https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckgylppwz92o
Newly released CCTV footage shows Noah Donohoe leaving his home in south Belfast in the early hours of the day he disappeared
Published 17 October 2025, 12:39 BST
Updated 1 hour ago
A coroner has released a number of videos that show teenager Noah Donohoe leaving his house in the early hours of the day he disappeared, and returning barefoot and without his headphones.
Mr Justice Rooney is investigating the death of the 14-year-old boy whose body was found in a storm drain in north Belfast in June 2020, almost a week after he went missing.
The coroner has asked for anyone who knows where he was going, who he was meeting or where his belongings went to come forth with the information.
CCTV footage shows the schoolboy leaving his home in south Belfast at about 03:34 (BST) on Sunday 21 June 2020 wearing flip flops, a t-shirt and shorts and carrying headphones.
The footage shows Noah Donohoe returning to his home at Fitzroy Avenue at about 04:08 on the same morning barefoot and without his headphones.
The coroner's appeal states that when Noah leaves his home he appears to turn right, walking west towards Queens University.
Noah is next captured on CCTV, returning home, on University Street, coming from the direction of Ormeau Road and walking in the direction of Queen's University.
Then he turns left onto Dudley Street and then right onto Fitzroy Avenue and returning home.
The coroner has appealed for information about where Noah went on that morning, whether he met anyone, what happened to his flip flips and/or his headphones and whether Noah Donohoe had been out early in the morning on any other occasion.
Noah Donohoe's mother posted on social media: "As you can imagine this is beyond difficult but it needs to be shared."
Fiona Donohoe questioned why the footage was released on Friday, five years later after her son was found.
"Why was it not released the week Noah was missing?"
She added that she was "only made aware of this two years after Noah's death".
Noah's body was found in a storm drain in north Belfast in June 2020, almost a week after he went missing
In October it was decided that an inquest into the death of the Belfast schoolboy would be postponed until 2026.
The inquest before a jury was due to begin on 3 November.
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.
The hearing at the beginning of October 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 spectacle-ar_failure
12 comments
Definitely some sorta child criminal exploitation going on here i think
We all know who, we just don’t know know who…. But the cops covering it up sure do. I hope this family some day finds peace.
Bring on the conspiracy theorists
The cops made one almighty fuck up of this case. From start to finish. Incompetent wankers
Unfortunately it looks like the actions of a deeply unwell child the more we see of the case
The psni want certain evidence hidden to protect there sources in the loyalist and republican community’s because they more than likely reached out to them to see if they knew anything/ if they could help
The Katie Simpson murder was at first, and for a long time treated as a suicide. Senior officers blocked others from investigating.
It would not be beyond the realms of possibility that something similar is happening in this case and other cases.
The failure to investigate Robert Howard over Arlene Atkinson’s disappearance also springs to mind.
The police are never going to be infallible but sometimes you have to question their competence or whether they have ulterior motives.
He came off his bike and smacked his head.
I dunno how much experience people on here have with concussion, I’ve a fair bit. It can fuck you up for days. Not just hours. It can make you do the weirdest of things.
There is zero evidence of anyone else being involved.
I’m so sorry for his mum. I have so much sympathy for her, but I do not believe that this is anything other than a very tragic accident.
Ive been reading a lot of people commenting that he looked unwell or was possible suffering from psychosis. I cant see it to be honest. Psychosis is quite rare in early teens. He seemed quite relaxed on the street and on the way back into the bulding he checks his feet for dirt before heading up the stairs. All pretty rational behaviour. It looks like he sneaked out to keep someone or a group
Why only release this now?
Very bizarre, I wonder if he was sleepwalking? People who sleepwalk can open doors and carry out other tasks they have done before.
A tragedy
No harm to the lot of you, but at 13 years of age my Ma would have knocked fuck out of me for fucking off in the middle of the night, and shes saying she didnt know for 2 years? The fuck was she at?
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