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Hey everyone and welcome to another episode of Ireland Crimes and Mysteries. I'm your host Niels and I'm so grateful to have you with me here today. Now before we open today's case file I want to talk to you about a new ritual I brought into my own morning. We're delighted to be joined by our new sponsor Revive Active. If you're like me your mornings are a little bit of a whirlwind and the last thing you want is a handful of tablets to have to take. Revive Active is an Irish brand that's simplified everything. It's one single sachet with 26 vitamins, minerals and amino acids that's simply mixed into water to create a really tasty drink.
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It was almost one o'clock in the morning on Friday, 3rd of July, 2026.
01:20
The jury at Noah Donoghue's inquest had spent around 25 hours over three days trying to answer 10 questions about the 14-year-old's death.
01:30
Every answer had to be unanimous, but the jurors could not agree.
01:36
At 12.50am, the coroner, Mr Justice Kevin Rooney, adjourned the inquest until a later date.
01:43
He did not discharge the jury, so no findings were delivered.
01:48
By then the court had heard oral evidence from 76 witnesses and received statements from another 42.
01:55
The jury had seen CCTV, maps, police records and medical evidence.
02:01
Six years earlier, Noah had left his home in South Belfast on his bicycle to meet friends at Cave Hill Country Park. He never arrived.
02:11
The inquest was meant to answer questions about Noah's journey, the search that followed and the storm drain where he was found.
02:19
After hearing evidence from 118 people, the jury could not agree.
02:25
Now some of you may remember that I did cover Noah's case in March of 2025. Now this is a follow-up to that episode but that doesn't mean you have to have listened to the previous one to follow this one.
02:36
Now if you heard that earlier episode you may notice that a few details including the timings are different.
02:42
The earlier episode reflected the information publicly available at the time. This one will follow the evidence that was heard at the inquest.
02:51
So at the time of recording, some matters remain disputed and the inquest has not yet concluded. Noah was Fiona Donoghue's only child.
03:02
She raised him as a single parent and the two of them were extremely close.
03:08
In a video statement played at the inquest, Fiona said they had a beautiful, magical bond.
03:15
They loved taking long walks together and talking about philosophy, books and whatever else Noah had become interested in. Fiona described him as an upbeat and positive boy with a lust for life and learning.
03:28
She spoke about his empathy for other people, his love of music and how proud she was of him. She said he was a constant source of wonder to her. Noah himself was less comfortable with praise. He was exceptionally bright but also very humble and could become really embarrassed when attention was drawn to his achievements.
03:47
Fiona recalled that they had even made plans for years into the future.
03:53
Once Noah had achieved his ambition, he was going to build a house with an annex where his mother could live.
03:59
Fiona would then help him look after his own children.
04:03
At St Malachy's College, Noah was one of the top academic achievers in his year. The school principal, Deirdre McClusker, remembered him as a lovely and engaging boy.
04:13
He was academically gifted, but he was also involved in sports and music, modern languages and the Duke of Edinburgh award scheme.
04:21
He played rugby and football and took part in school concerts.
04:25
Noah achieved a distinction in his Grade 1 examination and had already progressed to work on Grade 5. He played in the College Orchestra, led the cellos in the Junior String Orchestra and also sang in the choir.
04:38
David Strange, the Head of Music at St Malachy's, remembered Noah as bright, enthusiastic and always willing to ask questions.
04:46
He was also witty and loved a bit of light banter. At times, he could have the entire class in fits of laughter.
04:53
Mr Strange remembered Noah's expressive face and his bright smile.
04:57
If Noah made a mistake while playing the cello, he found it difficult to hide his frown.
05:03
He had already performed as a soloist at the Ballymina Music Festival, overcoming his nerves to play in front of an audience.
05:10
Noah had also been invited to travel to Philadelphia with a musical group. The trip was cancelled because of the pandemic, but he had been looking forward to running up the steps made famous by the Rocky films and returning home with a large supply of American sweets.
05:26
His friends remembered the same intelligence, curiosity and humour.
05:31
Jay Tierney remembered Noah as one in a million and said his mind was always 14 steps ahead.
05:38
During lockdown, the two boys spoke on Skype almost every day. Some of those calls lasted for eight hours.
05:45
Noah recommended books to Jay, including George Orwell's 1984, and made playlists of classical music for him.
