Police heard Noah Donohoe had been acting ‘strangely’, inquest told

By Helen William, Press Association

Police heard that a boy who was later found in a storm drain had been behaving “strangely” before he left home for the final time, an inquest has been told.

The naked body of Noah Donohoe, 14, was discovered in a storm drain tunnel in north Belfast in June 2020, six days after he left home on his bike to meet two friends in the Cavehill area of the city.

Detective Sergeant Gardiner was being questioned at the inquest at Belfast coroner’s court about CCTV footage collected from the Fitzroy Avenue area where Noah lived and about why the boy turned right after leaving his home.

Brenda Campbell KC, counsel for Noah’s mother Fiona Donohoe, said he could have turned left from his home to reach the Ormeau Road, where he eventually went.

Gardiner, who co-ordinated the CCTV in the investigation, said “that was never asked”, adding: “In terms of CCTV, no. The priorities were elsewhere.

“The information we had was that he was behaving strangely in the house.”

The court heard “his mum had reported him emotional”.

Gardiner responded: “He lied about where he was going.

“He said he was going to Cavehill with his friends and his friends said that was not the case.”

Campbell asked if the investigation was proceeding with the view that Noah had lied.

Gardiner said “no, but it was unusual”.

The jury at the inquest, which is now in its fifth week, were told that a later witness would help to look further into this matter.

Campbell said her line of questioning about the CCTV footage is because she is “exploring the limitations of what we can understand about Noah’s journey based on the limitations of the evidence”.

She pointed out Noah being at the same place at two different times, or in various places at the same time “which is not physically possible”,  according to the material gathered about the route he took.

The court heard there was some footage collected in 2020 that was not watched until 2022.

Asked about why there was not more clips from the Holylands area, Gardiner said that inquiries were taking place over different Belfast areas.

He said: “The priorities at this stage were the route, the backpack and the phone.”

Campbell suggested “we never had a full picture of his movements in the Holylands when he left home for the last time”, to which Gardiner said “no, we never”.