Howard Campbell, Gleaner Writer

BRITISH FORENSIC scientist, John Slaughter, yesterday told the coroner's inquest into the death of Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer that contamination may have caused cypermethrin to be found in a sample of his blood at the Government Forensic Laboratory in Kingston.

"I cannot say for certain but it may have been contaminated. I can't think of any other explanation," Slaughter said under questioning from Director of Public Prosecutions Kent Pantry.

Woolmer, 58, was found unconscious in the bathroom in his room at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel on March 18. He was pronounced dead at the University hospital of the West Indies later that day. On October 25, Government pathologist Dr. Ere Sheshaiah testified that Woolmer died from asphyxia caused by manual strangulation associated with cypermethrin poisoning.

No trace of the pesticide

British forensic scientist, John Slaughter, arrives at the Jamaica Conference Centre for the Bob Woolmer Coroner's Inquest yesterday, where he gave testimony. - Rudolph Brown/Chief Photographer

Slaughter, a senior member at the Forensic Science Service in London, said unlike results from Jamaica and Barbados, he found no trace of the pesticide in a blood sample sent to his laboratory.

He told Mr. Pantry that his team conducted tests on the blood sample on May 4 and got the results on that day. Slaughter said he told Jamaica's Deputy Commissioner of Police Mark Shields, who was in London at the time, of his findings.

Later, during a meeting attended by Shields, Commander David Johnson, Superintendent John Sweeney (both of the Metropolitan Police) and Deputy Superintendent Colin Pinnock, who accompanied Shields to London, Slaughter said he informed Dr. Mowatt of his findings via speaker phone.

"As I recall, she said words to the effect that she would have to check her files. And that's why I agreed to send her a certified analytical standard (an official report)," Slaughter said.

On October 25, Marcia Dunbar, an analyst at the Government Forensic Laboratory, testified that traces of cypermethrin were found in one of three blood samples taken from Woolmer.

She was unable to give a reason why only one of the samples returned positive, but said one of the containers with samples she received from the police had been contaminated.

On Tuesday, Barbadian pathologist Dr. Michael Best testified that he found traces of cypermethrin in a sample of Woolmer's blood.