'Something went wrong during bicycle ride', Noah inquest told

The fact that Noah Donohoe was naked when he went missing was a warning sign that something went wrong before he disappeared, a police witness has told an inquest.

Noah's body was found in an underground water tunnel six days after he went missing in north Belfast in June 2020.

Detective Chief Inspector Sam McCallum was part of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) probe into the schoolboy's disappearance, and he appeared as a witness at the inquest on Wednesday.

McCallum told the coroner, Mr Justice Rooney, and the jury that the description of Noah as being naked before he disappeared was regarded as "a warning" that "something had gone wrong" during his bicycle ride into north Belfast.

The witness described how large numbers of police officers and CID detectives were working on the case at the time.

He said officers were being deployed "right, left and centre" and the investigation also had "the benefit of all detectives in Belfast, bar a few".

He said the case was being treated as "urgent, urgent, urgent".

He described how "time was certainly of the essence" in terms of trying to find Noah's missing laptop because it could potentially provide clues about his whereabouts at the time.

The witness was part of a police team which searched a flat and found Noah's missing rucksack, and he was subsequently involved in efforts to recover the laptop.

Two people subsequently appeared in court in connection with the laptop.

The witness was questioned about the extent of police efforts to find a green coat which Noah was wearing before he disappeared. The coat has never been found.

The police witness stressed that the priority was to find the missing laptop because it could potentially provide information about possible contacts.

The focus on the missing coat and rucksack was "less so", he said.

Emphasising that the laptop could have potentially provided clues about Noah's whereabouts, McCallum added: "The green coat's not going to bring us to Noah, the bag is not going to bring us to Noah."

He said the priority was to "get to that laptop" and get its contents downloaded to find out if there was any information which would lead investigators to the missing boy.

He said police resources needed to be put "where they need to be".

Commenting on the nature of the investigation, the police witness said: "Were things rushed, yes, because they had to be."

The witness was asked questions about a number of reports received by police about noises and sounds being heard in the area in the hours after Noah disappeared.

The police received a call from a woman who said her daughter was in Dunlambert Avenue, a short distance from where Noah was last seen on Northwood Road, when she heard "a loud scream" at 18:25 GMT on 21 June, 2020, about 20 minutes after the last sighting of the schoolboy.

McCallum was asked why a statement was not taken from the woman after she called the police.

The witness said he was aware of "a number of screams" following Noah's disappearance and he said information received by the police does not always require statements because it will be considered as part of the overall investigation.

McCallum indicated that "the last thing we were going to do" was to go out and sit down with people to take statements when police resources were needed for other aspects on the investigation.

The police witness also informed the inquest that he can't recall if he was aware of certain aspects of the investigation during his involvement in the case.

McCallum explained that it wasn't possible to recall everything six years later because "it was a high-pressure scenario" and the investigation at the time was "moving at pace".