His naked body was found in an underground water tunnel on June 27, six days after he left home
Noah Donohoe who was found dead in a storm drain in north Belfast in June 2020(Image: PA Media)
A retired PSNI officer has said there is “absolutely nothing at all” in a photo taken on Noah Donohoe’s phone after his last known sighting that would have helped police find the schoolboy.
The inquest, which is being heard with a jury, is now in its 18th week at Belfast Coroner’s Court.
Noah, 14, had set off on his bicycle from his home in south Belfast on the evening of Sunday June 21, planning to meet two friends in the Cavehill area in the north of the city.
However, he was later seen on CCTV footage cycling along York Road. The last sighting of him was on Northwood Drive.
His naked body was found in an underground water tunnel on June 27, six days after he left home. A post-mortem examination found the likely cause of death was drowning.
On Thursday the inquest heard evidence from retired PSNI Detective Constable Wilson.
Mr Wilson was a digital media investigator (DMI), acting as a “first point of contact” for digital inquiries and was involved in the search of Noah’s Alcatel phone which was found by a member of the public.
The inquest has previously heard evidence from Detective Inspector Cunningham, from the PSNI’s cyber unit, in relation to a photograph of what appears to be a hand captured on the device at 6.50pm on June 21, after he had last been seen.
Under questioning from Declan Quinn, junior counsel to the coroner, Mr Wilson agreed that his job was to review the available information on Noah’s phone and make a “judgment call” as to what should be elevated for further investigation.
The jury viewed notes from Mr Wilson’s diary of his actions on the 24, 25 and 26 of June at which point he said “by far the major priority is to find Noah and find him alive”.
He said the search of the schoolboy’s phone was to find clues as to “what might have triggered him, where might he have gone” and to “try and understand the person”.
Mr Quinn outlined there is “concern from next of kin that this photograph wasn’t tagged” to become part of further inquiries, which Mr Wilson said he is now aware of.
The barrister said the photograph “appears to be taken at a time after Noah had left his home for the last time and after he was last seen in Northwood road”.
Mr Wilson said he didn’t recall seeing the specific photograph but that he “physically opened every photograph and asked if there’s anything that would tell us where that photograph was taken”.
Looking at the picture, which was displayed to the court, Mr Wilson said it is “clear that a person was holding the phone but as to what you could do to identify that person, absolutely nothing”.
He agreed some shrubbery and greenery could be seen in the background, but asked if there was anything that assisted police in finding Noah, he said: “Absolutely nothing at all.”
The retired detective then faced questions from Brenda Campbell KC, representing Noah’s mother Fiona, who said that one way of finding a missing person would be to discern “the possibility of third party involvement”.
Mr Wilson said officers would consider “is there any crime practiced against them or is it a missing person inquiry, but yes you are considering if there’s any other factors at play”, adding that “hypotheses are directed by the senior investigating officers”.
He said he “didn’t recall” if he knew the working hypothesis and his role was to see if anything in digital media could help to find Noah.
Asked by Ms Campbell if it would have been important to know the working hypothesis, Mr Wilson said “irrespective of whether I knew or didn’t know that wouldn’t change anything I was doing at that point” in terms of “interrogating devices”.
“Nothing would have changed whether I knew or didn’t know,” he said.
Ms Campbell questioned the importance of “investigative curiosity” to which Mr Wilson said he “100%” had a curious mindset.
The barrister also said Mr Wilson spoke with Ms Donohoe when Noah had been missing for three days, describing her as “desperate” for news of her son and being “entirely reliant” on the police at that point in time.
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