Quote:Police deny Woolmer arrests

By staff writers and wires
March 23, 2007

JAMIACAN police tonight refuted reports from the sub-continent that any arrests had been made in the Bob Woolmer murder case.

Reports from New Delhi Television suggested a non-Jamaican national was being held and that police had confiscated his telephone.

But the island's deputy commissioner Mark Shields today categorically refuted the report, saying on BBC Radio Five Live: "I don't know where that's come from. That's nonsense, as far as I'm concerned. There's actually no truth in that.

"I can unequivocally dismiss that, unless someone's given themselves up in India and we don't know about it, but I think that's highly unlikely."

Shields revealed there was no sign of forced entry into the Pakistan coach's hotel room, where he was found unconscious on Monday (AEDT), the day after his side's shock World Cup elimination after defeat to Ireland.

"That's one of the interesting facts of the case. There's no sign of any forced entry at all," Shields said.

"In fact, all of Bob's possessions, as far as we can see, were intact."

The claim in the reports from India that pages had been taken from Woolmer's soon-to-be-released autobiography also now appear to be wildly inaccurate.

Shields said it was "difficult to believe" Woolmer's killer or killers were complete strangers to him.

He said: "It's imperative that we keep an open mind, but I have to say at this stage it looks as if it may be somebody somehow linked to him because clearly he let somebody into his hotel room and it may be that he knew who that person was."

Chief of Geo TV Hamid Mir, speaking to Ndtv, had started the arrest rumours.

Woolmer, 58, was found unconscious by staff at the Pegasus Hotel in Kingston on Monday (AEDT), the day after Pakistan's shock defeat to Ireland in the World Cup, and taken to hospital where he later died.

Police revealed on Wednesday (AEDT) that they were treating the former England batsman's death as "suspicious".

He had been found in his room with vomit and blood spattered around the walls.

Police initially stopped short of saying that he had been murdered but, at a press conference today, Shields revealed Woolmer's death "was due to asphyxia as a result of manual strangulation".

Meanwhile, other Indian media reported today that Woolmer had made a set of recommendations to former Pakistan Cricket Board chief Shahryar Khan to aid the PCB's fight against match-fixing.

However, those suggestions were not implemented.

Woolmer had reportedly urged the PCB to stop players from associating with known bookies or people who were convicted of match-fixing and similar offences, because his team members had to be of impeccable character to be trusted.

He also urged a zero-tolerance approach to anyone caught associating with dodgy figures in the match-fixing world.

Woolmer also recommended that all players be forbidden from using mobile phones during a match, the report continued, and any calls that had to be made should go through the team manager.

With Press Assocation