British expert: Bob Woolmer wasn't strangled

Dr Nat Carey, a government pathologist, had reviewed autopsy reports, photographs and other evidence on behalf of Jamaican police.

Sources said Dr Carey had decided the death was not from asphyxiation due to strangulation.

Mr Woolmer was found unconscious in his Kingston hotel room on 18March and pronounced dead at a hospital.

The previous day, his Pakistan team had lost in cricket's World Cup - which was held in the Caribbean - to underdog Ireland.

Jamaican detectives quizzed the Pakistan team amid speculation that Mr Woolmer may have been murdered by a disgusted fan.

There were also suggestions that it was an attempt by match-fixers to silence the coach.

An original autopsy in Jamaica suggested the coach may have been strangled as he had suffered a broken bone in his neck.

But local newspapers reported that British investigators now believe Mr Woolmer probably died of heart failure from natural causes.

A team from Scotland Yard is helping Jamaican police.