Detectives investigating the murder of Pakistan’s cricket coach, Bob Woolmer, say they are actively pursuing the possibility that match-fixing of one or more of the World Cup games may have provided the motive for his killing.
They confirmed on Friday night that they are collaborating with a senior official from the International Cricket Council’s anti-corruption unit to investigate speculation that Woolmer may have been intending to expose foul play.
They are also investigating rumours that the coach was involved in a dispute with some of his players on their return from Ireland game on Saturday and said they would be interviewing security personnel who had been on the team bus.
Earlier, it emerged that the entire Pakistan team was swabbed for DNA samples on Friday amid concern that the team was being singled out for police attention.
As the hunt for Woolmer’s killer continued, a specialist forensic unit arrived by helicopter at the Jamaica hotel where the Pakistan team is staying. Senior police officers emphasised that the testing was routine and would apply to all potential witnesses.
Although the Pakistan team volunteered to give samples, detectives say they have been made aware of concerns in Pakistan that the players are being targeted. On Friday night, Naseem Ashraf, Pakistan’s cricket chief, said his players were ”no more suspect than anyone else in that hotel” and should be brought home as soon as possible. ”They have been through a lot of trauma and stress and their families are worried. This sorry and sordid saga … has shaken us to the root,” he said in Islamabad.
Detectives said on Friday night that they were analysing the records of Woolmer’s key card entry to his hotel room and a similar card-swipe device in the hotel lifts. They are exploring the possibility that the coach may have let his killer into his room himself, or the killer had their own card or a master card.
Mark Shields, a former Scotland Yard chief superintendent who is heading the investigation, said: ”I think it is a possibility that Bob may have known his killer or killers. The card entry system on the door and in the lift lends itself to that, although we have not ruled out a stranger.”
Investigators are also awaiting toxicology reports that would indicate whether he had been drugged.
Following their humiliating defeat to Ireland, the squad is expected to fly home on Saturday to Pakistan, via London.
There has been speculation that Woolmer may have been a target for betting syndicates and match-fixers; Pakistan team spokesperson Pervez Jamil Mir said the coach had been ”disturbed” that pages of a forthcoming autobiography had gone missing. ”Bob told me the proofs had been misplaced and he was very disturbed,” he said. ”I don’t know what was in the book, but that was his only copy at the time.”
But the murdered man’s family attempted to dampen speculation on Friday night. Facing journalists at the family home in Cape Town, South Africa, with Woolmer’s widow, Gill, and her sons Dale and Russell, his agent, Michael Cohen, said: ”Contrary to reports, we can confirm there is nothing in any book Bob has written that would explain this situation and there were no threats received.”
He said: ”It’s very difficult for the family to come to terms with and they have no idea why this happened,. Bob was a wonderful husband and father and a cricket coach. He gave his life to cricket.”
The former Pakistani cricketer Imran Khan told the Guardian he was shocked. ”What could Bob have done that [someone] could have wanted to kill him? Frankly, I’m quite confused. First the shock of the Pakistan defeat. Then Bob’s death. Then finding out he’s been murdered. It’s too much to handle at once.”
The head of the International Cricket Council’s anti-corruption unit will investigate if match-fixing had played a role in the killing, the ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed said. Bookmakers were offering odds of 8-1 for Ireland to beat Pakistan before last Saturday’s match, while Bob Woolmer’s team was on 25-1.
A coroner has ordered that Woolmer’s body be kept in Jamaica until the inquest, an official said on Friday. It had been expected to leave Kingston either on Friday or Saturday for Cape Town.
Corruption still part of the game
Corruption is still a part of international cricket, England captain Michael Vaughan told British newspapers on Saturday.
”If I am honest I do think some corruption still exists in the game. I have never experienced it with my team or with any players I have played with or against. But my gut feeling is there is still some kind of corruption in cricket.”
Match fixing has been a blight over the last 15 years and in the late 1990s South Africa captain Hansie Cronje was banned for life for the offence.
Vaughan made his Test debut against South Africa in Johannesburg in 1999.
”I have never had any incidences or been involved in any conversations regarding the fixing of a game of cricket,” said the England captain as he prepared for Saturday’s Group C match against Kenya in St Lucia.
”I have never been approached and hopefully to God never will be because we don’t want to see that in the game.
”I played in the Centurion Test that was fixed by Hansie Cronje but I was just a young lad and never thought anything was untoward.” – Guardian Unlimited Â