Search of culvert for Noah delayed by 12 hours, lawyer says

A lawyer has suggested that there was a "12-hour delay" searching a culvert for Noah Donohoe.

Noah's body was found more than 600m downstream from a culvert entrance close to where he was last seen alive in north Belfast in June 2020.

The 14-year-old's body was found almost a week after he disappeared.

Sgt Barry Hutchings, who had a leading role in the investigation, has been given evidence for a second day at the inquest into the boy's death.

Questioned at length about what was described by a barrister for Fiona Donohoe, Noah's mother, as "a 12-hour delay" in searching the culvert, Hutchings said the police did not expect to find Noah there at that stage.

"There was nothing to suggest he was in there," he said.

He also explained other searches were taking place in various areas around Belfast, saying: "The pipe was just being searched to discount it".

Asked if search teams opened as many manholes as possible along the tunnel to shout down in the hope of getting a response, the witness replied: "I wasn't expecting to find him alive.

"This was not a rescue, this was a search".

The witness also explained that, based on his experience of missing persons cases, he believed there was an increased possibility that someone would not be found alive if they were still missing 43 hours after they disappeared.

Earlier, he was questioned about when he knew, in his role as a lead police search adviser in the case, about the presence of the culvert close to where Noah disappeared behind houses at Northwood Road.

A witness from the Community Rescue Service had previously told the inquest that he mentioned the culvert to Hutchings, who was off duty at the time, on Monday night on 22 June 2020.

Noah went missing the previous evening.

However, Hutchings explained to the inquest on Wednesday he was only informed about "a stream" at the back of the houses and he first discovered the culvert and sought specialised help to search it when he returned to duty and visited the area the following morning, 23 June.

Asked if he would have sought specialised help sooner if he was aware of the culvert while off duty on Monday night, he replied: "I'd have started the ball rolling".

The police witness also said there was nothing to suggest that a third party was involved in the disappearance of the schoolboy.

However, Hutchings told the inquest that the police investigation was expanded at one point to check on sex offenders in the area.

Hutchings was the main police search advisor (Polsa) during the investigation, and he helped to set the strategy for physical searches in conjunction with the senior investigating officer.

The witness explained how this part of the investigation included a private drone search of an area around the outlet of a water tunnel running into Belfast Lough.

Commenting on the various searches conducted at the time, he said: "There was nothing to suggest that anyone else was involved".

The search operations continued for a number of days without any trace of Noah and the inquest heard other arms of the police were making separate inquiries, including checking computers, bank details, and contacting friends of the missing boy.

Hutchings said this also included looking at "known sex offenders in the area".

In the absence of any breakthrough in the investigation, he said, this was part of a consideration which looked at the possibility that "somebody has taken him"

The inquest heard this was a second police scenario, one which examined if Noah may have been "under the influence of a third party".

The coroner, Mr Justice Rooney, and the jury of nine men and two women heard that the first scenario in the police investigation remained that the schoolboy was "missing voluntarily".

The witness was also questioned about the use of maps as well as gathering information from CCTV footage in the early hours of the investigation.

Hutchings said "it takes time to get information" from CCTV footage.

The witness also told the coroner and the jury that the National Crime Agency had recommended key members of the investigation team should be retained on the investigation "for the foreseeable future" to ensure continuity.

However, he explained that his offer to work an extra day was declined because overtime was not approved.

He said the decision meant that he had to brief a colleague who at that point "knew nothing" about the search operation.

He said: "He had nothing at all, no knowledge of it".

But Hutchings said he did not believe this decision by the Police Service of Northern Ireland caused any delay to the ongoing investigation.

A group of women sat in the public gallery behind Fiona Donohoe during the hearing on Wednedsay.