Daily Casefile · Forensic
The Golden Plum Substitution
≈ 4 min
On a Friday in late July 1971, a pallet of premium Golden Plum preserves bearing the Harwick Cooperative's gold-seal label was dispatched to a London grocer — but when the crates arrived, the jars contained cheap, overripe greengage pulp. Quality inspector Mabel Crudd was found dead at her workstation the same day, and the cooperative's foreman, Terrence Oast, is suspected of orchestrating the substitution. Your task is to reconstruct the exact sequence of six events that morning, using only the forensic clues recovered from the canning floor.
The scene
Canning line of the Harwick Fruit Cooperative, rural Somerset, 1971
The events
- Mabel Crudd found unresponsive at her workstation
- Foreman Oast diverts trolley P-7 to the rear store
- Detective Constable arrives and seals the canning floor
- Batch of genuine Golden Plum preserve sealed on Line 4
- Mabel Crudd applies gold-seal stickers to the substitute jars
- Substitute pallet crated and loaded onto the dispatch lorry
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This case first aired on July 19, 2026. A fresh forensic runs every morning — same rules, five minutes, one solution.