Noah Donohoe Inquest Probes Police Failings After Revised Expert Evidence

Overview

• A jury at Belfast Coroner’s Court is continuing a long-running inquest into the death of 14-year-old Noah Donohoe whose post-mortem found drowning as the cause of death on June 27, 2020.
• Detective Chief Inspector Phillips, the senior investigating officer, accepted there were mistakes that left Noah’s mother without answers and apologised for the deterioration in police relations with the family.
• Dr Seena Fazel revised his earlier view that the death was “likely suicide” and now says there is no clear psychiatric explanation, while forensic psychologist Dr Louise Bowers told the court Noah may have shown signs of a rapid psychotic disturbance before he disappeared.
• Engineer Jeremy Benn described the culvert where Noah was found as a ‘medium risk’ and agreed designers must consider reasonably foreseeable access to inlets and bars, with photographs showing metal bars and steps leading into the inlet.
• The inquest has exposed investigative gaps: police house-to-house logs identified hundreds of potential witnesses but at least two people who saw Noah were not formally interviewed, a retired officer admitted plotting an inaccurate phone-location pin, and jurors are testing whether those errors hampered the search and public confidence.