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Woolmer poisoned and then strangled, according to BBC

Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer was incapacitated before he was strangled, a BBC investigative program claimed yesterday.

Preliminary toxicology tests, due to be given to Jamaican police next week, indicated that Woolmer, who was 1.88m tall and heavily built, had been incapacitated by a drug, the BBC's Panorama program said.

He was then both strangled and smothered, the BBC World Service said in a report ahead of yesterday night's broadcast.

The program did not identify the drug used or the source of its information.

Woolmer, a 58-year-old former England Test batsman, was found unconscious in his room and later declared dead on March 18, the day after his squad was eliminated from the World Cup by Ireland. Police said he was strangled.

Speculation about his murder has included suggestions that he had uncovered a match-fixing scandal, or that he was killed by a supporter with a grudge. Woolmer's body arrived back in Cape Town, where he lived, on Sunday.

In an interview with Panorama, investigating officer Mark Shields said it would be difficult to strangle a man as large as Woolmer.

"A lot of force would be needed to do that," Shields said.

"Bob Woolmer was a large man and that's why one could argue that it was an extremely strong person, or maybe more than one person, but equally the lack of external injuries suggests that there might be some other factors and that's what we're looking into at the moment," he said.

Police in Jamaica have not yet made any arrests in connection with Woolmer's death, which cast a huge shadow over the cricket World Cup that ended on Saturday and was won by Australia.

The BBC said in its radio report that the findings suggested his killing was premeditated rather than being "a spur-of-the-moment act of violence."

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