Coroner Patrick Murphy has asked for further tests to be carried outon samples taken from Woolmer’s body
Cricinfo staff06-Nov-2007The inquest into the death of former Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer took a twist onMonday with the coroner, Patrick Murphy, asking for further tests to be carried outon samples taken from Woolmer’s body. Murphy also ordered that the retesting becompleted by November 12, which means that the inquest is likely to continue beyondthe scheduled closing date of November 9.The directive came on a request from Mark Shields, the Jamaica deputy commissionerof police, following discrepancies in the toxicology reports by forensic scientistsfrom the Caribbean and the UK. Shields said more samples would be retrieved from theUK and the local forensic laboratory.Woolmer was found unconscious in his room at the Pegasus Hotel in Jamaica on March18, a day after Pakistan’s shock defeat to Ireland in the World Cup. The police hadinitially backed the government pathologist Ere Sheshiah’s finding that Woolmer wasmurdered and released a statement to that effect. However, a review by three otherpathologists – Nathaniel Cary, Michael Pollanen and Lorna Martin – said Woolmer diedof natural causes, possibly due to a heart attack.As the investigation continued, toxicology tests could not conclude whether Woolmerwas injected with a poison or not. Marcia Dunbar, a Jamaican forensic analyst,testified at the inquest that evidence of the pesticide cypermethrin was found inblood and urine samples. Of three samples of blood taken from Woolmer, Dunbar saidone tested positive for cypermethrin while the others did not and no suitableexplanation was given for this. She also said that one of the containers shereceived from the police containing the samples had been contaminated.John Slaughter, a British forensic expert, later told the inquest that said he found no pesticide in the sample which was tested in his lab on May 4. He said the presence of cypermethrin could have been due to contamination at the government forensic laboratory in Kingston.