Bob Woolmer

Kingston/London: More theories continued to be spun regarding the cause of Bob Woolmer's death in a Jamaican Hotel exactly two weeks ago, but the police on Sunday described as a ``major breakthrough'' a tip-off from a person, believed to be of Pakistani origin, that the Pakistan coach might have been killed by a poison called aconite.

Mark Shields, Jamaica's Deputy Commissioner of Police, who is in charge of the investigations into the Woolmer's death, said the police were taking the tip-off received from a person with Pakistani accent ``extremely seriously,'' according to the British newspaper Sunday Mirror.

``Toxicologists say aconite is the ``perfect'' drug to mask a murder. It also explains why Jamaican pathologist Ere Seshaiah found no marks around Woolmer's neck to suggest he had been strangled."

Another British paper, The Mail, took an entirely different line on Woolmer's death by reporting that it was a ``tragic accident,'' possibly a result of the coach having ``drowned his sorrows'' in a bottle of whisky.

``The aconite tip is a major breakthrough and is being taken extremely seriously. The man who called the Kingston police station had a Pakistani accent and was very specific about aconite and how it was administered,'' Mr. Shields was quoted as saying by the Sunday Mirror.

``The symptoms Bob suffered before he died are identical to aconite poisoning, which is why it is a major line of inquiry now. It would also explain how such a physically imposing man, at 6ft 1inch tall, died without putting up a fight. You'd struggle to get two people into his bathroom, so it could be no one was there,'' he said. — PTI

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