Key points after 11th week of Noah Donohoe inquest

Need to know

The inquest into the death of the Belfast schoolboy resumed this week following the Easter break

• The inquest into the death of Belfast schoolboy Noah Donohoe, which is being heard with a jury, resumed for its 11th week following the Easter break on Monday.
• It is likely that Noah was alive when he entered a storm drain in north Belfast where he was later found dead, an expert witness told the inquest on Monday. The storm drain tunnel led under the M2 motorway, train tracks and Seaview stadium to Belfast Lough.
• The proceedings at Belfast Coroner’s Court heard a report by Professor Carolyn Roberts, who had been commissioned by the Coroner’s Service, and had visited the site as well as considering “extensive material”.
• In her report, which was read to the inquest, Prof Roberts found that Noah was likely to have climbed through the bars into the storm drain before drowning.
• “The bars of the grille are sufficiently widely spaced that a large child or even a small man could deliberately climb through without undue effort,” her report found. “In my opinion it is hence likely that the boy climbed into (the) culvert entrance alive, slipping between the vertical metal bars of the metal grille.”
• Thursday’s hearing was told that there were “insufficient numbers” of police to clear the public from areas being searched for Noah. A retired PSNI officer said “conspiracy theories” on social media encouraged people to gather in north Belfast, and sections of the crowd were “antagonistic” to police.
• Retired Inspector Menary, who managed the PSNI hazardous environment search (HES) team, told jurors the unit was sent to the scene on June 23 to examine the area surrounding the storm drain. Mr Menary said his team was not deployed to search the culvert until the morning of June 24 because only two personnel were available, clarifying that this was a search and not a rescue team. He entered the culvert for around 40 minutes, which he described as a “very hostile environment”.

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