05:53
He'd also been using lockdown to learn coding because he thought it might be useful to him in his future career.
05:59
Other friends remembered that Noah carried a notebook and would write down things he had learned so that he could remember them.
06:06
Charlie Rocks, one of Noah's closest friends at school, described him as intelligent, funny and friendly.
06:13
He said Noah seemed to know almost everyone.
06:17
His friends said he was never nasty to anybody. He was caring, endlessly inquisitive and always asking questions.
06:25
At the inquest, Noah's friends, teachers and Fiona were asked about his state of mind in the days before he disappeared.
06:33
Charlie said Noah had seemed upbeat and was looking forward to lockdown ending.
06:37
He had never heard him express an interest in storm drains or tunnels and had no immediate concerns about his mental health.
06:45
Jay said Noah had experienced rough patches during lockdown, as other people had, but remembered him as happy, energetic and excited about the future.
06:56
Some of their private messages were read at the inquest.
06:59
On the 13th of June, Noah wrote that suppressing his emotions had affected his mental health and that he wanted to be more honest about how he felt.
07:09
Six days later, he apologised for having been up and down and told Jay that talking to him had probably helped him most.
07:17
Jay viewed that as a positive conversation.
07:21
Fiona's concerns had already led her to contact St Malachy's College.
07:26
On Tuesday the 16th of June, she spoke to Deirdre McClusker, who, as I said, was then the school's vice principal.
07:33
Fiona said that Noah's mood seemed different from normal and that he had not been applying himself to his schoolwork with his usual enthusiasm and diligence.
07:43
She asked to be put in contact with someone from the school's pastoral care team.
07:47
The school offered Noah the option of coming in for supervised study or speaking to a counsellor. Fiona said he was not ready to speak to a counsellor at that point, but he had not rejected the idea.
07:59
From the school's perspective, there had been no previous concerns about Noah's academic performance or his attitude. His form teacher had not identified any problems.
08:10
Girden McClusker also explained that this was the middle of lockdown. The pupils were working from home and by the middle of June, there were no examinations ahead of them. Missed work was not particularly unusual at that time, even for an excellent student like Noah.
08:26
During lockdown, Noah's weekly cello lessons with Andrew Nesbitt had also moved online.
08:32
Instead of playing for his teacher in person, he submitted recordings of his work. But he had not sent in the one that was due on Thursday the 18th of June.
08:42
Andrew contacted Fiona and she replied that Noah had been having a tough week and that she had allowed him to take some time away from studying.
08:50
Andrew described the missing recording as out of character. He also felt that Noah had seemed less animated during lockdown and that his voice did not sound quite as cheerful as it had when he was attending school in person.
09:04
Andrew was careful to say that he had not seen Noah face to face since the beginning of lockdown though. His impression came from those recordings and questions Noah submitted online.
09:14
He said that many of his pupils had seemed less animated and you can understand that when recording themselves at home.
09:21
Noah's work had remained at a high standard and Andrew had not noticed any change in the way he spoke or asked questions.
09:29
He had seen no clear deterioration and had not been any more concerned about Noah than he would have been about any other pupil.
09:38
On Saturday the 20th of June, Noah and Jay went for a long walk around Belfast.
09:43
Noah spoke about the book that he had been reading, Twelve Rules for Life by Jordan Peterson, and about taking risks to build his confidence.
09:52
One of the possibilities he mentioned was moving to London when he was older.
09:56
Jay said Noah had been very positive that day.
10:00
They were due to meet again the following afternoon along with Charlie Rocks before travelling to the Cave Hill area.
10:06
But several hours before that planned meeting at 3.34 on the Sunday morning, CCTV recorded Noah leaving his home on Fitzroy Avenue.
10:16
He was wearing a t-shirt, shorts and flip-flops and he was carrying a pair of headphones.
10:21
At 4.08am Noah returned home. He was now barefoot and he no longer had the headphones with him.
10:28
The apartment CCTV did not record Noah leaving again until later that afternoon.
10:33
During the day Fiona found him in his room with tears on his face. When she asked him why he was crying, Noah told her that he had been laughing.
10:42
She also noticed that he was being more affectionate than usual. He repeatedly hugged her and told her that he loved her.
