Glenroy Sinclair, Assignment Coordinator

There has been a bombshell development in the Bob Woolmer investigation. A group of Scotland Yard investigators, who were asked to assist with the matter, have concluded that the Pakistan Cricket coach died of heart failure.

According to a Sunday Gleaner source in London, a pathology report submitted by the Scotland Yard team is now saying that the former Pakistan cricket coach died of natural causes and not manual strangulation as was initially reported by Deputy Commissioner Mark Shields. The Scotland Yard report specifically said Woolmer died of heart failure, contradicting earlier reports by the investigative arm of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) and local pathologist, Dr. Ere Sheshiah, who had conducted a post-mortem on Woolmers's body.

If the Scotland Yard report is accurate, then DCP Shields, the JCF, and to a larger extent the Jamaican Government, faces a major embarrassment. The credibility of local investigators will also be questioned.

According to Scotland Yard, there was no evidence to suggest that he was murdered, a case which the JCF is yet to prove conclusively. The Sunday Gleaner London source said the Scotland Yard findings were disclosed last week during a meeting with DCP Shields and Superinten-dent Colin Pinnace, who stopped over in London, en route to South Africa.

Last week, a Pakistan news agency reported that two Pakistani sleuths who visited the island and spoke with local investigators, concluded in a report that there was no clear evidence to prove that Mr. Woolmer had been murdered.

No conclusive evidence

According to the news agency, Mire Zubair Maimed and Seed Kale Imam, both of whom travelled to Jamaica to assist in the investigations, informed their Interior Ministry in a 40-page report that Jamaican police were yet to find conclusive evidence that Mr. Woolmer had been strangled.

In defence of their integrity, the local police said they were still sticking by their word that Woolmer died of manual strangulation.

While the JCF awaits further details of the toxicology report, local investigators are yet to point to any suspect(s).

Last month, the Government cancelled a coroner's inquest into Mr. Woolmer's death and returned his body to Cape Town in South Africa, where he had lived with his wife Gill. DCP Shields and Supt. Pinnace will meet with Mrs. Woolmer and other relatives as part of the ongoing investigation.