an open verdict on the death of Helen Smith, a British nurse who had fallen to her death in Saudi Arabia during a party; this was interpreted as a rejection of the theory that Smith had accidentally fallen, and a victory for her father Ron Smith's claim that she had been killed. In February 1997, actor Barry Evans was found dead in his home by police. The police discovered Evans' body in his living room after going to the house to tell him they had recovered his stolen car which had been reported missing the day before. The cause of his death has never been confirmed. The coroner found a blow to Evans' head and also found high levels of alcohol in his system. A short written will was found on a table next to his body, and a spilled packet of aspirin (bearing a pre-decimalisation price tag indicating that the pack was at least 26 years old) was found on the floor, although the coroner concluded that Evans had not taken any of these. An open verdict was eventually given. An 18-year-old man was arrested but later released without charge due to insufficient evidence. Two successive inquests, in May 1981 and May 2004, have returned open verdicts on the victims of the New Cross house fire in which 13 black teenagers were killed by a fire at a birthday party. The families of the victims have long believed that the fire was started deliberately, possibly as a racist attack, and the verdict was interpreted as a rejection of that theory. The inquest into the death of Jean Charles de Menezes, who was shot dead in 2005 by Metropolitan Police officers who mistakenly believed him to be a suicide bomber, returned an open verdict in December 2008. The coroner had specifically directed them that they were not able to return a verdict of unlawful killing, and left them the alternatives of the open verdict or ruling the killing lawful, and the verdict (together with the answers to an associated questionnaire given to the jury) was interpreted as a condemnation of the police. The death of Bob Woolmer, an English cricket coach, on 18 March 2007 while coaching Pakistan during the World Cup was given an open verdict on 28 November 2007, with the inquest after hearing from more than 50 witnesses over five weeks being unable to determine whether his