Pesticide found in Woolmer stomach

A Jamaican specialist who analysed stomach samples from Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer said that lethal amounts of a pesticide were revealed in tests he administered.

Woolmer, 58, was found dead on the floor of his room on March 18, after his team was eliminated from the Cricket World Cup. Days later, Jamaica’s government pathologist ruled he had been strangled, setting off a globe-spanning murder investigation. Several foreign doctors, however, have concluded Woolmer died from natural causes, most likely heart disease.

Fitzmore Coates, senior officer at the Forensics Science Laboratory in Kingston, said he had detected lethal amounts of cypermethrin in Woolmer’s stomach, and also found the potentially deadly chemical in urine and blood samples taken from the late coach.

His testimony supports statements made by Jamaica’s government pathologist, Dr Ere Sheshiah, who said a toxicology report in June revealed fatal levels of the pesticide in Woolmer’s system.

A British expert recently testified that no trace of a potentially deadly pesticide was found in the samples – contradicting Coates and Sheshiah, who has insisted the former England cricketer was poisoned by the pesticide cypermethrin and strangled.

Coroner Patrick Murphy, who was presiding over the inquest, said toxicology samples from the coach’s stomach will be re-examined because experts disagree on whether poisoning was a factor in his death.

The additional testing was requested by the lead investigator, Deputy Commissioner of Police Mark Shields, who said arrangements are being made for the samples to be retrieved from London as well as Jamaica’s forensic lab.