April 12, 2007	Thursday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 23, 1428

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KINGSTON, April 11: Footage of the closed circuit television (CCTV) on the 12th floor of the Jamaica Pegasus hotel, where the body of Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer was found on March 18, was on Tuesday sent to a laboratory in the United Kingdom by Scotland Yard detectives who are here assisting with the investigation.

This was confirmed on Tuesday by a high-ranking officer of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF).

The Jamaica Gleaner newspaper spoke with a member of the investigative team who stressed that experts in the U.K. will take a deeper look at the footage, among other items of interest.

The team of investigators probing the Woolmer case was locked in a meeting until late Tuesday night and the reports said it was nearing some conclusion on the case. Local detectives earlier had spent hours transferring the footage from VHS tape into a digital format.

Reports regarding the CCTV footage not being very clear were, however, once again denied by Deputy Commissioner of Police Mark Shields who said he could easily identify people who traversed the corridor on the 12th floor.The four Scotland Yard detectives who are on the island assisting with the Woolmer investigation were invited at the request of Police Commissioner Lucius Thomas.

Meanwhile, Kingston's leading hotel, The Jamaica Pegasus, has defended its security measures in light of the barrage of criticism it has faced following the death of Bob Woolmer.

Woolmer was found unconscious in his hotel room (Room 374) on Sunday, March 18, 2007. Later that day he was pronounced dead. Initially, his death was deemed not suspicious, but local police, through the use of forensic evidence, later concluded that he was murdered.

Last week a Pakistani senator blamed lax security measures at the hotel for Woolmer's death. Members of the Irish World Cup party have also questioned security arrangements at the Pegasus.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, the Pegasus' head of security Fern Lewis-Hue said: "All of us at the Pegasus feel tremendous sorrow at the passing of Mr Woolmer but we have utmost faith in the security arrangements we had in place and remain sure that his passing was not as a result of deficiencies in our security efforts."

The Jamaica Pegasus' general manager Eldon Bremner added that the hotel instituted intensive security training a year before the hosting of the Cricket World Cup (CWC) in the Caribbean. Its management team even attended a course put on by the Organisation of American States (OAS) in conjunction with the government of Trinidad & Tobago in that country. The course was specifically designed for the hospitality industry.

"We in the Caribbean are not enemies of anybody, but the enemies of the United States may well see the CWC as an opportunity to engage in terrorist activity, and these enemies are very good at planning so we at the Pegasus had to get ourselves prepared. We have had to be very vigilant and our team continues to do a very good job," said Bremner.

Before the CWC began, the Pegasus used a contingent of eight security guards. With the CWC coming to town it added more guards, taking the total to 15. Following Woolmer's death the Pegasus increased it up to 18 guards. The Pegasus worked in conjunction with the local police and ICC to ensure that security was of the highest order and that cricket team personnel were safe within the confines of the hotel. Bremner went as far as dedicating one hotel manager to each team to ensure that their needs were attended to.

The Pegasus was home to the host team the West Indies, Pakistan, Ireland and Zimbabwe, all participants in the first round of the competition.

Turning his attention to the Woolmer situation, Bremner said that in many cases team members had their colleagues come up to their rooms and Woolmer himself had an open-door policy. "The Pegasus has been around for 34 years and has accommodated many international cricket teams throughout the years. The Pegasus has and will always have adequate security measures in place. Our staff know the procedures they have to follow," said Bremner.