It is unlikely that Woolmer's killers were locals: Shields

KARACHI: Police in Kingston has said that it is 'unlikely' that Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer's killers were Jamaicans.

The police have consistently said that they are confident the killer or killers was known to Woolmer because of the fact there was no sign of unforced entry and nothing was stolen.

"The fact that it is manual strangulation and asphyxiation does not lead to the profile of somebody locally, where you tend to find firearms or knives as the favoured weapons," Deputy Commissioner of Jamaican Police and former Scotland Yard officer Mark Shields told 'Sky News'.

"You can never dismiss anything, but at the moment it seems highly unlikely a Jamaican has walked off the street, gone up to the 12th floor in a secure lift, gone along to his room, got into his room without any sign of forced entry, murdered him and then not stolen anything at all," he said.

Shields, however, refused to dismiss the idea a hitman may have been responsible.

"I rule absolutely nothing out at all. It's a possibility," Shields said.

Shields also said that he is not prepared to put a timeline on solving the case and although he is optimistic it could take two days or two years.

Shields also confirmed the General Manager of the International Cricket Council's Anti-Corruption Unit Jeff Rees is investigating any possible links between the murder and match-fixing.

"The match-fixing aspect of this is being carefully handled. Jeff Rees from the ICC is here at the moment, from the Anti-Corruption Unit. He is going to assist us. I promised him a couple of officers to work along with him.

"He and his team have the expertise. We have to tap into that to see if there's anything within their world of corruption that may have some impact on Bob's death."

One thing Shields is certain of though is the importance of the CCTV footage which has been digitalised from video to help police.

"The CCTV's absolutely critical," Shields added.

"The keycards aspect is also critical. There were 17 floors with about 20 rooms per floor. There's a lot of comings and goings there.

"There is also a lot of internal telephone calls as well, all of which may be relevant."

The former Scotland Yard officer also insisted he is "optimistic" of bringing Woolmer's killers to justice but said the crime could take years to solve.

"There is no doubt at all that we will get to the bottom of this. That may take two days. It may take two years, I do not know. I think it would be inappropriate to talk about timelines," he said.

Woolmer, 58, was murdered in his hotel room. Pakistan had been eliminated from the World Cup the day before after losing to minnows Ireland.