KINGSTON, Jamaica, (Reuters) - Jamaican police investigating the murder of Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer said the case would have been "severely compromised" had the coroner's inquest started as scheduled on Monday.
"I felt that at this stage that it would be inappropriate to hold an inquest," deputy police commissioner Mark Shields told reporters yesterday.
"The investigation is a very complex one and much more work needs to be done. We are nowhere near ready for an inquest at this stage," Shields said.
He said he had recommended to coroner Patrick Murphy that the inquest, to be held in Kingston, be postponed.
On Thursday, the Jamaican Justice Ministry issued a statement saying that "recent and significant developments" had caused the delay in the inquest.
Shields declined to tell reporters what those developments were. Media have speculated that the death could be linked to a betting "mafia" within cricket but Woolmer's widow Gill has said she knew of no threats from such a source.
A coroner's inquiry was ordered by Murphy after Woolmer, 58, was found lifeless in his Kingston hotel room on March 18, the day after his Pakistan team was eliminated from the World Cup in a shock defeat by debutants Ireland.
The former England cricketer was later pronounced dead in hospital.
An autopsy at first proved inconclusive but police later said that Woolmer, who previously coached South Africa, had been strangled and were treating the death as murder.
There have also been unconfirmed media reports that the Pakistan coach was poisoned.
"I felt that if an inquest were held at this stage, it could possibly compromise the investigations and alert the suspect or suspects as to what we have achieved so far. So we thought that it would have been inappropriate to begin an inquest at this time," Shields said.
Police confirmed that detectives had been sent to the Caribbean islands of Grenada and Barbados to interview and take DNA samples from potential witnesses, including members of the Ireland and West Indies teams.
They were also guests at the Pegasus Hotel in Kingston where Woolmer was staying. All guests and staff would be similarly questioned and tested, police have said.
Shields said that investigators wanted to conduct all interviews before the World Cup ends on April 28.
"It is important that we contact the hundreds of potential witnesses as soon as possible, even before they leave the Caribbean as our investigations are far from complete," Shields said.
"We have in our possession over 100 statements already. There are well over 200 actions, in terms of interviews and other things that are outstanding. There is a huge amount of work to do," Shields said.
The seven-week World Cup culminates in the final in Barbados on Saturday week.