Doing analysis - your turn!

The day came (sooner than anyone –especially Ms D – thought) that all the main components had been discovered. It was now a case of doing the analysis. So far we had completed stage 1 of analysis (breaking a problem down in to its component parts). It was now time for stage 2 (defining the relationships between those components). In this case the relationship of particular interest were

1.     Between Mr Arthur Court and his assailant (that is, who was the assailant?).

2.     Between the assailant and the security measures (that is, how the assailant committed the crime undetected)

The challenge for you now, dear reader, is perform stage 2 of the analysis. Below you will find the products of Ms D’s work and some other miscellaneous information. Put that together will the previous posts and you have all the relevant facts (and a whole load of irrelevant facts).

Now solve the problems listed above:

1.     Who is the assailant?

2.     How was the crime committed undetected?

If you can suggest the motive, even better!

Better still if you can also suggest changes to security measures that would prevent such an attack being repeated.

It would be most excellent to see how you worked out your conclusions and your assessment of whether they have been arrived at deductively and/or inductively (and how confident you are in the conclusions). If you need to make any assumptions (and you will whether you know it or not), just document them.

In a month or so I shall post the solution, but any solutions received in the meantime (via “comments” link at end of each post) will be posted beforehand for admiration, review and comment.

The game – as Sherlock Holmes (an analyst if ever there was one) would say – is afoot!

Ms D’s data.

Note: There are no cameras in bedrooms!

Who	Location	From	To	Doing what	Seen by camera?
LT	Dining Room	18:00	19:00	Having evening meal	Y
LT	Reception Room	19:00	23:15	Watching TV, some admin work and reading	Y
LT	Lord Todd’s bedroom	23:15	00:59	Getting ready for bed, reading in bed. Hears scream from upstairs, rushes to investigate.	N/A
GG	Corridors	00:59	01:01	Rushes through house to investigate.	Y
LT	AC bedroom	01:01	01:35	Investigating attack on AC, waiting for police	N/A
LT	Reception Room	01:40	03:30	Helping police with their enquiries	Y
LT	LT Bedroom	03:35	-	Sleeping	N/A
AC	Dining room and Kitchen	18:00	19:00	Serving Lord Todd’s evening meal	Y
AC	Kitchen	19:00	19:25	Assisting GG clear up and prepare for tomorrow’s breakfast.	Y
AC	Staff room	19:25	22:00	Watching TV, socialising.	Y
AC	AC bedroom	22:00	00:59	Getting ready for bed, in bed (asleep?), being attacked, screaming.	N/A
BB	Gate house and grounds	18:00	21:00	Guarding	Y
BB	Staff room	21:00	22:30	Watching TV, socialising.	Y
BB	BB bedroom	22:30	00:59	Getting ready for bed, sleeping. Woken when hears scream from downstairs.	N/A
BB	Corridors	00:59	01:02	Rushes through house to investigate.	Y
BB	AC bedroom	01:02	01:35	Investigating attack on AC, waiting for police	N/A
BB	Reception Room	01:40	03:30	Helping police with their enquiries	Y
BB	BB Bedroom	03:35	-	Sleeping	N/A
CC	Gate house and grounds	18:00	21:00	Guarding	Y
CC	Staff room	21:00	22:30	Watching TV, socialising.	Y
CC	CC bedroom	22:30	00:59	Getting ready for bed, sleeping. Woken when hears scream from downstairs..	N/A
CC	Corridors	00:59	01:02	Rushes through house to investigate.	Y
CC	AC bedroom	01:02	01:35	Investigating attack on AC, waiting for police	N/A
CC	Reception Room	01:40	03:30	Helping police with their enquiries	Y
CC	CC Bedroom	03:35	-	Sleeping	N/A
DD	Dining room	18:00	19:00	Tasting LT’s evening meal, protecting LT.	Y
DD	Reception room	19:00	23:15	Protecting LT.	Y
DD	LT’s bedroom	23:15	23:20	Inspection of LT’s bedroom	Y
DD	DD bedroom	23:20	00:59	Getting ready for bed, sleeping, Woken when hears scream from across corridor.	N/A
DD	Corridors	00:59	01:01	Rushes through house to investigate.	Y
DD	AC bedroom	01:01	01:35	Investigating attack on AC, waiting for police	N/A
DD	Reception Room	01:40	03:30	Helping police with their enquiries	Y
DD	DD Bedroom	03:35	-	Sleeping	N/A
EE	Staff room	18:00	22:00	Eating evening meal, watching TV and socialising.	Y
EE	EE bedroom	22:00	00:59	Getting ready for bed, sleeping, Woken when hears scream from across corridor..	N/A
EE	Corridors	00:59	01:00	Rushes through house to investigate.	Y
EE	AC bedroom	01:00	01:35	Investigating attack on AC, waiting for police	N/A
EE	Reception Room	01:40	03:30	Helping police with their enquiries	Y
EE	EE Bedroom	03:35	-	Sleeping	N/A
FF	Staff room	18:00	22:00	Eating evening meal, watching TV and socialising.	Y
FF	FF bedroom	22:00	00:59	Getting ready for bed, sleeping, Woken when she hears scream from across the corridor.	N/A
FF	Corridors	00:59	01:02	Rushes through house to investigate.	Y
FF	AC bedroom	01:02	01:35	Investigating attack on AC, waiting for police	N/A
FF	Reception Room	01:40	03:30	Helping police with their enquiries	Y
FF	FF Bedroom	03:35	-	Sleeping	N/A
GG	Kitchen	18:00	19:25	Preparing LT evening meal, clearing up and preparing for breakfast.	Y
GG	Staff room	19:25	21:30	Watching TV and socialising.	Y
GG	GG bedroom	21:30	00:59	Getting ready for bed, sleeping, Woken when hears scream from across the corridor.	N/A
GG	Corridors	00:59	01:02	Rushes through house to investigate.	Y
GG	AC bedroom	01:02	01:35	Investigating attack on AC, waiting for police	N/A
GG	Reception Room	01:40	03:30	Helping police with their enquiries	Y
GG	GG Bedroom	03:35	-	Sleeping	N/A

