Operation Goshawk
The answer
- Culprit
- Erin Doyle
- Who they are
- The deceased’s best friend and 50/50 co-owner of Quill & Co. Events Ltd; aged 30
- Charge
- Murder, contrary to common law
- Motive
- To stop Liv reporting that Erin had embezzled about £18,000 from their events business
- Method
- A single blow to the back of the head with a cast-iron doorstop, after which the body was arranged at the foot of the staircase to look like a drunken fall and the weapon wiped down
- Weapon
- A cast-iron doorstop from the hall, Exhibit RD/4, recovered at the scene
- Time and place of death
- Between 02:00 and 03:30 on Saturday 14 March 2026, at 12 Lypiatt Terrace
- Decisive exhibits
- LR/7 — the Liv-Erin iMessage thread (the £18k confrontation) deleted from Liv’s phone at 02:51 and recovered
- RD/2 — Erin’s fingerprint on Liv’s phone
The sealed answer document
This is the host-only answer key that ships sealed inside the dossier. The walkthrough below is the same solution in readable form.
Sealed solution · A4 PDF.
What happened
On Gold Cup day, Friday 13 March 2026, Liv Marsh pulled the Quill & Co. accounts and saw the hole. At 23:52 she messaged Erin by iMessage: “I’ve seen the Quill accounts. Where’s the £18k? We talk tomorrow.” Erin, who had embezzled about £18,000 from the events business, now faced exposure, the loss of the company and likely prosecution. At 01:10 she posted “crashing night all” in the group WhatsApp to appear settled for the night.
At about 02:30, in the early hours of Saturday 14 March, Erin went back downstairs at 12 Lypiatt Terrace. The row reignited. She struck Liv once on the back of the head with a cast-iron doorstop taken from the hall (Exhibit RD/4), a single heavy impact. Liv had been drinking and zopiclone was present in the house, so Erin arranged the body at the foot of the staircase to read as a drunken fall, then wiped the doorstop down.
The staging fails on the pathology. Dr A. Westwood found a single focused impact to the back of the head with none of the varied, spread injuries a genuine tumble down a staircase produces, and signs the body had been moved (Exhibit LR/14). A real fall does not leave one clean blow in one place.
The clincher is the phone. Erin took Liv’s mobile (Exhibit RD/2) and at 02:51 deleted the Liv-Erin iMessage thread that recorded the £18k confrontation, the one document that tied her to a motive. Her own devices give her away: her Snapchat was active at 02:34 and her WhatsApp “last seen” was 02:49, both long after her claimed 01:10 bedtime. She was back in her room by about 03:10. The body was found by Cara Whitlock at about 09:30 and a 999 call made at 09:34.
The proof chain
Every link is provable from a document the players hold. Follow them in order to reach the only safe verdict.
| # | What it proves | How a player gets there | Exhibit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Not a fall — Liv was struck, not tumbled | The post-mortem records a single focused blow to the back of the head, none of the varied, spread injuries a real staircase fall gives, and signs the body was moved. The drunken-fall staging is broken. | LR/14 |
| 2 | The weapon — the doorstop | The cast-iron doorstop from the hall bears Liv’s blood and matches the wound. It had been wiped, but the blood remained. | RD/4 |
| 3 | Three motives — the chats hand players three suspects | Nate’s drunken jealous row with Liv at 23:30; Sam’s affair, with Liv telling him by Instagram DM at 23:48 that “Cara deserves to know”; and Erin’s £18k, the iMessage at 23:52 confronting Erin over the missing money. | LR/6, LR/8, LR/7 |
| 4 | Nate cleared — the jealous ex was elsewhere | Nate left by Oober at 00:43 to the Queens Hotel; his keycard places him there from 00:58, outside the 02:00 to 03:30 death window. | LR/11 |
| 5 | Sam cleared — the affair is not the killing | Sam shared the room with his partner Cara Whitlock all night; Cara’s statement covers the whole death window. | Cara Whitlock MG11 |
| 6 | Erin’s alibi breaks — she was up and active | Erin posted “crashing night all” in the group WhatsApp at 01:10, but her Snapchat was active at 02:34 (a snap to Liv) and her WhatsApp last seen was 02:49, both well inside the death window. | LR/6, LR/9 |
| 7 | The wipe — the motive thread was deleted | The Liv-Erin iMessage thread (the £18k confrontation) was deleted from Liv’s phone at 02:51 and recovered by forensics. Only the killer had reason and access to remove it. | LR/7, RD/2 |
| 8 | The clincher — Erin’s print is on Liv’s phone | A fingerprint on Liv’s phone screen is identified to Erin, consistent with her handling the victim’s phone to delete the motive thread at 02:51. Erin offers no innocent reason to have held it. | RD/2 |
Why the other leads fall away
Nate Pryce, the jealous on-off ex
Why it looks suspicious. Nate had a loud, drunken, jealous public row with Liv at the after-party at about 23:30, the most visible motive in the pack.
How it is cleared. He left by Oober at 00:43 to the Queens Hotel and his keycard places him there from 00:58 (LR/11), outside the 02:00 to 03:30 death window. He cannot have struck the blow.
Sam Okafor and the affair
Why it looks suspicious. Sam was having an affair with Liv, and at 23:48 she told him by Instagram DM that “Cara deserves to know” (LR/8), a strong silence-her motive.
How it is cleared. Sam shared the room with his partner Cara Whitlock all night; Cara’s statement (MG11) covers the whole death window, so he had no opportunity.
The “drunken fall” at the foot of the stairs
Why it looks suspicious. Liv had been drinking, zopiclone was in the house, and the body lay at the foot of the staircase, exactly the accident the scene was staged to suggest.
How it is cleared. The post-mortem (LR/14) shows one focused blow to the back of the head, not the varied, spread injuries of a real tumble, and that the body was moved. It is a killing dressed as an accident.
Weak contact DNA on the doorstop
Why it looks suspicious. Players may expect the murder weapon (RD/4) to carry the killer’s DNA, and its absence may seem to clear everyone.
How it is cleared. The doorstop sits in a shared rental and Erin wiped it, so contact DNA on it is weak and proves little either way. The case rests on the phone: the deleted motive thread (LR/7) and Erin’s print (RD/2).
The decisive point
The deleted Liv-Erin iMessage thread (LR/7), recovered with Erin’s fingerprint on Liv’s phone (RD/2), is what convicts, backed by the Snapchat alibi break at 02:34 (LR/9). A fair-play nuance: the doorstop sits in a shared rental, so contact DNA on it is weak and proves little on its own; the phone, the deleted motive thread plus Erin’s print, is the decisive evidence.