Missing person expert says Noah police search was 'very good'

A policing expert on missing person cases has described the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) search for Noah Donohoe as "very good".

An inquest has been hearing evidence from PSNI Chief Inspector (Philip) Robinson who specialises in missing person cases and has trained and studied in the field at home and abroad.

He has also trained hundreds of officers in respect of missing person cases.

Robinson conducted an internal compliance review of aspects of the PSNI investigation, and he concluded that there were a number of areas where improvements could be made but overall, he was satisfied the investigation was "gripped well at an early stage".

Asked by a barrister for the coroner about how he considered the substance of the investigation, the police witness said it had been "very good, a good response" other than what he described as some technical issues he identified.

He also explained the significance of the PSNI decision to pass the investigation into Noah's disappearance to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), saying: "In my time as a district inspector I never passed a missing person case to CID."

Asked if he noted any sign of police fatigue during the investigation, he replied, "No, it was actually quite the opposite."

The inquest heard that a separate internal review by another senior PSNI officer had raised issues about possible "missing person fatigue" and "a lack of ownership" in some of the supervision of the case.

The witness said he believes the reference to "missing person fatigue" by a colleague may have referred to the high number of missing person reports received by the PSNI about children in care who subsequently turn up safely.

Asked if it may have been the case that the police considered the disappearance of Noah as "just another missing person, he'll turn up", Robinson said he disagreed because of how quickly it was moved to a high-risk case.

The PSNI classified Noah's disappearance as high risk a few hours after receiving a report from his mother that he was missing.

The inquest has previously heard that the fire service was not asked to assist in the search for Noah, around a culvert close to where he was last seen, because the police were conducting a search as opposed to a rescue operation.

The witness said any request for assistance from the fire service would depend on "what you are asking them to do and how busy they are".

In his experience, he said, there had been "minimal engagement" between the two services in missing person cases.

Asked if there were any protocols between the PSNI and the fire service around missing person cases, Robinson replied: "I don't' believe so."

The witness also explained that police officers were working 12-hour shifts at the time of the investigation because of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, in contrast to their usual eight-hour shift patterns prior to the Covid-19 outbreak.

Noah Donohoe's body was found in an underground water tunnel around 600 metres downstream from the culvert close to where he was last seen in North Belfast in June 2020.

The 14-year-old had abandoned his bicycle on a pavement at the end of the Northwood Road cul de sac before his disappearance.

He was then observed naked and running behind houses towards waste ground where the entrance to the culvert inlet was unlocked.