Police stumped in Bob Woolmer “Crime Of Passion”
VIDEO evidence has an established role in modern cricket and there is good reason to believe the Bob Woolmer case will be solved.
Mark Shields, the Jamaican’s policeman leading the hunt for Woolmer’s killer or killers, is studying CCTV footage of the areas adjacent to the crime scene.
But Shields, the fourth official, wants another opinion. And, as the Sun reports, a second post-modem on Woolmer’s cadaver is to be performed. Shields calls this routine. But can it ever be so?
And, as the headline goes – “WOOLMER ‘NOT MURDER’ RIDDLE” – there is a suggestion that the now former Pakistan team coach was not assassinated.
We hear from Tim Noakes, who was co-writing a book with Woolmer. He calls the idea that Woolmer was about to expose corruption in the game “ludicrous”. And he offers an alternative line of enquiry: “This smacks of a crime of passion – a moment of unexpected madness by someone.”
This is what gives the Sun its headline. Was Woolmer’s death a team building exercise that went too far? And why did the Sun overlook the chance for a more salacious headline?
The hunt continues. “Skipper remains silence,” says the Mirror’s headline. Pakistan’s captain Inzamam-ul-Haq is confronted by the Mirror. Inzamam is enjoying a curry in Southall, West London, a short distance from his Heathrow Airport hotel.
He refuses to respond. Is this an episode of “brooding silence”, of the type former Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Shaharyar Khan tells the Express followed one of Inzamam’s heated exchanges with Woolmer? “Revealed: Murdered cricket coach’s rows with his captain,” says the Express’ headline.
Inzamam will not speak to the Mirror. He will not comment on Jundie Khan, Erfan Chaudhary, Tariq Malik and Hamad Malik, the hanger-oners being sought.
Helpfully, Tariq Malik is not so reticent. In “WE DIDN’T KILL BOB” Malik says he’s helping the police as best he can. And Chaudhary, pictured in grainy and shadowy form, says he wasn’t even on the island at the time of Woolmer’s stumping.
So who did it? Not at least two of the hanger-oners. And not any member of the Pakistan team. At least that’s what PJ Mir, Pakistan’s media manager says. “The Pakistan team has been officially cleared from the murder inquiry,” says he.
But Shields responds: “It’s too early to clear anyone, including the Pakistan team.”
So how did Woolmer die?
The net is being widened. The Star says all persons staying in the Pegasus Hotel at the time of Woolmer’s death will now be DNA tested.
And the video footage continues to be examined. The crowd await the verdict…
Posted: 28th, March 2007 | In: Back pages Comment (1) | TrackBack | Permalink
