- Miss Ella Dews, senior librarian.
- Mr P. Quarmby, head of Computers.
This is because they were both at the Society’s Annual Dinner at the Grand Hotel on the night of the murder. Mr.Quarmby had given an hour-long speech and Miss Dews had proposed the vote of thanks.
- The library doors were all locked on the night of the murder by Miss Dews so there would be no people from the Rock concert wandering into the library. An L2 key had been lent to the students who were preparing for the art exhibition so they could go in and out of the library when needed. This key was too be left on the board in the art preparation room for the caretaker to collect on his final round.
- Key L3 was used to get the dead body, on the trolley, into the librarian’s office. The only possible way in which someone could have got the L3 key is if either Miss Dews had left her key in the lock of her door, which had happened before according to the caretaker, or if someone had secretly made a cast of the key without anyone noticing or getting suspicious.
- William Jones was the last person who admits seeing Simon alive.
- One of the items due to be put on display was mysteriously placed on the display unit while Ms. Alison Beattie, a friend of the victim’s, claimed she had left her display item on the trolley from the stockroom. It was thought likely that once Simon had been killed, the killer put him on the trolley and wheeled into the librarian’s room using an L3 key probably made from a cast.
- There are features of this crime which lead me to believe it was not premeditated:
- There were signs of a struggle in the exhibition area. A planned attack would have made sure of avoiding this.
- A normal killing weapon was not used on the victim, such as a knife, but a carving gouge, which was readily available at the place of the killing.
- The light was left on the library. This is an example of how unprepared this crime was. Wouldn’t the killer have thought of this before the attack?
- The tool used to kill the victim was not disposed of. Instead, it was left on the body of the victim.
- The crime was committed in the library. In a premeditated attack, the attacker would have found somewhere suitable to kill the victim. If someone had intended to kill the victim, it is to be expected that they would have found a quieter place and somewhere to dispose the body.
- The murderer had to find the opportunity to return the L2 key back onto the board in the art preparation room.
Conclusions
I requested statements from each of the pupils of the college who were preparing the exhibition along with Simon Delmore, the victim.
From their statements I made the following findings:
- Miss Alison Beattie was the girlfriend of the victim.
- Miss Beattie was annoyed with Simon for wandering off, but this cannot be a motive for her to kill him.
- Miss Joanne Smith hated Simon evident from her technique of describing him.
- Miss Smith had suspected Simon Delmore for stealing a briefcase belonging to Mr Peter Scaithe, however she had no opportunity to kill Simon and she did not have a strong enough motive to do so. She was always with someone on the night of the killing.
- Mr Michael Dobson had been ruled out as a suspect because:
- He did not have an opportunity to do so.
- He did not have a motive.
- Mr William Jones was a major suspect:
- He had an opportunity to commit the crime.
- He had a motive: Simon Delmore had stolen his girlfriend, Miss Alison Beattie, from him.
- He had had a fight with Simon that same evening about Miss Beattie. This could be another motive.
- The tool used to kill Simon was a carving gouge, the same tool William was using on his display.
After studying the statements, I have come up with a chief suspect: Mr Peter Scaithe. I felt that he had the strongest motive and the greatest chance of killing Simon Delmore. Peter had an opportunity to kill Simon between the time of 9.00 and 9.15 pm. The point, which made me feel that Peter was the likely killer, was the motive he had. I eventually discovered his motive after a lot of investigation. The information I was given about Simon and Peter was as follows:
- Peter had failed his science exam twice, but mysteriously passed on his third try.
- Peter had lost his briefcase before the day of the murder.
- Peter was the star metalworker.
- Peter was suspected to have cheated in order to pass his science exam on his third attempt.
The following clues were given by other pupils giving me more of an idea about what actually happened and whether it was Peter or not:
- Miss Joanne Smith suspected Simon of stealing Pete’s briefcase because they both did not get along with each other very well.
- Mr William Jones told me that Simon was not a skilled metalworker, but Peter was and Simon had apparently ‘made’ a metal sculpture for the exhibition. He is suspected to have got Peter to make the sculpture for him, possibly by blackmail.
From this information I came up with the following theory about what actually happened:
- Peter had cheated in order to pass his science exam. He did this in the following steps and then eventually ending it by the death of Simon Delmore:
- The exam paper was on the computer in the computer room and in order to get in the room, an L3 key was needed.
- Peter took an imprint of the key from the L3 key belonging to Miss Ella Dews, the senior librarian. It is likely that a soft art material, such as clay, was used since it was in the art area.
- Peter was the skilled metalworker so he found it easy to make a copy of an L3 key from the cast.
- The key was used to get into the computers room and steal the exam paper and put it into his briefcase.
- At this point, Simon must have stolen the briefcase, probably because he thought it might be useful. The briefcase would contain the stolen exam paper.
- After realising what was going on by the contents of the briefcase, he decided to blackmail Peter to make him a metal sculpture.
- On the night of the killing, Peter went to get the briefcase back from Simon, who was in the library, during the interval of the concert.
- Found Simon with the briefcase, who questioned him about the exam paper. Simon refused to give the briefcase back so he could continue blackmailing Peter.
- A struggle starts, which explains the signs of struggle in the exhibition area in the library. During the struggle the exam paper is ripped.
- Out of sheer rage and anger, Peter picked up the nearest weapon, which was the carving gouge and stabbed Simon in the abdomen causing the death.
- The piece of torn paper found clenched in Simon’s hand when he was found, was from the struggle of the exam paper with Peter. The initials ‘P.Q’ were written on the piece of paper, which are the initials of the head of the computer room- Mr. P. Quarmby. The word ‘Scitick’ is also on the piece of paper. This may refer to the file name and therefore proving that Peter had cheated to pass his exam.
I can therefore conclude that Mr Peter Scaithe is my prime suspect for the death of student Simon Delmore. If Mr Scaithe is taken to court, it will be for manslaughter, not murder, since it is not a premeditated attack.
