THE coroner’s inquest into the death of Pakistan’s cricket coach Bob Woolmer will not start on April 23, as announced on Wednesday.

The justice ministry, in a late afternoon release yesterday, said the coroner was advised by the officer in charge of the investigation that there were significant new developments concerning the death of Woolmer.

However, the ministry declined to say what were the new developments in the murder investigation, but said they would be pursued with the utmost urgency, taking into account that the officers in charge had advised that the new development was critical to the progress and eventual results of the investigations.

“If it becomes necessary for an inquest to be held after the new and material developments have been investigated, then another date for the holding of the inquest will be appointed,” the justice ministry said.

Last night, Deputy Commissioner Mark Shields told the Observer that putting off the inquest would assist homicide investigators to solidfy their case.

“To conduct an inquest at this time would seriously hamper the investigation. The suspect or suspects may be alerted as to the progress of the investigation,” Shields said.

On Wednesday, a police officer close to the Woolmer case expressed concern that the holding of the inquest could cause a conflict

of interest.

“There are more things to be done and if the inquest goes ahead it may overlap with the probe and cause more difficulty,” the officer told the Observer on condition that he not be named.

Coroner for Kingston and St Andrew Patrick Murphy had declined to comment publicly on the issue and permanent secretary in the Ministry of Justice Carol Palmer insisted Wednesday that the inquest would go ahead as scheduled.

“The coroner is empowered to set the date for the inquest as long as he has received the necessary information,” Palmer told a press conference at the ministry in New Kingston.

In the meantime, Jamaican detectives investigating last month’s murder of the Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer were in Barbados and Grenada yesterday, where they interviewed and fingerprinted members and officials of the West Indies and Irish teams, who were at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel at the time of Woolmer’s death.

“The Barbadian and Grenadian police have been cooperating with us,” said Shields, who is leading the probe into the death

of Woolmer.

The Pakistan coach was found unconscious in his room and later pronounced dead at hospital the day after Pakistan’s loss to Ireland in the preliminary stage of Cricket World Cup at Sabina Park in Jamaica. The loss, their second in the first round, effectively knocked them out of cricket’s most prestigious tournament.