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Panorama: Murder At The World Cup
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Bob Woolmer was poisoned before his murder, reveals 91Èȱ¬ One Panorama investigation
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Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer was poisoned before being strangled, 91Èȱ¬ One's Panorama reveals tonight.
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The programme reveals that preliminary toxicology tests have shown there was a drug in his system that would have incapacitated Woolmer, leaving him unable to fight back.
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It now seems certain that, as he was being strangled, he had already been rendered helpless.
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It would explain how someone was able to overpower Woolmer who was 6 feet 2 inches tall and heavily built.
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The final results of toxicology tests are due to be handed back to Jamaican police next week, but are expected to confirm the preliminary results.
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The specific details of that poison are now very likely to offer a significant lead to finding his murderer.
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The programme will also broadcast the last images of Bob Woolmer taken before he died – CCTV images from the Pegasus Hotel as he headed back to his room on the 12th floor.
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Panorama spoke exclusively to investigating officer Mark Shields, who concurred that it would be difficult to strangle a man of Bob's size.
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He says: "It's difficult and it's rare. A lot of force would be needed to do that. Bob Woolmer was a large man and that's why one could argue that it was an extremely strong person or may be more than one person but equally the lack of external injuries suggests that there might be some other factors and that's what we're looking into at the moment."
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Shields took the programme's reporter, Adam Parsons, to the 12th floor of the hotel and Panorama will report previously unknown details about the crime scene.
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There has been no shortage of rumours surrounding the case – ranging from potential links to corruption and match-fixing to a fan with a grudge.
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Panorama explores if concerns over whether the Pakistan team's priority was sport, or their religion, could have a bearing on the case.
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The team's former media manager, PJ Mir, said that Woolmer agreed with Mir's view that senior members of the squad - some of whom had become members of the strict Muslim movement Tablighi Jamaat – were more interested in praying than playing – and that that explained their poor performance in the World Cup
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PJ Mir says: "I mean Bob had his reservations that the boys, rather than focusing on the religious aspect they ought to be focusing more on cricket.
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"He wasn't particularly pleased when players were going out to say their prayers in the middle of the game ... and err a substitute was coming in. This continued. He was totally against it."
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After the team were knocked out, PJ Mir's comments about the team's performance were greeted with anger.
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In the programme, he confirms that a Fatwah has now been issued against him, forcing him to flee the country, and says Woolmer might have faced a similar level of anger.
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PJ Mir says: "Let's put it this way - if Bob had said what I had said I think there would have been a Fatwah on him as well -there's no question of that."
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Adam Parsons: "Has he said what you said?"
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PJ Mir: "Well I said the team was more focused on religion than cricket."
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Adam Parsons: "And he too has said that?"
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PJ Mir: "Well he has said that, yes."
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Following the Pakistan team's defeat at the hands of rank outsiders Ireland - on St Patrick's Day - one rumour circulated that a huge row erupted on the bus back to the hotel, fuelling speculation that the motive for Bob's murder lay close to home.
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Panorama spoke to the bus driver, Bertram Carr, who said that there was no row between players, in fact there was very little communication between them at all.
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He says: "They just sit and most of them on the phone. No argument on the bus, I don't know what took place in the changing room but on the bus they were very, very quiet."
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The programme also spoke to Bob's wife Gill, giving her first full interview with a broadcaster. Whatever the real motive, she just wants answers from the inquiry.
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Adam Parsons: "What's your hope for this inquiry?"
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Gill Woolmer: "Well just that we find out who, what and when and why. That would put my mind at rest."
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Panorama: Murder At The World Cup, 91Èȱ¬ One, 8.30pm, Monday 30 April
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