KINGSTON, Jamaica, 24 March 2007 — Police investigating the murder of Pakistan coach Woolmer sought permission yesterday to take DNA samples from Pakistani players, and were not ruling out the killer being someone he knew.
“It is true that anybody who is required to give a witness statement in this incident we are seeking their permission to get fingerprints and DNA samples,” to help eliminate suspects, Jamaican police Deputy Commissioner Mark Shields said in a radio interview.
Medical tests confirmed Woolmer was strangled and, because there was no forced entry or signs of struggle at the scene, police think the coach knew his killer.
Woolmer, 58, showed no signs of life when he was found in his room Sunday by hotel staff and was later declared dead at a hospital, police said.
“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,” Shields said.
Speculation that illegal gamblers had it in for Woolmer escalated after Pakistan team spokesman Pervez Jamil Mir said the coach had been “disturbed” that pages of his book had gone missing. Days before police confirmed it, former Pakistan fast bowler Sarfraz Nawaz claimed that the former England test batsman had been murdered because he was going to expose illegal gamblers in his book.
Pakistan’s World Cup team has asked Jamaican police to allow them to leave the island as soon as possible. “We want to get back to Pakistan as soon as possible and we would like to catch the first available flight but we are waiting for clearance from the police,” Talat Ali said.
