The schoolboy was found dead in the north Belfast culvert after going missing in June 2020.
Failings by a Stormont department around its management of access to a water culvert in north Belfast possibly contributed to the death of schoolboy Noah Donohoe in June 2020, an inquest jury in the city has found.
The jury found there were no police failings that contributed to the 14-year-old’s death – after unanimously agreeing that he died before he was reported missing.
However jurors identified a series of subsequent investigative errors by officers that impacted the ability of the jury to reach conclusions on aspects of the long-running case.
The findings were read to Belfast Coroners’ Court by the foreman of the jury after 32 hours of deliberations.
Noah’s body was found in an underground water tunnel in north Belfast and a post-mortem examination concluded that the cause of his death was drowning.
While the jury found it was not “probable” that failings by the Department of Infrastructure contributed to Noah’s death, they did agree that it was “possible”.
Jurors said a failure to identify the culvert entrance as a location that the public could possibly access, meant no warning signs were erected at the location and it was only covered by a debris screen.
The jury foreman added: “As a consequence, Noah was able to access the culvert via the debris screen.”
Noah, a pupil at St Malachy’s College, went missing after leaving home in south Belfast on his bike to meet two friends in the Cavehill area of the city.
He took a detour on his journey and shortly before entering the area where the culvert was located he was captured on CCTV cycling naked.
The case had long been surrounded by mystery, and Noah’s mother Fiona campaigned for answers.
The jury found there was insufficient evidence to explain Noah’s behaviour after he left his house at 5.40pm on June 21. Jurors determined that he died in the culvert between 7pm and midnight that night.
Given Noah was reported missing to police the following day, the jury found that police errors or inaction did not contribute to his death.
However, jurors identified 13 subsequent failings that impacted upon the ability of the inquest to reach a conclusion on aspect/aspects relevant to the circumstances of the death.
Most of the errors related to the police investigation.
