Police analysing Woolmer toxicology test results

Police investigating the murder of Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer at the Cricket World Cup have received the results of toxicology tests, the chief investigator said today.

''We do have results from toxicology now but they will require further investigation and analysis and therefore it would be totally inappropriate for me to elaborate any further than that at this time,'' deputy police commissioner Mark Shields told a news conference.

''If I am asked any question about it, I will not answer those questions. All I will say is that we have some results back and it will require further analysis and investigation.'' There had been media speculation that Woolmer was poisoned before his death.

Shields, who is leading the investigation, said that 30 police officers were working full time to crack the case, which has cast a pall over the first World Cup in the Caribbean.

FOUND LIFELESS Woolmer, 58, was found lifeless in his Kingston hotel room on March 18. He was later pronounced dead in hospital.

Police later revealed that they were treating his death as murder caused by strangulation.

Speculation was rife that Woolmer's death was connected to Pakistan's first-round exit from the World Cup. He watched the 1992 champions' elimination from the tournament after losing to debutants Ireland the day before his death.

Shields said that two of four detectives from the London Metropolitan Police force had already left Jamaica, after making several recommendations on how to investigate the case.

''The review headed by detective superintendent John Sweeney was done to ensure that we are doing everything that we could be doing in order to establish who murdered Bob Woolmer,'' Shields said.

''The Metropolitan Police have made a number of recommendations which I am very pleased to receive. There was nothing dramatic in that process. It was very much a support function.

''The closed circuit television footage from the Pegasus hotel (where Woolmer was staying) and other places have been transported to New Scotland Yard, where that work is ongoing.

''I now have some of the results which are excellent and give us a clearer picture of people's movements within the Pegasus hotel and elsewhere. Other work will be ongoing in order to support this investigation,'' Shields said.

A coroner's inquest will be held into Woolmer's death before his body is released to his family in South Africa where he lived. The inquest will start in Kingston on April 23.

The seven-week World Cup culminates on April 28 with the final in Barbados.

REUTERS PDS RAI2313

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