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You are a detective with the City Police Department.  One sunny afternoon, you and your assistant, Detective Shirley Coombs, are called to investigate a suspicious death.  When you arrive at the scene of the "crime", you are shown into a large, square room.  The only door is the one you have just walked through.  It has been forced open by the Police Department because it was locked on the inside - with the key still in the lock.  There are windows along the opposite side of the room but these are locked and barred and there is no sign of broken glass.  There is no furniture in the room - though there is an open crate tucked in the corner of the room.

The body, which has been laid on the floorboards, is being examined by the Police Department doctor.  "There are no other signs of injury," explains the doctor, "So I can verify that it was hanging that caused his death - unless we discover anything else back at the lab."

"He was swinging from that hook in the ceiling," says the police constable who discovered the body.  "That length of rope was round his neck - though I can't imagine how he managed to climb up there to tie it up."

You and Shirley examine the hook, which is exactly in the centre of the room.  From floor to ceiling is over 3 metres.  The length of rope used to hang the victim is only short.  "He must have been murdered," claims Shirley, "There's no way he could have reached that hook - with a noose round his neck - to hang himself."

"Looks like it," agrees the constable, "The murderer must have made him jump off that crate - but made the mistake of moving it into the corner afterwards.  We're definitely looking at a murder case."

What's your opinion?  Was he murdered?  And how did the murderer manage to lock the door on the inside after he (or she) left the room?

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