Police Probe Woolmer 'Hit'

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Woolmer - possible professional 'hit'.

By PA Sport staff

Police investigating the murder of Bob Woolmer are not ruling out the possibility he was the victim of a professional hit.

Rumours continue to abound about the circumstances surrounding the Pakistan coach's death at the Pegasus Hotel in Kingston, Jamaica eight days ago.

Much of the speculation centres on whether the 58-year-old's killer or killers had links to a gambling cartel involved in the fixing of cricket matches.

The man leading the investigation, Deputy Commissioner Mark Shields, refused to rule out suggestions a hitman may have been responsible.

"I rule absolutely nothing out at all. It's a possibility," Shields told Sky News.

Shields confirmed that the General Manager of the International Cricket Council's Anti-Corruption Unit is investigating any possible links between the murder and match-fixing.

"The match-fixing aspect of this is being carefully handled," Shields said.

"Jeff Rees from the ICC is here at the moment, from the Anti-Corruption Unit. He's going to assist us. I promised him a couple of officers to work along with him.

"He and his team have the expertise. We have to tap into that to see if there's anything within their world of corruption that may have some impact on Bob's death."

Shields also believes it is "highly unlikely" the people they are looking for are Jamaican nationals.

He said: "The fact that it's manual strangulation and asphyxiation doesn't lead to the profile of somebody locally, where you tend to find firearms or knives as the favoured weapons.

"You can never dismiss anything, but at the moment it seems highly unlikely a Jamaican has walked off the street, gone up to the 12th floor in a secure lift, gone along to his room, got into his room without any sign of forced entry, murdered him and then not stolen anything at all."

Shields insists he is "optimistic" of bringing Woolmer's killers to justice but admitted the crime could take years to solve.

He said: "There is no doubt at all that we will get to the bottom of this.

"That may take two days. It may take two years, I do not know. I think it would inappropriate to talk about timelines."

Police are currently studying CCTV footage and electronic keycard and telephone records from the hotel in a bid to identify potential suspects.

"The CCTV's absolutely critical," Shields said.

"The keycards aspect is also critical. There were 17 floors with about 20 rooms per floor. There's a lot of comings and goings there.

"There's also a lot of internal telephone calls as well, all of which may be relevant."

Woolmer was murdered the day after Pakistan suffered World Cup elimination at the hands of Ireland, a huge upset that has only fuelled theories match-fixing may have been involved.

But Pakistan legend Imran Khan has rejected any suggestion the team would have thrown the game.

"I would say the chances of that are definitely zero," he said on Sky Sports News.

"In the '90s there was so much scrutiny of the cricket team.

"The players went through hell because each time they used to lose, the public would blame them for match-fixing.

"If there's any match-fixing now, it's not throwing matches, it's probably more when players are involved in spread-betting, which is probably more difficult to catch."

Imran also cast doubt over whether match-fixing was a motive for Woolmer's murder, saying: "Why now, where there has not been much talk of match-fixing in the past five or six years, would someone want to kill Bob Woolmer?"

Meanwhile, the Pakistan squad have revealed their frustration at being "kept in the dark" over developments in the murder investigation.

The team continued their brief stay in London today at a Holiday Inn just off the M4, ahead of their planned flight home to Lahore.

Team spokesman Pervez Mir was scathing about the lack of communication between those conducting the investigation in the Caribbean and the team's management.

He said: "We assisted in whatever way they [the Jamaican police] wanted, but we need an official statement from their office, to notify us officially as to what were the causes of Mr Woolmer's death, because we heard on TV that he was murdered, but we've not been officially told, and we need to know the reasons for his death."

Mir said he had left a message on the phone of Shields last night "because my chairman wants to know - my board wants to know - what's going on as far as the investigation is concerned, and what the Jamaican police are doing to catch the killers of Mr Woolmer".

Mir poured scorn on links between Woolmer's death and match-fixing.

He said: "When a man has been murdered, to divert a murder inquiry into a match-fixing inquiry, that's not fair, because we have to find the killers, then we will know what's happened."

Mir also dismissed suggestions relations between Woolmer and Pakistan captain Inzamam ul-Haq had been "strained".

"The relationship between the two was wonderful," he said.

"There will be a video released showing how good he [Woolmer] was with the boys."

Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Nasim Ashraf also revealed he received an email from Woolmer in the hours before his murder confirming his retirement from international cricket coaching.

Ashraf told Sky News: "It was the email of a man who had been deeply hurt. He said that the boys gave it their best to the last minute."