Woolmer inquest fails to decide cause of death

By Horace Helps

KINGSTON (Reuters) - A Jamaican inquest into the death of late Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer failed on Wednesday to determine his cause of death, leaving a mystery that gripped the international cricket world unresolved.

An 11-member jury said it had not seen enough evidence in the month-long inquest to decide whether Woolmer was murdered or died of natural causes in March during the Cricket World Cup, a day after his team suffered a humiliating defeat to Ireland.

The death stunned cricket aficionados, especially after Jamaican police launched a murder investigation. Suspicions immediately fell on illegal betting cartels or irate fans.

But three months later, Jamaican police abandoned the murder probe when three overseas pathologists determined the former England international had been very sick and died of natural causes.

The official inquest had been expected to deliver the definitive conclusion. Instead, the jury said it had reached an "open verdict."

Coroner Patrick Murphy, who presided over the inquiry, said the cause of death would now be left up to the Caribbean country's chief prosecutor. He added that another inquest was not possible.

"You've done your job, thank you very much. The inquest is now over and you are excused," Murphy told the jury.

Woolmer, 58, was found unconscious in his Kingston hotel room on March 18, a day after Pakistan was defeated by cricket minnows Ireland, and was declared dead on arrival at hospital.

Chambermaid Bernice Robinson testified during the inquest that she found a bloodied bed, an overturned chair and a smell like alcohol and vomit when she stumbled on Woolmer's unconscious body in the bathroom of his hotel room.

The inquest heard testimony from 57 witnesses, including the police officer who led the investigation into the death, deputy police commissioner Mark Shields, who said that in his view Woolmer was very ill and died of natural causes.

That opinion was shared by pathologists from Canada, Britain and South Africa who had been called in to assist the police investigation.

However, the pathologist who performed the first autopsy on Woolmer, Ere Shesiah, chief consultant pathologist of the Jamaican government, told the inquest he stood by his conclusion that the Englishman was strangled, and also poisoned with a pesticide.

(Writing by Michael Christie, editing by Todd Eastham)