Woolmer murder probe police pore over hotel footage

Police are trying to identify dozens of people captured by security cameras at the Jamaican hotel where World Cup cricket coach Bob Woolmer was murdered.

Some 80 unidentified people were filmed on Woolmer’s floor during the days he and his team stayed at Kingston’s upmarket Jamaica Pegasus Hotel, Deputy Police Commissioner Mark Shields said.

Briton Woolmer was found strangled in his room on March 18, a day after his Pakistan squad was defeated by Ireland in the World Cup.

“The (closed-circuit TV) work has been completed and we’re now looking at individuals on those tapes whom we’ve yet to identify,” said Shields, a former Scotland Yard detective heading the probe into the murder. He did not say how many people police had identified so far.

Police were interviewing witnesses but did not intend to release the images, he said.

Shields said he was confident Woolmer’s killing would be solved even though police have yet to announce any breakthroughs more than six weeks into the probe.

“We have a very positive attitude about this investigation, which, because of its complexity, is still young,” he said.

The BBC said this week that a toxicology test detected a drug in Woolmer’s system that would have incapacitated him.

But Shields, who has previously raised the possibility that the burly 58-year-old may have been drugged before being strangled, said his team had not confirmed the presence of drugs in Woolmer’s system.

Toxicology tests are being analysed at a British lab and may be completed next week.

“Until such time as we receive conclusive results, I will not speculate on what was or wasn’t in Bob Woolmer’s body,” he said.

Shields also said police were exploring whether religious tensions on the Pakistan team may factored into Woolmer’s killing, but said it was not a major focus.

After powerhouse Pakistan’s first-round ousting from the tournament, team spokesman Pervez Jamil Mir told an inquiry in Pakistan that some players were more focused on praying than playing.

In an interview with AP Television News, Mir also said some players had pressured others to join them in Muslim prayers.

Shields said he would meet forensic experts in Britain next week and then travel to South Africa to interview Woolmer’s widow and family members.