Nurse denies making anonymous call during Noah Donohoe search

A nurse has denied making an anonymous call to the police during the search for Noah Donohoe.

Noah's body was found six days after he disappeared in 2020.

The nurse, who was granted anonymity and appeared at the inquest behind a screen, was giving evidence about the anonymous call during which a caller told the police that a man had possessions belonging to the missing boy.

The man, Daryl Paul, was jailed in 2021 after he pleaded guilty to stealing a rucksack containing Noah's laptop and schoolbooks after finding the bag on the day the boy went missing on 21 June 2020.

Three days after Noah went missing, the police received an anonymous call from a woman who claimed to have been visiting a friend at a house in the Victoria Parade area of north Belfast on the evening of Noah's disappearance.

The caller told the police that Paul called to the house while she was there and offered to sell a laptop.

The anonymous caller also told the police that Paul had a plastic bag which contained a rucksack, a green coat, the laptop, and a book with Noah Donohoe's name.

In a statement to the inquest, Paul who was being visited by the nurse on the evening of Noah's disappearance, named her as the person who made the anonymous call to the police.

Paul also made a statement in which he said he thought the anonymous call may have been made by the nurse.

The call, in which the caller said she had to remain anonymous because of concerns for her family, was played at the inquest while the witness was on the stand.

During her evidence to the inquest on Monday, the nurse was shielded from the public by a curtain. However, she was visible to Noah's mother, Fiona Donohoe, the coroner, the jury, and legal teams.

The witness said that she only became aware in recent weeks that her name had been given to the inquest.

She explained that she did visit a friend's house on the evening of Noah's disappearance for the purpose of collecting bingo books.

She explained that online bingo became popular during the Covid-19 lock down.

The witness explained that she did know Paul's family, but she insisted that she had not seen him for about 20 years.

She denied being the person who made the call saying she had been "tortured" by being linked to the case and she insisted, "It's not me".

The witness was told that the police had her name, address, and date of birth during follow-up enquiries and she was then asked if she was sure, it was not her.

She replied: "Absolutely not, no."

At the conclusion of her evidence, the Coroner Mr Justice Rooney asked the witness if she had been contacted by anyone before coming forward to give evidence.

She replied: "No."

The coroner also asked her if she or her family had been threatened before she gave evidence and she again said, "no".

The jury at the inquest has been reduced from 11 to 10 after the coroner discharged one member for "a genuine reason" after the juror advised the inquest that he recognised a recent witness in the case.

Paul was jailed in 2021 for stealing Noah's laptop after he pleaded guilty to stealing a rucksack containing the laptop and schoolbooks after finding the bag on the day the boy went missing in June 2020.

He tried to pawn the laptop while a major search was underway for the missing boy.

The 33-year-old, who had an address at Cliftonville Avenue in north Belfast at the time, was jailed for three months.

The inquest has previously heard that Noah cycled past Paul at the beginning of his journey from his south Belfast home on the day he disappeared in north Belfast.

Paul was standing outside Queens Quarter Housing on University Street at the time.

However, despite the "massive coincidence" of the schoolboy cycling past the man who found and stole his laptop on the other side of the city later that evening, all legal parties at the inquest have accepted that there was no physical interaction between the two prior to Noah's disappearance.