10:49
Fiona would later describe this behaviour as out of character but Noah did not explain why he had been upset and there was nothing to suggest that he had abandoned his plan to meet Jay and Charlie at Cave Hill.
11:02
At 5.34pm, Noah used Google to search for the Cave Hill area.
11:07
Seven minutes later, at 5.41pm, Jay sent a message on Instagram to say that the meeting had been cancelled.
11:15
The inquest also considered whether Noah ever got to see that message.
11:20
Simon Young, the technical analyst who examined Noah's devices and online accounts, said Noah did not have a mobile data plan. Once he had left the Wi-Fi at home, the Instagram message would not have reached his phone unless it connected to another Wi-Fi network.
11:36
When it was suggested that Noah had probably never received the message, Mr Young said that that was possible.
11:43
The message was sent, but the evidence did not establish whether Noah read it.
11:49
At around 5.40pm, Noah left Fitzroy Avenue on his black Apollo bicycle.
11:54
He was wearing a cycling helmet, a jacket, a hoodie, shorts and footwear. He was also carrying a rucksack containing his laptop, some books and other belongings.
12:05
When the jury was later shown CCTV of Noah's journey, it was not one continuous recording. It was a sequence of clips gathered from different cameras along the route.
12:16
Altogether, the footage shown to the jury lasted around nine minutes. The first clip showed Noah leaving the apartment block and cycling towards Belfast City Centre.
12:26
He continued through the city and along York Street, passing the construction site at the new Ulster University campus.
12:34
A forensic video analyst called Jake Blythe was later asked to examine seven sightings of Noah along that part of the route. Mr. Blythe said the rugsack was visible in the first five clips. Because of the quality of the footage, he could not say conclusively whether Noah was still carrying it in the sixth and seventh. A number of Noah's belongings were later recovered in different places, but the CCTV did not provide an uninterrupted account of how each of those items came to be lost or left behind.
13:06
After initially travelling in the direction of Cave Hill, Noah changed course and continued towards the Shore Road area.
13:13
The digital examination found nothing to indicate that he had planned to meet anyone or visit another location.
13:20
Then, at approximately 5.59pm, Noah fell off his bicycle on North Queen Street.
13:27
Amanda Sennon was driving along the road with her baby daughter when she saw him fall.
13:31
She said Noah took the tumble near a bus lay-by and that the bicycle went down with him.
13:36
Now, she didn't describe it as a light fall, but she did say he got up quickly and got back on his bike and pedaled away.
13:42
Miss Sennon also saw a green jacket lying on the ground.
13:46
Another driver, Sinead Quinn, said she didn't see him fall, but she did see him lifting his bicycle back up from the ground at the junction of North Queen Street and Alexandra Park Avenue. When Miss Quinn noticed the jacket, she blew her horn to try and draw Noah's attention to it. She said he looked startled but did not return for the jacket. He simply continued cycling away from the city centre.
14:08
Neither woman saw any obvious injuries.
14:13
During the search for Noah, police publicly suggested that he might have suffered a head injury when he fell off the bicycle.
14:20
Amanda Sinon told the inquest that this had confused her. She had not seen Noah's head strike the ground and never told the police that he had suffered a head injury. As she put it, I definitely didn't say he had a head injury.
14:34
A short time later, another motorist, Nathan Montgomery, saw a young cyclist on North Queen Street.
14:41
Mr Montgomery said the cyclist appeared to sway slightly from the pavement towards the middle of the lane and then back again.
14:48
The movement was not exaggerated but he said it was enough to make him wait until the other side of the road was clear before he overtook him.
14:54
At the time, Mr Montgomery assumed that the cyclist was simply inexperienced.
15:00
Noah continued along York Road before turning into Skagoneal Avenue and then travelling through Northwood Crescent towards Northwood Road.
15:09
Beryl Smith was sitting in her home in Northwood Crescent when she saw a young cyclist passing on the footpath.
15:15
She noticed that he appeared to be adjusting the straps on his helmet.
15:19
When she left home a short time later she saw a helmet lying on the pavement beside a lamppost.
15:25
Another driver later reported seeing a male on Northwood Road who was no longer wearing a top.
15:30
Conor McConnell was inside a house overlooking Northwood Road when he saw a naked male cycle past his window.
