The officer also told the inquest he had been “briefed” by a team at Musgrave Street police station in Belfast before giving evidence on Thursday
A police officer has said he cannot explain why he stated in evidence at the inquest into the death of Noah Donohoe that he had been tasked to search for a green coat belonging to the missing schoolboy.
The constable initially told a jury at Belfast Coroner’s Court he had searched a flat for the missing coat, but later conceded he “didn’t believe” he had been told about the item.
The officer also told the inquest he had been “briefed” by a team at Musgrave Street police station in Belfast before giving evidence on Thursday.
The inquest into the death of the schoolboy, which is being heard with a jury, is in its ninth week.
Noah, a pupil at St Malachy’s College, was 14 when his naked body was found in a storm drain tunnel in north Belfast in June 2020, six days after he left home on his bike to meet two friends in the Cavehill area of the city.
A post-mortem examination found the cause of death was likely to be drowning.
The inquest continued on Thursday with evidence from Constable Wharry.
He told the jury that on June 25 2020, four days after Noah disappeared, he was tasked to assist CID with the arrest of a male at a flat in Belfast.
The officer said nobody was in attendance at the address, but it was searched and shortly before 10pm he discovered items of schoolwork belonging to Noah in a rubbish bag in the kitchen of the flat.
Counsel to the coroner Peter Coll asked if the person police had been tasked to arrest on the evening was Daryl Paul.
The officer confirmed this.
Paul, of Cliftonville Avenue, previously pleaded guilty to stealing a rucksack containing Noah’s laptop and school books.
The officer told the court he had been advised that Noah’s laptop, bag and green coat were in the possession of Paul.
The officer said the flat was “extensively” searched but the laptop and green coat were not present.
He said the school books were bagged and taken to Musgrave Street police station.
The officer told the court that despite stating in his original statement there was body-worn camera evidence of the search, he later accepted he had not recorded footage.
The witness was then questioned by counsel for Noah’s mother Fiona Donohoe.
Brenda Campbell showed the witness a statement from Ms Donohoe setting out her concerns about the police investigation into the disappearance of her son, including the failure to recover items of his clothing.
She said: “Did you understand before you got into the witness box today that a concern was the failure of the police to look for Noah’s green coat?”
The officer said he had been “briefed” at Musgrave Street police station before he gave evidence that there had been concerns about the coat.
Ms Campbell said: “It is a concern that for the first time in your evidence, you mentioned three or four times a green coat… and yet it appears nowhere in your statements, nowhere in your contemporaneous notebook.
“You tell us today for the first time you were briefed in relation to the green coat, that you looked for the green coat and that you didn’t find the green coat.”
He said: “I looked for all the items we were told to look for.”The barrister said: “Which you tell us for the first time included the green coat. Is that true?”
He said: “I believe so. We were in the flat, when Daryl Paul was not there we were told items.”
Ms Campbell said: “What were you told?”
The officer responded: “The laptop and the bag.”
She continued: “Anything else?”
Mr Wharry said: “I don’t believe we were told about the green coat.
“We were told about items.”
Ms Campbell said: “You don’t believe you were told about the green coat, why have you told us repeatedly this morning that you were?”
When the officer did not reply, the barrister asked if he was able to answer the question.
He said: “I am not, no.”
Ms Campbell said this was a “serious matter” and “difficult evidence” for Noah’s mother to listen to.
The inquest continues.
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