Newspaper report points to poison theory

Speculation over the possibility that Bob Woolmer, the late Pakistan coach, was poisoned has increased following a report in a Jamaican paper, apparently quoting the toxicology report, to that effect. The Jamaica Gleaner says samples taken from Woolmer's blood, stomach and urine have shown the presence of a foreign substance and has quoted an unnamed government official as saying that the substance could have been poison.

This seems to tie in with the theory that Woolmer may have been poisoned before being strangled.

The Gleaner also says that Scotland Yard has been called on to analyse the results of the report.

Mark Shields, the Jamaican Deputy Commissioner of Police, has decided not to comment on the report till all investigations are over. "We have some results from toxicology now, but they will require further investigation and analysis, and therefore it would be totally inappropriate for me to elaborate any further on that," Shields was quoted as saying in the newspaper.

Woolmer was found unconscious in his hotel room in Jamaica on March 18, just a day after Pakistan's sudden exit from the World Cup, and was pronounced dead after being rushed to hospital. The post mortem, conducted by a government pathologist, stated that the death occurred due to asphyxia from manual strangulation. The histology tests will establish the time of death, while the toxicology tests are expected to reveal whether Woolmer was poisoned before being attacked.

There is speculation that he may have been poisoned with aconite, a poison that causes the body's organs to stop functioning and leads to death through asphyxiation within 30 minutes.