Noah cycled past man later found with his laptop, inquest told

The inquest into Noah Donohoe's death has been told he cycled past a man, who was later found with his laptop, during the early stages of his journey on the day he disappeared.

But the inquest heard there was no interaction between the two on the day.

A barrister for Fiona Donohoe, Noah's mother, told the inquest that CCTV footage captured Daryl Paul standing on the street as Noah cycled past the Queen's Quarter housing building shortly after the schoolboy left his home off the Ormeau Road in south Belfast on the evening of 21 June 2020.

Paul of Cliftonville Avenue previously pleaded guilty to stealing a rucksack containing Noah's laptop and schoolbooks after finding it.

At the time, Paul's lawyer said his client had no personal contact with Noah at any stage and the theft was "opportunistic".

The judge in that case was also told that Paul led a chaotic lifestyle, and drink and drug abuse had left him needing medical treatment.

Sentencing Paul to three months in jail, the judge made it clear that no penalty was being imposed in relation to who the items belonged to when they were stolen.

At the inquest on Tuesday morning, CCTV footage was played showing various stages of Noah's last bicycle journey from south Belfast to his final destination in the north of the city.

One of the first pieces of CCTV footage showed the schoolboy cycling along University Street, a short distance from his home, towards the lower Ormeau Road.

The Donohoe family barrister explained to the coroner, Mr Justice Rooney, and the jury, that Daryl Paul could be seen standing outside the Queen's Quarter housing building along University Street at the same time as Noah cycled past shortly after the schoolboy left his home.

In what the barrister described as "a massive coincidence", she said Paul found Noah's laptop later that day on the other side of the city, along the final stages of the schoolboy's journey into north Belfast before he went missing.

The lawyer outlined the sequence of events during the cross examination of a PSNI witness.

Det Sgt Gardiner was part of the criminal investigation department (CID) investigation into the schoolboy's disappearance.

He took responsibility for coordinating the collection of CCTV when the CID took charge of the investigation three days after Noah went missing on 21 June 2020.

He was being questioned extensively about gaps and timing inconsistencies around the collection of CCTV footage along the route taken by Noah after his departure from his home until he appeared naked later that day, before his disappearance, in north Belfast.

Gardiner was asked if finding and examining additional CCTV footage could have assisted in placing Daryl Paul in the area.

He accepted that it could have assisted the investigation if taken in isolation.

However, the witness emphasised that the goal of the investigation was to find out if "an event" happened along the route to cause Noah to part with his belongings.

He also explained that due to "finite resources" it was necessary to prioritise different aspects of the investigation and police officers were deployed to "other jobs and other duties" as part of the investigation.

The witness also told a barrister for the PSNI that he doesn't think he has ever had "so many people" dedicated to CCTV aspects of an investigation.

Following Tuesday morning's evidence, the coroner agreed to lift a reporting restriction, in relation to Daryl Paul, imposed yesterday.

A barrister for Paul told the coroner on Monday that there was no physical interaction between his client and Noah when the schoolboy cycled past.

He also explained that Daryl Paul was captured on CCTV in Botanic Avenue shortly after Noah's last known sighting, meaning that he could not have had any contact with the schoolboy in north Belfast.

He also referred to "rumours" that Daryl Paul could have interacted with Noah in north Belfast, saying "that cannot have happened".

He said the evidence demonstrated that Daryl Paul was on the "other side of the city" while Noah was cycling towards his last known destination.

A barrister for Fiona Donohoe said this matter is not in dispute and is not being contested, while a barrister for the coroner said it was "the first time it's been spelt out" in categoric terms that this matter is not in dispute.