https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp3vx5dg9gwo

An inquest into the death of Belfast schoolboy Noah Donohoe has been postponed until 2026.

The body of 14-year-old Noah Donohoe was found in a storm drain in north Belfast in June 2020, almost a week after he went missing.

The inquest before a jury was due to begin on 3 November.

Brenda Campbell KC, counsel for Noah's mother Fiona Donohoe, told a hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice in Belfast there were "significant concerns the evidence would not finish by Christmas".

Coroner Mr Justice Rooney said it was disappointing but he hoped to be able to set a date early in 2026 to start the proceedings.

A post-mortem examination found that his death was due to drowning.

The inquest process has been protracted over the past four to five years.

Last year, a senior coroner, Joe McCrisken, recused himself from continuing to preside at the inquest.

Today's hearing was the latest in a lengthy series of preliminary hearings into the case.

Some previous hearings have heard challenges to the granting of a public interest immunity (PII) certificate which would allow the PSNI to withhold some information from the inquest.

Several thousand people joined the schoolboy's family at a protest about the issue in Belfast city centre in 2022.

by pixlrik

4 comments

  1. There is something deeply unsettling about this case and although I don’t condone everything that Fiona Donohoe does or says, I think she has been treated shoddily by the police in this investigation.

    There are so many issues around the case that need explained. Why was he naked? Why were his clothes and bag found in other peoples possessions? How did he get into the storm gate area in order to be able to drown there?

    I can’t remember the exact date it happened but I do remember it was during pandemic times, so there were probably less people around to see stuff that happened, or to intervene, but there has to be more answers out there somewhere that can only be got to via the inquest.

  2. Sadly this is a case of a boy taking his own life or having a horrible accident

    I feel deeply sorry for the family going off the deep end

    The real reason for the police blocking some evidence is more than likely that they used there sources in the loyalists paramilitaries to look for him / find out if they knew anything and can’t reveal that publicly without being exposed

  3. I’ve not paid much attention to this, but I’ve struggled to understand what the Noah’s army lot think actually happened. They insinuate a cover up, but of what? Etc

  4. Such a tragic and unsettling case.
    I remember when it happened and we were just at peak Covid conspiracy. George Floyd was dead and Black Lives Matter was kicking off in America.
    I always reckoned the peelers panicked thinking they’d have a Belfast version on their hands… pent up lockdown frustration x righteous anger x badly policed lockdown laws (Sinn Fein funeral etc)

    Add to that the kid was a missing catholic in a loyalist area and conspiracies run amok.

    The arrival of Noah’s army inflames the thing online and a grieving mother snatches at any explanation for her son’s death.

    When there is no credible explanation, conspiracy flourishes

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