15:38
The sighting lasted only a matter of seconds, but he said he had initially thought it was some kind of prank.
15:44
When he went outside, he saw items of clothing on the street, including shoes, shorts, underwear, a t-shirt and a hoodie.
15:52
Linda Patterson, who had died before the inquest began, had also given a statement describing a naked cyclist passing her home.
16:00
She and her husband initially thought it was somebody messing around or completing a dare.
16:06
CCTV from their home showed something they had not seen from the inside.
16:11
It recorded Noah leaving the bicycle outside number 89 Northwood Road and moving down the side of the property.
16:17
The later CCTV timeline placed Noah's final confirmed sighting at 6.08pm.
16:25
Behind the houses was an area of land containing a small stream.
16:30
That stream led towards the entrance of an underground storm drain.
16:37
The CCTV did not show Noah entering the storm drain. No witnesses saw him do that.
16:44
What happened after Noah moved down the side of number 89 was not recorded by any camera and was not witnessed by anyone who gave evidence.
16:53
When Noah did not return at the time they had agreed Fiona began calling his phone. There was no answer.
17:00
A friend drove her to Cave Hill where Noah had planned to meet Jay and Charlie but there was no sign of him.
17:06
Fiona said her instinct told her something was wrong.
17:10
At 9.44 that night she called 9.99.
17:13
She explained that Noah had left on his bicycle, that she could not reach him and that his behaviour had seemed different during the previous week.
17:22
Noah had never gone missing before.
17:26
Constable David Murphy later searched the apartment. He described Noah's room as extremely tidy and saw nothing to suggest that he had intended to stay away. Noah had no access to cash, no other transport and no history of going missing.
17:42
The investigation was initially graded as medium risk. It was upgraded to high risk after Mr Murphy learned from Charlie that the Cave Hill meeting had been cancelled.
17:52
At the inquest, Brenda Campbell Casey questioned why Mr Murphy's pocket notebook contained only six lines for the shift, four of them about Noah. He said the fuller record was on the police occurrence log and remained satisfied with the actions he had taken.
18:08
The Community Rescue Service was called in during the early hours of Monday. Because Cave Hill was Noah's stated destination, the first search was focused there. Police did not yet know that he had reached Northwood Road.
18:21
Meanwhile, several residents near Northwood Park later reported unusual sounds.
18:27
Around midnight, Tanya and Grant Brown heard what they described as distinct or muffled screams.
18:34
At about 12.30am, Gemma McMullen heard a single high-pitched scream.
18:40
At around three, Sandra Semple heard somebody moving the handle of her back door.
18:46
Grant Brown also recalled a torch-like light at his kitchen window, although he could not be certain which night he had seen it.
18:54
None of them saw who or what had caused these things and no evidence connected them to Noah.
19:00
Throughout Monday, officers tried to trace Noah's route while public appeals for information spread.
19:07
At around 3.55 that afternoon, Adelaide Armstrong found a cracked black phone in the grass inside Castleton Park, beside North Queen Street. It was switched off.
19:18
She charged it and saw a police message asking Noah to make contact, along with missed calls from a number saved as mum.
19:26
She contacted police and the phone was handed over at around 4.40pm.
19:31
When Fiona called again Detective Constable Keighley answered and told her the phone had been found.
19:37
It placed one of Noah's belongings along his route but it did not reveal where he had gone.
19:43
That evening Karen Crooks contacted police about a black bicycle outside her home at number 89 Northwood Road.
19:50
She had found it the previous night and after seeing a social media appeal realised it appeared to be Noah's.
19:57
By around nine o'clock the bicycle had been identified and police had obtained the CCTV showing Noah there at around 6.08pm.
20:05
This was Noah's last confirmed location. Behind number 89 was a stream leading towards the entrance to that storm drain. A metal grill covered the entrance but it was not padlocked and the gaps were wide enough for somebody of slim build to pass through.
20:22
Sean McCarrie, regional commander of the Community Rescue Service, said his volunteers identified the storm drain as a possible entry point within about five minutes of arriving on Monday evening.
20:34
One trained volunteer squeezed between the bars wearing a harness and safety line. He went only a short distance before the conditions forced him back.
20:43
The team shouted into the tunnel and waited for a reply but they heard nothing.
