: Woolmer is found unconscious in his hotel room by a chambermaid. Midday: Woolmer is pronounced dead
March 19: First post mortem results inconclusive. Police say they are treating the death as suspicious
March 22: Jamaican police question and fingerprint every member of the Pakistan squad as reports that a broken bone has been found in Woolmer's neck. Jamaican police commissioner says tests showed the cause of death as asphyxia as a result of strangulation
March 23: Speculation that Woolmer was involved in match fixing
March 31: Jamaican police accept an offer of help from the UK police
April 3: UK officers and a senior British pathologist arrive in Jamaica
April 29: BBC's Panorama programme claims Woolmer was poisoned as well as strangled
May 4: Woolmer's remains are cremated in South Africa
May 15: Dr Nat Carey, a British Home Office pathologist concludes that Woolmer died of heart failure
June 4: Jamaican police say they are awaiting the results of a third pathology report into Woolmer's death
June 12: Jamaican police announce Woolmer was not murdered

The pathologist should be embarassed, but the police shouldn't have to apologise for acting on information provided by so-called medical experts. I actually think the focus on the police is unfair because how are they supposed to know the real cause of death, not as if PCs here go around doing post mortems.

Also, regardless of what match fixing goes on, the Pakistani team are owed an apology because going from being accused to cheating in a game to becoming murder suspect must have been difficult for them.

I do think the press's spin on this is interesting. In reality an old man with health problems had a heart attack that was misdiagnosed but the main focus has been first cheating/murdering Pakistanis and now inocompotent Jamaicans.

I don't really think Jamaica is a laughing stock. Yes mistakes were made but the media is responsible for some of this. What I mean by this is that I'm sure across the world coroners make the wrong diagnosis only for it to be changed by a second or third opinion. The reason this one was different was because the whole world press were there demanding updates every 30 seconds and sensationalising everything. This must have affected the judgements of the police and made thecoroners rush to find answers to feed to the hungry press.

Gone are the days when the police could just quietly go about their business and get the results done, now they have to be constantly feeding info to journalists who need something to fill 24 hour news. Look what they did in the Madeliene mcCann case. They hung the Portugese police out to dry because they weren't telling them everything they know all the time, this kind ofharrassment leads to mistakes and means that potentially innocent people like that Robert Murat end up being arrested and have their lives ruined. If the media weren't there, the coroners could have had time to do a proper examination and agree on the autcomes behind closed doors then we would have eventually found out that he died of natural causes and this circus would never have happened.

Should have been given to Scotland Yard as soon as it happened

....but didn't Mark Shields come from Scotland Yard? The Brits love to criticise the failures of other countries police from Jamaica to Portugal. Forces who don't have the funds our equipment that they do. However, even in the UK which probably has the most advanced police force in the world, there have been appalling failures and mis-carriages of justice. I'm not having a go at anyone but I do feel the reporting of the Jamaican and Portugal police forces recently by the UK pres has been rather snidy and patronising. Their countries don't have world class coroners, multi-million pound offices and access to million pound databases so its understandable if they take a little longer to get the result. If the presswould havelet the authorities of those countriesget on with their jobsin private rather thanexpecting them to be 24hr press liaison people who are sweating because the eyes of the expectant worldare onthem, then they may have been thorough and got theright result.The police and coroner made mistakes but theworld media, especially the Uk media, should take some of the blame, especially for the way they practically accused the Pakistani cricket team of murder. I mainly feel sorry for his family whokept receiving conflicting information.

We should stop sending for these white boys to govern us in basic fundementals. Sending for Mark shields ( a white/ British officer who has no cultural experince of Jamaica ) to solve the crime problem smacks of colonial/slave mentality. I dont blame him for taking the job however. He must be on a nice little number.

As for the case I agree with babygirl in that there was a circus surrounding the whole story and people under political pressure will make mistakes or decisions to appease who they need to.

Send for Scotland yard. KMT.

Its about lesser of two evils (for want of a better phrase)

Its not about Scotland Yard being the 'Saviours from the West'. They are far from perfect

From when I saw that pathologist with white sqaw terrorising his two mouth corners..I said he looks too excited.

some funny business going on here again. looks to me like somebody is trying to protect their back at the expence of the Jamaican police force.

its just currupt international politics playing out as normal, Its pretty plain the guy was murdered...