Camera sitings that could not be reasonably (in Ms D’s judgement) be accounted for by witness statements:

1.     Couple of sitings of various staff members going from their bedrooms to bathroom and back again. Not considered significant.

2.     11:20-11:22: Camera 1.b.iii Dark shadows (assumed to be person) moving along fire escape easterly direction. Unable to determine which route taken exactly – unable to conclusively state it was a person either. As the camera is pointed from the roof at the ground along the wall of the house it is difficult to be precise about details of movement on the fire escape.

3.     11:26-11:28: Camera 1.d.i Dark shadows (assumed to be person) moving along fire escape southerly direction. Unable to determine which route taken exactly – unable to conclusively state it was a person either. As the camera is pointed from the roof at the ground along the wall of the house it is difficult to be precise about details of movement on the fire escape.

4.     11:51-11:53: Camera 1.d.i Dark shadows (assumed to be person) moving along fire escape northerly direction. Unable to determine which route taken exactly – unable to conclusively state it was a person either. As the camera is pointed from the roof at the ground along the wall of the house it is difficult to be precise about details of movement on the fire escape.

5.     11:33-11:37: Camera 1.b.iii Dark shadows (assumed to be person) moving along fire escape westerly direction. Unable to determine which route taken exactly – unable to conclusively state it was a person either. As the camera is pointed from the roof at the ground along the wall of the house it is difficult to be precise about details of movement on the fire escape.

Miscellaneous information

1.     Arthur Court’s bedroom contained

a.     single bed

b.    wardrobe

c.     desk with laptop computer (and wireless internet), radio/cd player, desk light. Draws contained personal correspondence and general stationery

d.    desk chair

e.     arm chair

f.     small table with plasma TV on it

Note: the knife used in the attack was not found in the room and has not been found.

2.     External house security lights motion activated – motion sensors point out from house towards grounds.

3.     Medical opinion obtained from the hospital that Arthur Court was taken to is that having been stabbed and the blade having grazed his heart, Arthur would not (and could not) scream: his mind and body would have gone straight in to shock explaining the look on his face when found.

4.     There are fire escapes criss-crossing the front, sides and rear of the house connecting every first, second and attic room with the ground via weight driven drop down extensions from first floor (so they cannot be used to break in to the property!). Lord T’s concerns about risks extend far and wide! All employees are instructed that fire escapes can only be used in event of fire and there is a heavy fine or even dismissal for improper use.

5.     There was no evidence that any of the fire escapes had been extended down to ground level. Nor was there any evidence of unexplained footprints around the base of Todd Towers.

6.     A deposit of £3,500 was paid in to Arthur Court’s bank account the day he was attacked. The payee was a company solely owned by Lord Todd. It was BACS payment that had been initiated 3 days earlier. Lord Todd has declined to explain the reason for the payment saying it was an unconnected personal matter.

7.     External cameras are general purpose security cameras not equipped with infra-red or other night time viewing technology.

8.     Erica Echoes thinks she saw Lord Todd “doing something” by Arthur Court’s desk during the period everyone was in the room waiting for the police. She cannot be sure what (or even if) Lord Todd was doing.