20:48
Mr. McCary said he then told Sergeant Barry Hutchins, the lead police search advisor, about the storm drain. Their accounts of that conversation differed. Mr. McCary said that he told Sergeant Hutchins that the storm drain was a possible entry point. Sergeant Hutchins remembered being told about Noah's bicycle and a stream, but said he had not understood that a large tunnel had been found or that volunteers had entered it. He was off duty and told Mr Macquarie to contact the advisor working that night.
21:18
When Sergeant Hutchins returned on Tuesday morning and saw the storm drain himself, he said he had not expected anything so large. Had he understood that on the Monday evening, he told the inquest, he would have started the ball rolling.
21:33
Brenda Campbell Casey put it to him that at least 12 hours had passed before a police search advisor identified the storm drain as somewhere requiring a specialist search.
21:43
He did not know why the advisor on duty overnight had not done so.
21:47
But Sergeant Hutchins did not accept that Noah could have been found sooner.
21:53
There had been no evidence that he was inside, he said, and the specialist confined spaces team would not have been available during the night. The Community Rescue Service had treated the search above and below ground as a 50-50 possibility.
22:07
Asked at the inquest to estimate the likelihood of Noah being inside the storm drain, Sergeant Hutchins put it at about 5%, even if that, he said.
22:17
The main police theory at that stage was that Noah was missing voluntarily.
22:22
Reports that he had removed his clothing was also considered as possible signs that he was disturbed or under the influence of a substance.
22:30
Sergeant Hutchins did assign a specialist team to the storm drain but continued searching other areas he believed were more likely.
22:38
Miss Campbell argued that the tunnel should have been treated as a rescue priority. He disagreed, saying no one had heard a response from inside and there was no confirmed evidence that Noah had entered.
22:49
There was also a serious risk to the searchers. The tunnel contained flowing water and could be entered only by people with the right training and equipment.
22:58
A confined spaces team searched the first 180 metres from Northwood Road, but they did not find NOAA.
23:06
The system continued for almost a kilometre. NOAA would eventually be found about 625 metres from the entrance.
23:14
The wider search was led by Philip Mennery, then an inspector with the PSNI's Hazardous Environment Search Team.
23:21
His team became involved around lunchtime on Tuesday the 23rd of June.
23:26
Officers found numerous manholes in Northwood Linear Park and maps requested from the Department of Infrastructure arrived shortly after 5pm.
23:35
The full search began the next morning. Inspector Minnery said other team members had already been assigned elsewhere, while risk assessments and equipment checks also had to be completed. Brenda Campbell Casey suggested that there had not been enough urgency. He rejected that.
23:51
On Wednesday, between 300 and 400 people gathered at the park. Most wanted to help, but Inspector Mennery said there was also hostility as rumours spread online. At one point, somebody used an angle grinder to cut a lock from a gate. The manhole searches were paused until the crowd could be moved back.
24:11
While officers worked from another access point, the park was cleared at around 1pm.
24:17
The team lowered a specialist camera from one hatch towards the next. But the maps did not always match what they found. Some access points appeared to have been covered and the camera met obstructions inside the tunnel as well.
24:31
When it could not go further, Inspector Mennery entered himself. He crawled about 114 metres through cold flowing water with silt and debris.
24:40
There was no natural light and a risk of toxic gas.
24:44
He called out Noah's name, but there was no response.
24:48
The obstructions made progress difficult, he said, but none of them would have stopped somebody from crawling through.
24:56
By the end of Wednesday, the non-tidal section as far as Seaview football ground had been covered.
25:02
Noah was not there.
25:05
On Thursday, the team moved towards the tidal section. Hatches on either side of the place where Noah would eventually be found were opened. But rising water made it unsafe to continue.
25:17
Inspector Mennery later said the search had come close to the location.
25:22
Asked whether it had failed, he replied, our search was thorough, it was safe.
25:28
He regretted that Noah had not been found on Thursday or Friday.
25:32
By Friday, around 500 metres of the 970 metre system had been searched.
25:38
Police divers entered from the Belfast lock side, but they did not find Noah.
25:45
On Saturday morning, another search and rescue team entered from the east at low tide.
25:51
The officers had caving experience and wore dry suits.
25:55
Shortly before 9.45am, around 625 metres from the Northwood Road entrance, they found Noah's body.
