On 21 June 2020, Noah Peter Donohoe, a 14‑year‑old schoolboy from Belfast, Northern Ireland, went missing while cycling in north Belfast. He was found deceased six days later in a storm drain, and a post‑mortem examination concluded that he died by drowning.
The circumstances of his disappearance and death, the handling of the police investigation, and delays in releasing key evidence have led to widespread public concern and sustained advocacy. An inquest concluded in September 2026 with a narrative verdict that identified failings by the Department for Infrastructure and the PSNI.
Background Noah Peter Donohoe was born on 25 November 2005 in Strabane, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, the only son of Fiona Donohoe and Emmanuel Djakpa. He attended St Malachy's College. Friends described him as "the smartest kid" and said "everyone liked him".
Disappearance and discovery
On 21 June 2020, Donohoe left his home on Fitzroy Avenue at approximately 3:34 am, wearing flip-flops, a T-shirt, and shorts, and carrying headphones. CCTV footage showed him turning towards Queen's University. He later returned at 4:08 am, barefoot and without his headphones.
Later that day, at approximately 5:40 pm, Donohoe left home again, telling his mother he planned to cycle to Cavehill to meet friends. He was carrying a rucksack and wearing a helmet, jacket, hoody, shorts, and trainers. CCTV footage later showed him travelling through Belfast city centre, gradually discarding personal items including his rucksack and mobile phone.
At approximately 5:59 pm, Donohoe was seen falling from his bicycle, as captured on CCTV and reported by eyewitnesses. He continued riding through residential streets in north Belfast, including York Road, Skegoniell Avenue, and Northwood Crescent. His bicycle was later found outside a property on Northwood Road, and other items including his helmet and clothing were recovered from nearby locations.
The final confirmed sighting occurred at approximately 6:08 pm, when CCTV captured Donohoe on Northwood Drive. Additional footage showed him unclothed, leaving his bicycle and walking towards a stream behind a nearby residence. The stream led to a culvert inlet on land owned by the Department for Infrastructure, which was gated and not publicly accessible. The inlet was covered by a metal grille but was not padlocked. The land was not a public park and was accessible only to certain residents.
Later that evening, at approximately 9:44 pm, Fiona contacted the police to report him missing. A coordinated search operation followed, involving emergency services and volunteers.
On 27 June 2020, Donohoe's body was recovered from a storm drain in north Belfast. A post-mortem examination concluded that he had died by drowning. As part of the wider investigation, a man was jailed for three months in January 2021 after pleading guilty to stealing Donohoe's rucksack on the day he disappeared and attempting to pawn his laptop. He told police he had found the bag near Ulster University buildings in Belfast city centre. The court said there was no link between the individual and Donohoe's death.
Funeral On 1 July 2020, a private Requiem Mass was held at St Patrick's Church in Belfast, attended by close family members including Donohoe's mother Fiona, grandparents, and aunts. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, only ten people were permitted to attend. During the service, the officiating priest, Fr Michael McGinnity, relayed Fiona's tribute, describing her son as "a beautiful soul with a beautiful mind" who had "poured a whole lifetime of love into my life in 14 short years".
Following the service, the funeral cortege travelled to St Malachy's College, where Donohoe had been a pupil. Students formed a guard of honour at the college gates, and members of the Community Rescue Service, who had assisted in the search effort, lined the route.
Inquest
Initial concerns and background evidence On the first day of the inquest, the jury heard a recording of a call made by his mother, Fiona, to police on the evening Donohoe disappeared. In the call, she told the handler that she was increasingly concerned about his welfare and felt that something was "not right", noting changes in his mood and behaviour during the previous week. She said he had become preoccupied with the book 12 Rules for Life by Jordan Peterson and had been carrying out tasks to help her that he would not normally undertake. Fiona stated that she was "extremely concerned" about his mental health during that period. Later in the proceedings, the jury was told about messages Donohoe had sent to a friend in the week before he disappeared. In them, he spoke about his "emotions and mental health" and said he wanted to be more "honest" about himself. The friend told the jury he regarded the messages as reflective rather than concerning and said he did not believe they related to Donohoe's sexuality. He added that Donohoe had seemed positive when they last met and had spoken at length about 12 Rules for Life, which he described as "the focus of conversation".
CCTV footage tracing Donohoe's movements The inquest was shown CCTV recordings capturing Donohoe walking along University Street and Dudley Street during the period he was away from his home in the early hours of 21 June. In these images he was barefoot. The footage also indicated that he initially walked in the direction of the Queen's University area but later returned from the Ormeau Road side.
