Title: Who killed Mr'Claus
1Who killed Mr.Claus
2Who Killed Mr.Claus ?
A seasonal whodunnit
3The body of an elderly man was found by police
in the park in the early morning of 25th
December. The man was wearing a big red coat
and had a big white beard. Police have not yet
been able to identify the man but it is thought
that it may be a Mr.S.Claus from Lapland who was
on business in the area that evening. The victim
was stabbed to death. Police have closed all
gates to the park and forensic teams are in
attendance. The following statement was made a
short time ago by the police.
4Police statement On 24th December at about
11.30pm there was a heavy fall of snow and
though it lasted just half an hour, the ground
was covered to a depth of several inches. Mr.
Claus had been busy going up and down chimneys
in the area and was making his way (around
midnight) to the park to collect his reindeer.
He entered the park through gate D to pick up
his reindeer at point EE but his body was found
at the point shown in the police diagram. When
the body was found, all seven gates to the park
were promptly closed and the footprints in
the snow were examined.
5The facts established so far are these
a) There were the footprints of Mrs. R. Herring,
a 95 year old pensioner, who entered the park
through gate E at five minutes to midnight and
went to her house at EE.
b) There were the footprints of Mr.DeVil, a local
convict and well known to the police, who
entered the park through gate A and went to his
house at AA.
c) There were the footprints of Mr. Scrooge the
local church minister who had entered the park
through gate C and left by gate CC. Mr. Scrooge
told police that he had seen and actually fed
some reindeer in the park, but he saw no one
else.
d) An as yet unknown person had entered the park
at gate B and left at BB. Police have appealed
for this person to come forward and be
identified.
6The police were sure that only these five people
had entered the park since the fall of the snow.
It was a very foggy night but the police were
able to tell from the footprints in the snow
that while some of the routes taken by the
individuals in the park that night were quite
long and winding, no tracks left in the snow
actually crossed each other. However a diagram
showing the individual prints and the paths they
took was not made before the snow melted. This
was because of the heavy fog.
The police have been asked to say that the
reindeer are being cared for at the local deer
park and were very hungry after a busy nights
work.
7Can you help the police with their enquiries and
help to find out exactly
Who killed Mr. Claus
Postscript The police have just arrested a
person who they believe was responsible for the
death of Mr. Claus. No further information is
available at this time. Police enquiries are
continuing.
Have a nice Christmas
Have a nice Christmas
Have a nice Christmas
Have a nice Christmas
8Solution to Who Killed Mr.Claus?
The most obvious routes taken are shown in the
diagram above and from this diagram we see that
Mr. Scrooge is the guilty party as he approaches
nearest to the body.
however
9However the different, less obvious, possibility
of the routes below shows that Scrooge might not
in fact be the guilty person and that perhaps
the pensioner might not be all she seems to be.