- Published
It's been more than six years since teenager Noah Donohoe was found dead 600m into a freezing underground water tunnel in Belfast.
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Donohoe → publish → Belfast
His death – and the speculation over what happened to him in the week between his daylight disappearance and the discovery of his body – became a huge news story that provoked countless unanswered questions.
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that → happen → questions
Now, after an inquest and months of exhaustive hearings and long deliberations by a jury, there is a verdict – but much is still unknown about what happened to Noah.
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what → be → Noah
Why, the night before he disappeared, did he leave his home in the middle of the rain-soaked night?
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he → disappear → night
Where did he go?
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he → go → ?
Why did he come back 34 minutes later, as documented by CCTV, barefoot?
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he → come → CCTV
Hours later, on Sunday 21 June 2020, he left the south Belfast home he shared with his mother for the final time.
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he → leave → time
Why did he leave and go to an unfamiliar part of north Belfast?
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he → leave → Belfast
Why was the teenager naked when he was last seen in the area of the water tunnel entrance?
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he → see → entrance
And what might have been if he had seen the social media message sent him by one of two friends he planned to meet in north Belfast telling him their plans were cancelled?
An autopsy found Noah had died from drowning, with the tunnel he was found in heading towards Belfast Lough and its tides.
uncertain
he → see → Lough
Now, after years of delays, a jury has found that it was possible, but not probable, that failings by the Department of Infrastructure over the tunnel in which he was found contribute to his death.
They also found 13 failings by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) but that these did not in any way contribute to the 14-year-old's death.
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these → find → death
Having spent months in court following all the evidence, it was clearly not an easy process for the men and women of the jury.
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it → spend → jury
They heard from dozens of witnesses and received voluminous amounts of official and expert documentation.
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They → hear → documentation
This week they deliberated on Monday and Tuesday.
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they → deliberate → Monday
But it came more than two months after the inquest was dramatically adjourned in the early hours after three days of deliberations did not lead to a verdict.
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days → come → verdict
While these findings will help his family and the community to understand a little bit more about what happened after Noah went missing, there is no certainty about many of the mysteries surrounding some of the unusual and extraordinary events in the lead-up to his disappearance.
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Noah → help → disappearance
But one thing was very clear at the inquest – there was no evidence of any physical interaction between Noah and anyone else during his final bicycle ride from his home to north Belfast.
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thing → be → Belfast
During his summing up, the coroner Mr Justice Rooney ruled out several possibilities, including drugs, foul play, suicide, or a psychotic experience.
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coroner → rule → drugs
He told the jury before they began deliberations that there was no evidence to support such findings and their verdict had to be based "solely on the evidence you have heard and seen in this court".
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you → tell → court
But the inquest heard expert witness evidence that explained, in some cases, drugs can degrade in a body after a few days, so the possibility of drugs having been in his system "cannot be completely excluded".
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drugs → hear → system
The inquest also heard no evidence of third-party involvement or any link to loyalist paramilitaries, at odds with years of endless social media speculation that sometimes leaned into conspiracies.
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that → hear → conspiracies
Many phases of the inquest focused on next-of-kin concerns about the Police Service of Northern Ireland's (PSNI) investigation into Noah's disappearance, as well as public safety around the tunnel system where Noah's body was found.
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body → focus → system
The tunnel is maintained by Stormont's Department for Infrastructure.
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tunnel → maintain → Infrastructure
The police accepted that they had missed some investigative opportunities and have since apologised to Noah's mum, Fiona Donohoe.
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they → accept → mum
And throughout it all, day after day, Fiona Donohoe was a constant, quietly dignified presence, often sitting alone in a corner at the back of the Coroner's Court.
A campaign, delays and coroner change
The road to the inquest was a long one for Fiona and her family.
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road → sit → Fiona
They mounted a high-profile public campaign around Noah's death, with dozens of supporters soon growing to hundreds and then thousands under the umbrella name of Noah's Army.
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dozens → mount → Army
They took their campaign to the streets in the form of cavalcades around Belfast, as well as protests at Stormont's Parliament Buildings and at PSNI headquarters.
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They → take → headquarters
Frustration at the police came to a head in August 2022, when thousands of campaigners protested outside Belfast City Hall over the PSNI's decision to seek a public interest immunity (PII) certificate in relation to the case.
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thousands → come → case
As the years went on, the pre-inquest process was plagued by delays.
The original coroner in the case stepped aside and the Donohoe family made a request for the inquest to be heard in front of a jury.
Finally, five-and-a-half years after he disappeared, the inquest into Noah's death began in January 2026.
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inquest → go → January
What happened the night before Noah disappeared?
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Noah → happen → ?
Questions about Noah's mindset and behavioural changes before he went missing featured prominently at the inquest.
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he → go → inquest
The inquest heard how the schoolboy went out onto streets beside his home in the Holylands area of Belfast in the early hours of the day of his disappearance.
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schoolboy → hear → disappearance
Shortly after 03:30 BST, Noah walked out of his home into the rain.
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Noah → walk → rain
He was alone and wearing light summer clothing, including shorts and flip flops.
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He → wear → shorts
He also had a set of headphones.
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He → have → headphones
During the following 34 minutes, some of his movements were captured on CCTV as he walked along nearby streets barefoot.
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he → follow → streets
When he returned home, shortly after 04:00 BST, the flip flops he was wearing were missing, he no longer had his headphones and a belt on his shorts was hanging loose.
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belt → return → shorts
The inquest heard from one witness who examined the CCTV footage and the hearing explored the possibility there may have been the "shape of something" inside one of the pockets of his shorts when he returned home.
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he → hear → shorts
But there was no evidence to explain what might have been in his pocket.
uncertain
what → be → pocket
The inquest was also unable to find out why he left his home in the darkness, or if he went to any property or met anyone while he was away from his home in the early hours of that morning.
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he → find → morning
…and 39 more, not listed.
The Aporia
