Suffolk police have released CCTV footage of three-year-old Noah Woods, who went missing after visiting a play area in the village of Brantham on Tuesday afternoon. The boy has autism and is non-verbal and partially deaf, making the search challenging as he does not respond to his name if called out. Hundreds of volunteers are assisting police, fire, coastguard, and search and rescue teams in looking for Noah, who was last seen running down an alleyway near new-build housing estates with woods and a pond nearby. Police continue their investigation as a missing persons case without evidence of criminal activity.
Written by the local model on 2026-09-16,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
On Tuesday afternoon, three-year-old Noah Woods, who is partially deaf and non-verbal, went missing after visiting a playground in Brantham, Suffolk. He became separated from his relative at around 3:00 PM while near Merriam Close. Described as white with curly ginger hair, wearing a Bluey t-shirt, shorts, and black Vans trainers, Noah was last seen running down an alleyway towards a new-build housing estate. The surrounding area includes woods, a pond, and the River Stour.
Emergency services including HM Coastguard helicopters and rescue teams were deployed to search for Noah, while up to 100 volunteers joined in the effort. Trains between Manningtree and Ipswich ran at reduced speeds due to the searches. On Wednesday, Suffolk Police released CCTV footage showing Noah playing in the playground shortly before he disappeared.
On Thursday, a body was found in Decoy Pond during the search efforts; it is believed to be Noah. The death is being treated as unexplained rather than suspicious. Up to 1,300 members of the public had participated in the search operation by that time.
Written for “Missing Noah Search” on 2026-09-17,
grounded in this article and the 6 other(s) covering the same event.
A massive search operation is under way in and around a Suffolk village for a missing three-year-old boy with autism, supported by hundreds of volunteers.
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operation → miss → volunteers
Suffolk police have said the hunt for Noah Woods remains a missing persons investigation with no indication anything sinister has happened.
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anything → say → indication
Noah, who is autistic, non-verbal and partially deaf, went missing after a visit to a play area in the village of Brantham on Tuesday afternoon when he became separated from a relative.
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he → go → relative
Police have said Noah will not respond to his name if called.
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Noah → say → name
In an update on Wednesday, Supt Tom Pearse from Suffolk police said: “This is being treated as a missing person investigation at this stage and there is nothing to indicate anything sinister or any element of criminality has taken place although we keep an open mind as to the circumstances.”
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we → say → circumstances
The force released new CCTV stills and footage of the little boy in the play area in Merriam Close just before he vanished.
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he → release → Close
It is thought that he ran down an alleyway beside the playground towards a nearby new-build housing estate.
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he → think → estate
The surrounding area includes woods and a pond and is near the River Stour and a railway.
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area → surround → Stour
Noah is white with curly ginger hair and was wearing a white T-shirt featuring the TV character Bluey, shorts, and black Vans trainers with a white stripe.
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Noah → wear → stripe
On Wednesday, volunteers could be seen in hi-vis jackets helping to search the area, with efforts being coordinated from the village hall and a leisure centre.
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efforts → see → hall
They are part of a massive search operation led by police, fire, coastguard and search and rescue teams, with sniffer dogs being used and a helicopter flying overhead.
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helicopter → lead → police
As well as the ground search, officers are looking at CCTV and other available video footage, going door to door and carrying out aerial and thermal imaging searches.
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officers → look → searches
Noah’s father posted on social media asking volunteers to widen their search beyond the village where possible.
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father → post → village
He wrote: “I cannot go another night knowing he’s out there alone, please don’t give up on him guys.
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he → write → him
He is out there somewhere and I appreciate every single one of you.”
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I → appreciate → you
In the update from police on Wednesday, Pearse urged volunteers to report to the coordination centre and to avoid the railway and open water, which need specialist searching.
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which → urge → searching
He said: “It has now been around 24 hours since Noah was reported as missing to us and we are doing everything we can to find him.
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we → say → him
“We are extremely grateful for the support shown by the public.
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We → show → public
If you are helping please report into the coordination centre to ensure the search continues to be done in a systematic and coordinated fashion.
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search → help → fashion
“This will ensure we can carefully plan and take account of people supporting the search.
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we → ensure → search
“We politely ask people to avoid open waters and railways – these are areas that require specialist and professional expertise.
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that → ask → expertise
We also ask that personal drones are not used as these can interfere with specialist search equipment.
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these → ask → equipment
“There may also be times when officers may need to restrict access to certain areas or move away from search locations.
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officers → need → locations
“Please do not be offended if this happens; it is necessary to allow us to carry out our inquiries and search activity as effectively as possible.”
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us → offend → inquiries
Advice from Brantham parish council to volunteers included: “You are looking for a frightened three-year-old.
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You → include → old
They have been told not to grab or approach Noah if they find him, but instead to call police on 999 immediately and give their exact location using the What3Words app.
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they → tell → app
Anyone with private CCTV or doorbell cameras in the village, or who was driving through the area with a dashcam is asked to review the footage from 3pm on Tuesday afternoon onwards for any possible sightings of Noah.
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who → drive → Noah
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