The murder that never was
Three months on, Bob Woolmer's mysterious death in Jamaica still casts a shadow over the world of cricket
Andrew Miller
25-Feb-2013
Three months on, Bob Woolmer's mysterious death in Jamaica still casts a shadow over the world of cricket. In a special report for Observer Sport Monthly, Mark Townsend follows the extraordinary tale from rumour to conspiracy to murder, and all the way back again.
Serious errors in the crucial days after Woolmer died ensured that a flawed line of inquiry - the murder claim - went largely unquestioned. Antiquated equipment and forensics, hasty decision-making and a lack of reliable evidence compounded the mistake. The CCTV footage of Woolmer on the 12th floor of the Pegasus - the last images of him alive - had to be flown to London to enhance its quality, delaying for weeks the discovery that no one else entered room 374 that night. Scotland Yard was asked to re-examine Kingston's toxicology analysis.
Andrew Miller is the former UK editor of ESPNcricinfo and now editor of The Cricketer magazine