Noah Donohoe inquest: Jury points to possible Stormont failings over death of schoolboy

Sunday June 21 2020

3.34am: Noah is seen on CCTV leaving his home on Fitzroy Avenue off the Ormeau Road in south Belfast, turning towards the direction of Queen’s University before returning at 4.08am, barefoot and without his headphones. This footage was first made public in October 2025 as part of an inquest appeal for information.

5.40pm: After a day at home, Noah sets out by bike, wearing a cycling helmet and a backpack, to meet friends in the Cavehill area in the north of the city.

5.41pm: Noah’s friend sends him a message via Instagram telling him the planned trip had been cancelled. He is not thought to have received it as he did not have internet access on his phone outside his home wi-fi.

5.42pm: Noah is captured on CCTV passing Daryl Paul outside Queen’s Quarter housing building.

5.57pm: Noah is seen cycling along North Queen Street.

5.59pm: Noah is seen falling from his bike at bottom of North Queen Street.

6.01pm: Noah is seen cycling past the Grove Wellbeing Centre.

6.02pm-6.05pm: A number of sightings of Noah are reported on Northwood Crescent and Northwood Road, and CCTV footage from a property shows him cycling naked on his bike. The last sighting was of Noah going between two homes towards waste ground where the storm drain was located.

6.50pm: A picture of a hand is taken on Noah’s phone. His phone is later found by a member of the public who hands it into the police.

9.44pm: Noah’s mother Fiona reports him missing to the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI). The police response is described as starting during the phone call which ended at 10.10pm with Noah assessed as being of “medium risk”.

– Monday June 22 2020

Search efforts involving police continue overnight with the police air support unit focused on the Cavehill area, and the Community Rescue Service (CRS) are mobilised.

– Wednesday June 24 2020

Police hold a press conference making an appeal for information to help find Noah, highlighting he had potentially suffered a head injury following the witness report that he had fallen from his bike.

As public interest grew in the case huge crowds turned out to try and help with the search for Noah across areas of north Belfast. Police hail a breakthrough after a member of the public handed in Noah’s backpack and his laptop computer.

Meanwhile the PSNI Hazardous Awareness Search (HES) team start searching the storm drain using camera equipment. They report their work being hampered by a “hostile” crowd which had gathered at Linear Park.

– Thursday June 25 2020

The PSNI’s Search and Rescue team divers take over exploring the storm drain tunnels amid continuing search efforts.

– Saturday June 27 2020

9.45am: Police find Noah’s body in the storm drain underneath a Translink depot, more than 600 metres downstream from where he had last been seen in the area of a culvert inlet behind houses at Northwood Road.