The teenager was found dead last June, 6 days after he went missing.
Police in Northern Ireland are investigating a new claim that 14-year-old Noah Donohoe was abducted and murdered, a preliminary inquest into his death heard yesterday.
Lawyers for the PSNI have reportedly confirmed an ongoing investigation exploring claims from a prisoner that allege his cellmate had confessed to killing the teenager, who was found dead in a storm drain in Belfast last year.
Barrister for the police, Donal Lunny QC, confirmed the PSNI were investigating the potential line of inquiry when counsel for the coroner, Sean Doran QC, raised the issue by referencing a recent Sunday World article titled, ‘Prisoner Claims His Cellmate Admitted To Killing Tragic Teenager Noah Donohoe.’
Brenda Campbell QC, barrister for the Donohoe family, said the claims had caused them “great anxiety.”
#TheNoahDonohoeFoundation #NoahsArmy⚡#RememberMyNoah💙 #Week42 #ACommunityUnitedForNoah pic.twitter.com/x3FfCD1n3n
— Justice For Noah Donohoe (@FIONADONOHOE2) April 11, 2021
“It’s an anxiety not just because of the content, but it’s an anxiety associated with what’s being done about it and whether or not it’s being properly investigated,” she told the court.
“It’s a matter of concern to the family that on the one hand we are told that an investigation is ongoing, but on the other hand there were quotes in yesterday’s Irish News from the PSNI that appeared to suggest that really this is a coronial matter and not a police matter.
“Of course, given the nature of what was said in reports at the weekend, it very much must be a police matter, and must be a police investigation.”
This was in reference to a quote from a PSNI spokesperson that appeared in Irish News on Monday that said the death of the teenager was subject to coronial investigation.
She said the claims must “be acted upon by the police as a serious and significant police inquiry” and added that police should act with urgency as a police investigation into the matter could impact the proceedings of the inquest.
Noah’s body was found last June, six days after he went missing. He had been due to meet friends and cycled from his home in south Belfast through the city centre.
The storm drain he was found in was located in north Belfast.