26:03
His family was informed before the discovery was announced.
26:08
By the time forensic advisor Trevor Cook arrived, the tide was rising and the search team had been forced out.
26:14
The opportunity to examine the location was limited, so the forensic work concentrated on Noah's body.
26:20
Six days had passed since Fiona watched her son leave home on his bicycle.
26:26
Noah's body was taken for a post-mortem examination.
26:30
The first doctor to examine Noah after he was brought out of the tunnel was Dr Peter Maxorley. Noah was covered in a fine silt. Dr Maxorley noticed faint reddening across his forehead but saw no obvious bruising, swelling or injuries suggesting that Noah had been assaulted.
26:47
Later that Saturday, consultant forensic pathologist Dr Marjorie Turner carried out the post-mortem examination.
26:55
When this evidence was heard at the inquest, Mr Justice Rooney told Fiona she could ask for a break at any time, but she remained in court throughout it all.
27:04
The examination revealed bruising across Noah's arms and legs and a number of scratches.
27:10
Dr Turner also found fresh fluid in his stomach and changes in his lungs showing that he had been alive when he encountered the water.
27:19
She recorded the cause of death as drowning.
27:22
Her findings were later considered with those of Professor Jack Crane, the former state pathologist for Northern Ireland and consultant forensic pathologist Dr Nathaniel Carey.
27:34
All three agreed that Noah had drowned. They found no injuries suggesting that direct violence or an assault had been the cause of death, although pathology alone could not rule out another person having been involved.
27:47
Across almost the whole of Noah's forehead was red-purple bruising, which Dr Turner described as evidence of a significant impact.
27:57
Its extent showed that Noah had been alive when it happened.
28:00
The shape did not suggest a weapon. It was more consistent with his forehead striking a broad, flat surface.
28:08
All three pathologists considered his fall from the bike a less likely cause.
28:13
Noah had been wearing a helmet and Dr Carey said an impact with the tarmac strong enough to cause that bruising would probably have left abrasions on his forehead or nose. None were present.
28:24
The injury could have happened inside the tunnel. There was no bleeding or visible damage to Noah's brain. Professor Crane said a concussion or an impact that had stunned him would not necessarily leave a sign at post-mortem.
28:38
It was possible that Noah had struck his forehead immediately before he drowned.
28:42
If he had been stunned or briefly lost consciousness and fallen face down, even shallow water could have been enough for him to drown in.
28:50
The pathologists could not establish that this is what had happened.
28:55
The scratches, the largest, about seven centimetres long, could have come from shrubbery before Noah entered the tunnel or from surfaces inside it. Dr. Turner believed they had probably occurred within the previous 24 hours.
29:11
There were also signs raising the possibility of hypothermia, although it could not be confirmed.
29:17
Professor Crean said hypothermia could have caused confusion that made Noah more vulnerable to drowning.
29:23
The post-mortem could not establish precisely when he died.
29:29
Six days had passed and the tunnel was cold, wet and tidal. Rigor mortis had passed while algae growth on Noah's skin suggested that his body had been submerged for several days.
29:41
Sunday or Monday was considered the most likely period.
29:45
The pathologists could not completely exclude Tuesday or Wednesday.
29:50
As Professor Crane told the jury, we just don't know how long he survived in the storm drain.
29:55
I don't think we can say.
30:00
One further question concerned a water sample from the tunnel.
30:04
Dr. Turner asked police to obtain one, but none was provided. It could have been compared with microscopic organisms called diatoms found in Noah's lungs.
30:15
The inquest heard different accounts of why it was not collected. A police document said officers had been told the then coroner did not require it.
30:24
Dr. Turner said she had not withdrawn the request, while a detective had understood that it was not urgent.
30:31
Dr. Turner described the test as helpful rather than critical, and all three pathologists agreed that the missing sample did not change their conclusion.
30:40
The pathology could not explain the sudden change in Noah's behaviour during the final minutes of his journey.
30:46
The inquest also considered whether alcohol, medication, drugs or other substances could have played any part.
30:54
No drugs were detected in the samples taken from Noah's body.
30:59
Forensic scientist Amy Quinn had screened his blood and stomach contents in July of 2020 for a wide range of recreational drugs and medication.
31:09
Every result was negative.
