FORMER Kent cricketer and Pakistan's coach Bob Woolmer was murdered, Jamaican police have revealed.

Mr Woolmer was found dead in his hotel room last weekend after the team's World Cup shock defeat to Ireland.

A post-mortem examination has established that the former England player died as a result of "manual strangulation".

Police commissioner Lucius Thomas said: "In these circumstances, the matter of Mr Woolmer's death is now being treated as murder."

Police chiefs say Mr Woolmer, who played for Kent from 1968-1984, may have known his killer or killers.

The body of the coaching legend, who was 58, was found by staff at the Pegasus Hotel in Kingston on Sunday morning. Police say there were no signs of forced entry into his room and none of his possessions had been taken.

The authorities are studying CCTV footage from the hotel which may produced vital clues.

The deputy commissioner of the Jamaican police, Mark Shields, said this might now be a hunt for more than one killer, and urged the perpetrators to hand themselves in.

Mr Shields added: "Bob was a large man. It would have taken some significant force to subdue him. He stressed police were ruling nothing out and had "lots of lines of inquiry".

He stresed: "I have to say at this stage that it looks as if it may be somebody who's somehow linked to him, because clearly he let somebody into his hotel room and it may be that he knew who that person was."

Mr Shields also "unequivocally dismissed" Indian television reports that arrests had been made. "That's nonsense, as far as I'm concerned. There's actually no truth in that."

Speculation that the killing may be connected to gambling cartels is adding to the confusion surrounding the murder.