KINGSTON, April 2: Detectives leading the Bob Woolmer murder inquiry said on Monday they were studying the possibility that poison was used to incapacitate the burly coach before he was strangled.

Jamaica police deputy commissioner Mark Shields said detectives were exploring whether the powerfully-built Woolmer was drugged before being murdered in his Kingston hotel room.

I have said from the beginning that if he was manually strangled, there are certain aspects that don’t quite add up, Mr Shields said.

There is a possibility that something was used to incapacitate Bob that could have enabled somebody to go into his room and kill him quietly. But I emphasise once more that we are keeping all lines of enquiry open.

Shields’s comments followed a report in Britain’s Sunday Mirror that police had received a tip that the cyanide-like poison aconite had been used to kill the Pakistan cricket coach, who was found dead at the Pegasus Hotel on March 18.

Aconite causes internal organ failure and forces the victim’s breath to slow until it finally stops. Death is usually by asphyxiation within 30 minutes, the report said.

Mr Shields would not directly comment on the report, but acknowledged police had received information about a possible substance used to knock out Bob Woolmer.

In the course of our enquiries we have received information about possible poisons that may have been used, he said. But until we receive the toxicology reports it is pointless to speculate on what that substance might be.

Woolmer’s widow said she was not aware of any claim that her husband had been poisoned.

I haven't heard anything, Gill Woolmer said from her home in Cape Town, South Africa.

Everything I know comes from Mark Shields, who said he would keep me informed of any developments.—AFP