Everything you need to know after week three of Noah Donohoe inquest

Need to know

The inquest is now in recess until Monday, February 16.

Everything you need to know after week three of the inquest into Noah Donohoe’s death

• The third week of the inquest into the death of Belfast schoolboy Noah Donohoe took place at Belfast Coroner’s Court from Monday, February 2 to Thursday, February 5. Witnesses this past week included north Belfast residents who heard screams on the night Noah disappeared; those who saw his bike and helmet and discovered his mobile phone and police who dealt with the investigation.
• Gemma McMullan, who lives in Northwood Parade, told the jury on Monday she had been reading after midnight having put her son to bed on the night of June 21 2020 when she heard a scream.
• Ms McMullan said: “I got up, went into my bathroom, which is at the back of my house, as this is where the scream sounded like it came from. I opened the window wide and had a good look about, there was no one around. My security lights had not come on, there were no noises at all, and it was pitch black. Due to the high-pitched sound of the screen I assumed it was either a young person or a female.”
• Also on Monday, Sandra Semple recalled living in Premier Drive, close to the wasteland where Noah’s body was found. She had been sleeping downstairs in her house in the early hours of June 22: “At about 3am I was woken by a noise at my back door, it was the back door handle being tried. The back door was locked, and whoever was at the back door was moving the handle up and down as if to open it.”
• Ms Semple said she had been scared and hid under the blankets after hearing someone trying to get into her house that night.
• Earlier on Monday, Chris Morrow, a resident of Northwood Road, said he had been visiting a relative in the road on the evening Noah went missing. Mr Morrow told the hearing he saw a black bike on its side on the footpath as he was leaving.
• He said the following day when he finished work he noticed a black helmet on the street and alerted police after seeing a social media post about a missing boy. Mr Morrow told the inquest he did not see Noah in the area.
• A statement from Lauren Russell, another resident, said she had gone to check her front door was locked when she saw a navy jacket lying over a neighbour’s wall. She went outside and saw a pair of dark trainers with a bright orange or yellow Nike tick on the ground. She said: “When I looked at it, it was as if somebody had placed them there.”
• The first police witness gave evidence on Tuesday. The officer, who was a constable at the time, said he was made aware of a missing person investigation on the evening of June 21 2020. He spoke to Fiona Donohoe on the phone and later attended her home address in south Belfast, hours after Noah had gone missing.
• The officer said he was “content” with the notes he took during his initial meeting with the schoolboy’s mother as he faced questioning into why he had made only six lines of notes in his pocket notebook about the meeting with Fiona.
• Also on Tuesday, the inquest heard about the moment Noah’s mobile phone was discovered while he was missing. Adelaide Armstrong said she was walking in Castleton Park on June 22 2020, the day after Noah disappeared, when she saw a black mobile phone lying in a grassy area.
• Ms Armstrong said she turned the phone back on after charging it and saw there were missed calls from a number listed as “Mum”. She told the court: “I think I actually tried ringing that number first, and was just ringing out. And then I saw another number, and I tried to ring that, that was the police.”
• Wednesday saw witnesses tell the jury of hearing screams and being woken by a “white flash” on the night Noah went missing. Tanya Brown, who lives at Premier Drive, said she was in bed at around midnight on the night of June 21 2020: “I heard what sounded like a scream . . . it sounded like a girl screaming.” Her husband Grant Brown later recalled being awoken at 3am: “A white flash like a torchlight flashed in my kitchen window.”
• Noah’s appearance on a leisure centre’s CCTV footage seems to have been “missed” by police in the “critical” 24 hours after he went missing, the inquest heard on Thursday.
• A constable who was on duty the day after Noah went missing gave her evidence to the inquest. On Monday June 22 2020, she was tasked with investigating the disappearance of Noah and also communicating with his mother. She described sending a text to Noah’s phone before it was located, emphasising that he was not in trouble, as per police protocol.
• The now detective constable also recalled answering Noah’s phone after it was located when his mother Fiona rang it. She told Ms Donohoe later about Noah’s clothes being found and said she remembered her “say something along the lines that she knew he was maybe no longer alive.
• Counsel for Ms Donohoe, Brenda Campbell KC, ran through police logs in relation to when and where CCTV footage was checked in what she called the “critical” 24 hours after the teenager went missing. She said some CCTV footage “of critical importance” to the early stages of the initial investigation was not recovered and collected by police for days after his disappearance.
• The footage was from the Grove Leisure Centre at York Road in north Belfast, along the road travelled by Noah. The barrister said the leisure centre’s CCTV footage appeared to have been missed by police in the first “critical” 24 hours after he went missing.
• The inquest is now in recess until Monday, February 16.

For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here and sign up to our daily newsletter here.

Follow belfastlive: