Report claims that Pakistani cricket coach Bob Woolmer was poisoned

April 30, 2007 Pakistani cricket coach Bob Woolmer, who was found dead in his hotel room after the shock loss of the Pakistani cricket team to lowly-ranked Ireland during the Cricket World Cup, was poisoned before being strangled, according to a TV report due to be broadcast on the BBC News programme Panorama.

According to the programme, a toxicology report prepared after Woolmer's death indicates that he had a substance in his bloodstream which would have incapacitated him, leaving him helpless. This would explain how Woolmer, a large man over six feet tall, was strangled with little sign of a struggle.

Speculation has been rife in the cricketing community that Woolmer's death is connected to match fixing, a practice which rocked the sport in the late 1990s. Jamaican police, however, have consistently refused to comment as to whether they have any leads on the case.