31:11
A small amount of alcohol was found in his blood, but both toxicologists said it had most likely formed naturally after death.
31:18
There was no evidence that Noah had consumed any alcohol.
31:23
In 2024, consultant forensic toxicologist Dr Simon Elliott reviewed the original work and carried out further tests.
31:31
He considered the screening appropriate and was not critical of it.
31:36
Asked whether Noah had received the same level of testing as a suspected murder victim, Amy Quinn replied that it was exactly the same.
31:44
But no screen can test for every substance. Some drugs were also unstable and can break down after death.
31:53
Much of the questioning focused on synthetic cannabinoids commonly known as spice. New forms of it continually appear. Some known to be circulating in 2020 were included in Noah's tests and a wider search covered thousands of compounds. Nothing indicated spice in his blood or in his stomach.
32:14
The experts could not exclude every untested or degraded substance, but they were equally clear that there was no evidence a drug had been present and later broken down.
32:25
They were then asked whether Noah's behaviour could fit in with the effects of spice.
32:30
Amy Quinn listed possible effects including paranoia, hallucinations and problems with coordination. but said judging Noah's behaviour was outside of her expertise.
32:40
Dr Elliot had worked on hundreds of cases involving synthetic cannabinoids. Although he had not watched the CCTV, he said a teenager falling from his bicycle and removing all of his clothes within minutes suggested a sudden change in how he was functioning.
32:57
He said Noah's behaviour could, in broad terms, be consistent with mind-altering substances. He also noted that spice does not usually raise body temperature in the way stimulant drugs can.
33:09
His evidence was not proof that Noah had taken anything.
33:12
The toxicology results remained negative.
33:16
The following day the inquest heard evidence about a request to memorialise Noah's Instagram account. The name and email address on the request belonged to a family who said they knew nothing about it. The request was submitted to Meta on Sunday 28 June 2020, the day after Noah's body was found.
33:35
Memorialising an Instagram account leaves its public posts in place but prevents anyone from logging in normally. That meant Fiona could still see Noah's profile but she could no longer access his private messages.
33:47
The form used the name of a family member referred to at the inquest as M1 along with the family's shared email address and a news report confirming Noah's death.
33:57
The emailed address contained an apparent mistake, ending in dot con, as in C-O-N rather than dot com.
34:06
But the account was still memorialised.
34:09
M1 had been a younger pupil at St Malachy's and said he did not know Noah. His sister, M2, had followed Noah's account during the search, but said she had only wanted updates and to share the appeal. Their mother, M3, also denied knowing anything about the request.
34:26
All three said they had first learned their details had been used when the coroner's service contacted them in February of 2026.
34:34
The court eventually obtained material from Noah's account through a formal process with Meta.
34:40
Brenda Campbell Casey said Fiona feared someone had deliberately locked the account to prevent access.
34:46
That was her concern but the evidence did not identify who had submitted the request or why.
34:52
The jury later heard that the same email address had been used to memorialise another Instagram account three days earlier. The family again denied any involvement.
35:01
The identity of the person who memorialised Noah's account remains unexplained.
35:06
The inquest also heard about CCTV collected during the original investigation but not identified at the time as showing Noah.
35:15
Constable Day was one of two officers who checked footage from Grove Wellbeing Centre on the morning after Noah disappeared.
35:22
Police records said the result was negative, but Noah was there.
35:27
The camera was running about 43 minutes slow. Constable Day accepted that he had not checked the time difference, although he maintained that the footage had been examined carefully. It was not formally recovered until Friday, five days after Noah disappeared.
35:43
By the inquest, footage from a funeral director across the road was no longer available for another check.
35:49
Mr Justice Rooney was direct. It was missed. It was quite clear it was missed.
35:56
Police had also taken CCTV from Noah's apartment building in June of 2020. But the section showing his unexplained early morning journey was not watched until January of 2022.
36:08
Detective Chief Inspector McCollum said earlier discovery would have prompted further inquiries and the senior investigating officer accepted that failure. By then, more than a year and a half had passed.
36:20
The court also heard about the rucksack, laptop and green coat Noah had been carrying.
36:26
In 2021, Daryl Paul pleaded guilty to stealing the rucksack which contained Noah's laptop and school books.
