Two-months delay hit Bob's murder inquiry, autopsy reports to blame

London, Apr 8 (UNI) Jamaica police investigating the slained Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer's murder may have to wait two more months for the results of the toxicology tests to come out, that will help them to determine the cause behind his mysterious death.

The Times quoted Mark Shields, the deputy commissioner of Jamaica police as saying that finalising the tests could take up to eight weeks.

''It's in everyone's interest to know exactly when he died and how, but to add to everyone's fustration, science moves at a certain pace,'' Shields said.

The delays will further hamper the inquiry, which was yet to find a motive or a suspect three weeks after Woolmer was found unconscious in his bathroom at the Pegasus Hotel in Kingston, Jamaica on March 18, after his team's shock exit from the World Cup and declared dead on the same day at a local hospital.

However, Shields had played down claims by the Pakistan team that Woolmer had been alive when his body was found. ''There were two doctors and a nurse and having spoken to them, they said there were no visible signs of life,'' said the former Scotland Yard detective.

Earlier, Dr Ere Seshaiah, a India-born Jamaican pathologist, who conducted the first autopsy on the late Englishman's body, initially said the cause of Woolmer's death was ''inconclusive''.

But later changed his mind after reviewing his reports and concluded that he had been manually strangled.

But British experts were in no mood to buy Seshaiah's theory and have questioned about sufficient evidences to conclude Jamaica police's version that Woolmer was asphyxiated by ''manual strangulation''.

''Given my knowledge of Jamaican pathology, I don't think I would have much confidence in such a difficult case as this,'' Derrick Pounder, professor of forensic pathology at Dundee University told the newspaper.

Pounder, who has witnessed several autopsies in Kingston as part of his work for Amnesty International further called for a review of findings. ''I would be more comfortable if these findings were reviewed.'' The police were however, convinced that Woolmer was murdered, as according to them a number of factors which are only known to them suggest foul play.

They have even amassed hundreds of hours of CCTV footage from the Pegasus hotel as well as from other neighbouring hotels and Pakistan's World Cup matches and have sent them to Scotland Yard for analysis.

The Jamaica police were also investigating Woolmer's last meal appeared to be 'lasagne', delivered by room service after reported claims by an anonymous caller from Pakistan that the 58-year-old coach was poisoned by the drug 'aconite'.

Shields, who is heading this high-profile murder inquiry has also indicated that his officers are likely to travel to Pakistan to clear up ambiguities in statements given by the team members and officials.

UNI