CORONER Patrick Murphy will on April 23 begin proceedings into the Bob Woolmer murder case.

The inquest, which may last weeks, was ordered last month by Commissioner of Police Lucius Thomas.

With the Corporate Area Coroner's Court in disrepair, the Jamaica Conference Centre will be used to host the inquest in which Director of Public Prosecutions Kent Pantry is expected to lead the Government's deposition.

Found unconscious

Mr. Woolmer, 58, was the coach of Pakistan's cricket team up until the time of his death. He was found unconscious in his Jamaica Pegasus hotel room by a chambermaid on March 18, a day after Pakistan crashed out of the ICC Cricket World Cup, after being beaten by minnows Ireland at Sabina Park.

Commissioner Thomas' order of a coroner's inquest came one day after the police high command announced that Mr. Woolmer's untimely death was being treated as a murder investigation, following government pathologist Dr. Ere Sheshiah findings of death by manual strangulation.

Meanwhile, two senior police officers from Pakistan have arrived in the island to watch the proceedings on behalf of their Government.

"They are acting as observers and liaison officers between the local and Pakistan police," said Karl Angell, director of communications for the Jamaica Constabulary Force.

The men, Mir Zubair Mahmood, a deputy inspector general of police, and Syed Kaleem Imam, a senior superintendent of police, have increased the number of overseas officers involved in the Woolmer case to seven.

Last week four senior officers from Scotland Yard, plus a forensic expert from Interpol, were invited to the island at the request of Police Commissioner Lucius Thomas to assist with the investigations.