Jamaican Police Seek Dna Samples From Pakistan Team

Jamaican police investigating the murder of Bob Woolmer, the coach of the Pakistan cricket team, were today seeking permission to take DNA samples from players to eliminate them from their enquiries.

"It is true that, for anybody who is required to give a witness statement in this incident, we are seeking their permission to get fingerprints and DNA samples," the deputy commissioner of the Jamaican police, Mark Shields, said in a radio interview.

The cricket World Cup, currently taking place in the West Indies, was shaken last night after police said their enquiries into Woolmer's death on Sunday, shortly after the Pakistan team were knocked out of the tournament, had now become a murder hunt.

The 58-year-old former England Test player was strangled in his hotel room in Kingston by one or more killers in circumstances investigators described as "extraordinary and evil".

The official pathologist's report following a postmortem examination gave the cause of death as asphyxia as a result of manual strangulation.

Despite the ongoing investigation, there was no question of the Pakistan team being detained or prevented from leaving Jamaica, its media spokesman said today.

"It has never been the case that we have been detained or will be detained or anything of that sort," PJ Mir told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. "We went through the usual questioning by the police, which the police have done to all the other sides and all the guests at the hotel. The question never arose that the Pakistan team might be detained."

The team were not quizzed about rumours of possible match fixing, one motive raised in connection with Woolmer's killing, Mr Mir added.

The result throws the world of international cricket into its greatest crisis in recent memory, though the International Cricket Council (ICC) has vowed to press on with the World Cup.

"This is not the first time that tragedy has visited a sporting event but what we must all do now is to show how resolute the game is by proving ourselves strong enough to move on from what has happened," the ICC chief executive, Malcolm Speed, said.

"The best way to do that is for the teams that remain in the tournament to play out a great World Cup, something that will help put the smile back on the face of our great sport.

"By doing that we will demonstrate that cricket cannot be put off by a cowardly criminal act."

However, the former South African player Alan Donald, who played under Woolmer while he was coach of South Africa, said the tournament should be called off. "I just don't know how this World Cup can continue under the shadow of what's happened," he told BBC Radio Five Live

"My personal opinion would have been to stop, yes. But, knowing Bob, he would have wanted this to go ahead," he said.

The anti-corruption unit of the ICC has already been brought into the investigation and Paul Condon, the former commissioner of the Metropolitan police who is leading the unit, is on standby to fly to Jamaica to assist.

Woolmer was found in his room at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel by a maid at 10.45am on Sunday. He was believed to have gone to his room at about 8.30 the previous night, and could have been killed at any time between those hours, though Mr Shields said it was more likely to have been in the latter period.

There was no sign of forced entry to the room, he said, and none of Woolmer's possessions had been disturbed or taken. Nor were there visible signs of strangulation on his body, which explained why it took several days to get a positive conclusion from the postmortem examination.

Asked about the brutality of the killing, Mr Shields said: "Bob was a large man, therefore it would have taken some considerable force to subdue him and cause strangulation."

There was "very little" evidence of any struggle, he added, though there were signs of vomiting in the bathroom. Police are still waiting for the results of toxicology and tissue sample tests, which might reveal whether any drugs or poisons were involved.

The hotel was full on Sunday and swarming with guests, staff and visitors, and police are confident somebody will have seen Woolmer in the lift or walking down the corridor to his room 374, on the 12th floor, in the company of one or more others.

The investigation has already focused on electronic information, with CCTV footage being seized from the hotel and Woolmer's mobile phone, hotel phone and computer traffic being analysed.

Officers spent much of yesterday morning interviewing all the players and managers of the Pakistan team, who were individually debriefed and had their fingerprints taken. Police are stressing, however, that the team was cooperating fully and no attempt would be made to stop them returning to Pakistan on Saturday.