CHILDREN who went on the trail of a criminal mastermind who stole priceless gems from a family mansion found out it was the dog that did it.
A trail of clues spread throughout the Family Library’s summer reading scheme led to the guilty party – Wordsworth the dog.
The Department of Education and Children’s library holds a scheme each summer to encourage young readers.
This year’s theme was To Catch a Thief, with the children charged with tracking down Lady Ophelia Dumbell’s ruby necklace.
Librarian-in-charge Mary Cousins said: "We planned the theme as a whodunnit and wanted to make sure that everyone taking part had activities to keep them busy during the holidays.
"It was great to see families working together and having so much fun.
"We had more children than ever register for the event and more than ever completing the summer-long challenge, so we’re really thrilled."
Chief Inspector Kevin Willson, who launched the scheme in June, was back at the library on Saturday to hand out prizes.
Brother and sister Josh and Lucy Brown, who produced artwork and writing, received a special award and an even more special certificate from the police.
Christopher Long also received a certificate from CI Willson for being the first junior investigator to correctly guess the culprit.
Brothers Zachery and Archie Elliott received a prize for writing outstanding book reports and - with children divided into teams - Lucas McAdam and Keira Raleigh won awards for being the highest point scorers on the green and purple teams respectively.
Mary said: "There was so much wonderful artwork produced during the event and so much hard work by everyone who took part that we extended the lucky dip draw to three prizes.
"It really was a fantastic event this year and we’re already looking forward to next year."
CI Willson said: "Mary and her team worked very hard in putting together the scheme and it was wonderful to see and hear of all the effort put into it by the children over the summer months.
"The constabulary has been delighted to support it and it is really reassuring to know that there are quite a number of budding detectives out there for the future!"
