Cricket coach Woolmer not murdered

Commissioner Lucius Thomas told a press conference in the capital Kingston that Woolmer was not strangled as police had earlier concluded.

The announcement brought to an end an international murder investigation.

Authorities in Jamaica sought the opinion of three independent pathologists and reviewed a toxicology report before reaching their conclusion, Thomas told a news conference.

He also rejected media reports that Woolmer had been drugged or poisoned.

Woolmer, 58, was found unconscious on March 18 in his hotel room in Kingston, Jamaica, a day after his team was eliminated from the World Cup in a humiliating loss to Ireland. Authorities first said a preliminary autopsy was inconclusive but four days later announced Woolmer had been strangled.

Police then launched one of the biggest murder investigations in this country's history, questioning nearly 400 people and taking voluntary DNA samples and fingerprints from potential witnesses including players from Pakistan and other World Cup cricket squads.

A flurry of speculation fed by media outlets around the world said match-fixers or an irate fan might have murdered the popular coach. A British news TV show said Woolmer had been poisoned before being strangled, but this was also dismissed by Thomas. "No substance was found to indicate that Bob Woolmer was poisoned," Thomas said.

Thomas told reporters that a British pathologist reviewed the Jamaican coroner's report and concluded that he died from unspecified natural causes, not strangulation. "The Jamaican Constabulary Force accepts these findings and has now closed its investigation into the death of Mr Bob Woolmer," he said.

A final report on the cause of death will be later be issued by Jamaican Coroner Patrick Murphy. Woolmer played in 19 Test matches and six One-day Internationals for England and later coached South Africa, Warwickshire and Pakistan.