Pakistan coach Woolmer wasn't murdered

KINGSTON, June 12 (Reuters) Former Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer died of natural causes, and was not murdered as initially suspected, Jamaican police said today, bringing to an embarrassing close a three-month investigation that had gripped the cricket world.

Woolmer was found unconscious in his hotel room in Kingston on March 18 after his highly rated team lost to little fancied Ireland in the Cricket World Cup, triggering speculation he had been murdered by an irate fan or an illegal gambling syndicate.

But reports from three independent pathologists and a toxicology test showed the 58-year-old former England international cricketer had died of natural causes and had no poisons in his body, said Jamaican Police Commissioner Lucius Thomas, reading from a prepared statement.

''The JCF (Jamaica Constabulary Force) has accepted these findings and has closed its investigation into the death of Bob Woolmer,'' Thomas said.

REUTERS SAM RAI2058