Guess Who is the apple thief ?? At the end of class, My mathematics teacher gave us an interesting problem Which is as follow:

Out of six boys exactly two were known to have been stealing apples.
Harry said:Charlie and George.
Donald said:Tom and Charlie
James said:Donald and Tom.
George said:Harry and Charlie.
Charlie said:Donald and James.
Tom couldn't be found.
Four of the five boys interrogated had named one of the miscreants correctly and lied about the other one.The fifth boy had lied outright!
Who stole the apples ??

I tried to apply the logic but failed. I thought three boys have named charlie so charlie must be one of the two, but with the same reasoning I am unable to find the other (though I think this reasoning is wrong as the boys are lying too).
I shall be thankful if you can provide a logical answer to such a great question.

All five boys who are interrogated finger either Charlie or Donald as one of the thieves, with the other four boys cited at least once.  Therefore, if neither Charlie nor Donald is a thief, there would have to be three thieves among the other four boys (since only one boy lies twice).  We conclude that either Charlie or Donald is a thief, but not both (since one of the boys does lie twice, and each boy mentions either Charlie or Donald).
Now if Donald (but not Charlie) were one of the thieves, then James, who fingered Donald and Tom, would have to be lying about Tom.  This would make Donald himself the double liar, meaning that everyone else lied only once.  But that means George and Harry (who fingered each other along with Charlie) are both thieves, which is too many.  So Donald cannot be a thief, which means Charlie is.
Finally, since Charlie is cited as a thief three times, along with George, Tom, and Harry, we know that those three (plus Donald) are innocent, which leaves James as the other thief.
We conclude that the two thieves are Charlie and James.
