YOUNG sleuths were put to work yesterday to try to work out which student had closed down their school.

Luckily for the budding detectives at Longfield School, in Darlington, the five suspects were fictional and the scenario was just a game.

Thirty year eight pupils took part in the crime scene investigation day, which was part of an enrichment week at the school.

Staff set up and filmed a crime scene and the described the scenario.

Someone had caused a gas leak that closed the school down. The police were involved and it was the pupils' responsibility to find the guilty party.

The trouble-maker had left various clues, like a clipping of hair and some liquid. The sleuths were provided with biographies of five student suspects and given a deadline to solve the crime.

Deputy headteacher Calvin Kipling said that just one student out of 30 had been successful.

Christopher Wray, 13, detected that Rod, who had bleached blond hair, was the guilty party and he had been part of an unusual gang initiation ceremony which had caused the gas leak.

Mr Kipling said: "It was a really fun day, the other students were well on the way to working out it was Rod, but they ran out of time."

The crime scene investigation is just one activity that Longfield pupils have enjoyed this week.