36:33
He said he had found it beside a temporary walkway at Ulster University construction site and taken it to make some money.
36:40
But CCTV showed Noah cycling through the walkway without appearing to leave it.
36:45
Other footage showed him passing close by to Mr. Paul without any interaction.
36:50
Mr. Paul said he had never met Noah.
36:54
On the 24th of June, Mr Paul and Maria Nolan tried to sell the laptop at a cash converters. The shop alerted police. The rucksack and school books were recovered from Mr Paul's flat and the laptop from Miss Nolan's accommodation.
37:09
Anonymous callers also claimed Mr Paul had Noah's green coat. Miss Nolan said she had seen a similar coat at his flat, but he denied having it.
37:19
Who made the calls has never been established and the coat has never been found.
37:24
Miss Nolan had also repeated a rumour that Noah had been injected with heroin or naloxone. At the inquest, she said she had no personal knowledge of that and the toxicology results, as I said, were negative.
37:37
The evidence established that Mr Paul stole Noah's rucksack and laptop. It did not establish that he met Noah or had any involvement in his disappearance or his death.
37:48
The inquest also considered how Noah could have entered the storm drain. The experts believed Noah most likely entered through the metal grill at Northwood Linear Park.
37:58
The gaps between the bars were almost 18 centimetres wide, enough for a young person to squeeze through.
38:05
Inside he would have had to crouch or crawl through complete darkness.
38:10
Professor Caroline Roberts believed he most likely drowned close to where his body was found when the tide rose between 11.30pm and midnight.
38:20
The grill had been replaced by the Department of Infrastructure in 2017. It was designed to stop debris rather than people.
38:28
Risk expert Dr Mark Cooper said public access should have been considered before the work was carried out.
38:34
The department argued that a narrower security screen would cause blockages, flooding or entrapment.
38:42
Although the experts disagreed over whether the entrance should have been more secure, they agreed that Noah could have passed through it. But no evidence explained why Noah would have entered it.
38:53
At the end of June 2026, after almost six months of evidence, Mr Justice Rooney began his directions to the jury.
39:01
He reminded them that an inquest is a fact-finding inquiry, not a criminal trial.
39:07
He told them there was insufficient evidence to find that Noah had been assaulted.
39:12
was under the influence of drugs, was experiencing psychosis or acute mental illness, had taken his own life, had been criminally exploited or that another person was responsible for his death.
39:24
The jury was asked to answer 10 questions unanimously. Those included when and how Noah died and whether any police errors contributed to his death.
39:34
They deliberated for three days but did not reach unanimous findings.
39:41
In the early hours of 3rd of July, the coroner adjourned the inquest rather than pressure them into a decision.
39:47
He described the situation as unprecedented.
39:51
The coroner said the jury would return when all its members were available. The inquest remains adjourned so the jury has not delivered final findings.
40:00
Fiona attended every day and she is still waiting.
40:05
Noah, as I said, was Fiona's only child. He was bright. He was funny and endlessly curious.
40:13
He loved music, philosophy and long conversations. He made playlists for his friends. He hoped to study medicine at Trinity and was looking forward to running up the Rocky Steps in Philadelphia.
40:27
No inquest finding can undo what Fiona, Noah's wider family and his friends have lost.
40:33
But they deserve answers and they deserve those answers to be reached with care and consideration and with an untimely manner.
40:41
I hope the resumed inquest gives them the clarity they have waited so long for.
40:46
Because quite simply, Noah should still be here.
40:52
That's it for another episode of Ireland Crimes and Mysteries.
40:54
Thank you for joining me and thanks again to our new sponsor, Revive Active. I really hope you enjoyed today's episode. If you're looking to support your health daily, do give Revive Active, the super supplement, a try. It's been Ireland's number one supplement brand for five years now. And being Irish made, you know the quality is there. Whether it's for immune support, health or just that steady energy to get you through the day, it's a ritual worth starting. Check them out at reviveactive.com or your local pharmacy. I'm Newells and thank you for your support.
41:25
And I'll be back next week with another episode of Ireland Crimes and Mysteries.
41:29
Goal Aid presents Ireland Crimes and Mysteries. Brought to you by Revive Active. Scientifically formulated and manufactured in Ireland. Available at all good health food stores and pharmacies or at reviveactive.com.