CCTV evidence was shown to the jury tracing Donohoe's movements after he left his home with his bicycle. The footage followed him through south Belfast towards the city centre and into the Shore Road area, at points travelling on both the road and the footpath. By the end of the sequence he was no longer clothed. Fiona stepped out of the courtroom while the recording was played and returned once it had finished. A lawyer assisting the coroner said one of the images appeared to show Donohoe losing his balance near the North Queen Street junction before getting back on the bicycle and continuing.
Detective Sergeant Gardiner told the inquest that, when Criminal Investigation Department (CID) took over three days after Donohoe went missing, he became responsible for gathering CCTV and treated securing footage from the area of Donohoe's last sighting as urgent. Jurors were shown a nine‑minute compilation tracing Donohoe's route, including footage of him cycling naked near the end of his journey. Gardiner said police were trying to understand how Donohoe became separated from his belongings and were aware of concerns about his mental health raised in his mother's 999 call. He confirmed that officers had considered whether Donohoe might have suffered a head injury and said the possibility of drugs or "mood altering substances" had been part of the investigative "conversations". Gardiner also said he did not know at the time that a house on Northwood Road had rear‑facing CCTV and only learned of that footage during the inquest, adding that the material gathered did not indicate "any third‑party involvement". Former chief superintendent Clark said he told the public that police believed Donohoe may have fallen from his bicycle and become disorientated, and that officers did not suspect foul play, comments he said were intended to counter what he described as "baseless rumours".
CCTV shown to the inquest also captured the man who later pleaded guilty to stealing Donohoe's rucksack standing outside the Queen's Quarter building on University Street as Donohoe cycled past shortly after leaving home. The inquest was told there was no interaction between them, and an earlier court hearing had described the theft as opportunistic. Counsel for Fiona described it as "a massive coincidence" that the same man later found Donohoe's laptop on the opposite side of the city near the end of Donohoe's route. A reporting restriction relating to the man was lifted, and his barrister said CCTV placed him on Botanic Avenue shortly after Donohoe's last confirmed sighting, meaning he could not have encountered Donohoe in north Belfast. Counsel for the coroner noted that this was the first time it had been set out clearly that the point was not in dispute. The same man also told the inquest that he had not been truthful with police about what he intended to do with Donohoe's laptop and accepted that he might have planned to sell it.
A woman who later attempted to exchange Donohoe's laptop at a Belfast shop also gave evidence. She had been convicted in 2022 of handling stolen goods, and told the jury she had been with the man who admitted stealing the rucksack when he suggested selling the laptop to obtain money for drugs. She said earlier comments she made to police about Donohoe being injected with drugs had come from a single "rumour" within the homeless community, and that she had felt pushed into signing a statement that implied she knew more about the case.
Constable Day told the inquest he reviewed CCTV the day after Donohoe disappeared but did not identify him on footage from either the Grove Wellbeing Centre or a funeral directors on York Road. The inquest holds footage from the wellbeing centre showing Donohoe cycling past shortly before he vanished, but the funeral‑home recording is no longer available.
A 2025 view from the same camera position shows it would have covered the main road, the front of the wellbeing centre, and the entrance to Skegoneill Avenue. Counsel for Fiona argued this meant the camera should also have captured Donohoe and that Day had "missed" him. He replied: "I didn’t see him on the footage I viewed."
The court heard there were timing discrepancies on the CCTV, which Day accepted he had not checked, agreeing this would be "pretty fundamental policing". He described the Grove footage as "very poor". Justice Rooney said: "It was missed, it is quite clear it was missed." The inquest also viewed CCTV of Donohoe cycling along the Lower Ormeau Road earlier that day.
Eyewitness accounts from North Belfast A witness told the inquest she had driven past a cyclist crouched beside a parked car on North Queen Street. She said he did not appear injured but "looked embarrassed", stood up quickly, and cycled away without lifting a green jacket lying nearby. She added that he seemed "steady enough" as he rode off.
Further eyewitness accounts described Donohoe's condition as he moved through north Belfast. A woman who saw him fall from his bicycle on North Queen Street, close to the point where it meets York Road, said it looked like a "fairly bad fall", but he got up quickly, brushed his knee, and rode on, adding that she had never told police he struck his head; her son, who was in the car with her, gave evidence consistent with her account. A motorist who passed him moments later said he "looked startled" but did not appear injured. A resident in Northwood Crescent said she briefly saw a boy cycling past while adjusting his helmet straps and later found the helmet discarded near a lamppost. A separate driver reported seeing him "sway" on the bike several times as he continued along North Queen Street.