Roebuck death inquest opened, adjourned

London: An inquest into the death of noted cricket columnist Peter Roebuck has been adjourned until further notification with the Warrington Coroner's Court still awaiting the report of the third post-mortem conducted on the writer earlier this week.

An inquest was opened and adjourned at Warrington Coroner's Court into Roebuck's death, who jumped from his hotel room window in Capetown, South Africa, in November last year after being spoken to by the police on charges of sexual assault.

The 55-year-old had been to the African nation to cover the Test series between Australia and the Proteas. The former Somerset skipper was accused of sexual assault by a Zimbabwean man who met him for seeking financial help for education.

The Warrington Coroner\'s Court still awaits the report of the third post-mortem.

The South African authorities had reported that Roebuck died after falling from a building; however, at the request of the coroner yet another post-mortem examination took place at the Liverpool Royal Hospital on Monday to adjudge the real cause of the writer's death.

The coroner for Cheshire, Nicholas Rheinberg, formally opened the inquest on Wednesday and then adjourned the case to a date yet to be fixed.

"The South African authorities have reported that Peter Michael Roebuck died after falling from a building in Cape Town, South Africa, in November 2011," a spokesman for Cheshire Police, who are now investigating the matter on behalf of HM Coroner, was quoted as saying to the BBC.

"Whilst the full findings of the post-mortem are still to be established, at this stage the indication is that Roebuck did have injuries consistent with a fall," he added.

The former county cricketer, who represented Somerset from 1974 to 1991, became a respected writer and broadcaster first in the UK, then in Australia after his retirement and was well known for his strong opinions about the game.

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