Noah's mother wept as CCTV footage played in court

Noah's Donohoe's mother wept as an inquest was shown CCTV footage of her son cycling through Belfast on the day he disappeared almost six years ago.

The last reported sighting of the schoolboy was at Northwood Road in north Belfast in June 2020.

He had abandoned his bicycle on the street and was naked when he was seen going in the direction of back gardens adjoining land on which the entrance to an underground water tunnel is located.

The schoolboy's body was found more than 600 metres downstream in the tunnel six days later.

A civilian CCTV operator with a security firm gave evidence on Wednesday about his role in monitoring CCTV footage on behalf of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and Belfast City Council.

Neil Gibson, who is a retired PSNI officer, was working in the CCTV suite at Musgrave police station in the hours after Noah was reported missing.

During his examination of CCTV footage in the early hours of the following morning, Gibson identified footage of a young boy fitting Noah's description cycling from the direction of the Ormeau Road in south Belfast shortly after Noah left his nearby home.

During the witness's appearance at the inquest, the coroner Mr Justice Rooney and the jury were shown the footage, along with additional footage of Noah cycling through the Cornmarket area of Belfast city centre and onwards towards Royal Avenue.

As Noah's mother Fiona Donohoe watched the footage on a screen in front of her seat at the back of the courtroom, she wept and bowed her head and repeatedly wiped tears from her face.

Earlier, she remained outside the courtroom while CCTV footage of Noah leaving his home in the early hours of the day of his disappearance was played at the request once more, at the request of the jury.

As Gibson continued his evidence, he was questioned about the urgency applied to CCTV analysis during the early stages of the search for Noah.

He was asked if the PSNI had failed to impress upon him "the degree of urgency" relating the search for the missing boy.

Gibson replied: "I would disagree with that comment."

He went on to say that "people do not understand the intricacies" of CCTV operations.

He explained that there can be issues involving timings, the direction a camera is facing, and the degree to which a camera may focus on long or short distances.

Gibson said he checked numerous cameras throughout Belfast at the time saying: "I worked to the best of my ability at the time."

A serving police officer also appeared as a witness at the inquest on Wednesday.

Det Con Johnston seized Noah's laptop during the search for the missing boy, and he was also involved in the seizure of CCTV footage at a number of locations including Northwood Road where Noah was last seen.

The police witness was questioned about his role in seizing CCTV footage from a house close to the location of Noah's last known sighting and if he was aware of a number of cameras on the outside of the house.

Constable Johnston said he "can't recall" and explained that the purpose of his visit to the house was to try to seize the footage and not to check the number of cameras outside.

He also responded "I don't recall" to many other questions in relation to his role in the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) probe at the time.

The witness told the inquest that he had specific duties during the investigation, and he was not making operational decisions.