Police Still Reviewing Video As Pakistan Stops Over in London

By STEVENSON JACOBS

KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) – Jamaican police need more time to analyze security video at the hotel where Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer was murdered because of the cameras’ limited scope of vision, deputy police commissioner Mark Shields said Sunday.

At a news conference here the morning after the Pakistan squad left for Lahore via London, Shields said police were still reviewing closed circuit video of the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel, including the 12th floor – where Woolmer’s body was found a week ago following his team’s humiliating first-round loss to Ireland.

“It’s critically important because it may give us an image of the killer or killers,” Shields told reporters in the hotel lobby.

Woolmer was found dead in the bathroom of his room. Police say there was no sign of forced entry, suggesting the 58-year-old Englishman likely knew who killed him. They have not identified any suspects.

Shields, a former Scotland Yard investigator, said the video only shows the corridors at the end of Woolmer’s floor – not the door to his room or others.

“Unfortunately it doesn’t show the doors … but at least it will give us a good indication of who went on those floors,” he said.

Pakistan’s team was allowed to leave the island late Saturday, hours after three members of the delegation – including captain Inzamam-ul-Haq – were re-questioned by police.

Shields defended the decision to allow them to leave but conceded the absence of players and other potential witnesses could complicate the investigation.

“Of course it makes it more difficult,” he said. “This is an extraordinary investigation in that many of the potential witnesses are leaving the island … The fact that people have left Jamaica doesn’t mean the inquiry stops.”

Shields said he planned to meet with Pakistani diplomats who have recently arrived in Jamaica and to show them the murder scene. The coach’s body will stay in Jamaica pending a coroner’s inquest.

The questioning of the three squad members came shortly before most of the team departed the Caribbean island. Pakistan Cricket Board operations manager Asad Mustafa and trainer Murray Stevenson stayed in Jamaica to look after Woolmer’s interests.

“They have answered any ambiguities and unanswered questions,” said Shields, adding it was just routine.

Pakistani diplomat Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri, who was dispatched to Jamaica from Pakistan’s Embassy in Washington to assist investigators, said the “traumatized” cricket side was prepared to travel home.

“The team is free,” he said.

Speculation within the global cricket fraternity has focused on everyone from crazed fans to a gambling Mafia and disgruntled Pakistani team members.

A writer co-authoring a book with Woolmer has denied a claim by former Pakistan fast bowler Sarfraz Nawaz that Woolmer, a former player for England and coach for South Africa, was killed because he was writing a book that would expose illegal gambling in the sport.

Ivo Tennant was the co-author of the coach’s autobiography and its planned sequel.

“I can state that he had no intention of writing or publicizing any such detail in either this or his book on coaching and sports science, which will be published in June,” Tennant wrote in The Times of London.