Retired Officer Details 'Horrendous' Tunnel Conditions in Noah Donohoe Search
A retired police inspector has provided stark testimony about the "horrendous" and freezing conditions within the storm drain tunnel network where the body of 14-year-old Noah Donohoe was discovered in north Belfast. The evidence was presented during the ongoing inquest into the schoolboy's tragic death at Belfast Coroner's Court.
'Absolutely Frozen' Without Protective Gear
Retired Inspector Menary, who formerly managed the Police Service of Northern Ireland's hazardous environment search team, told the court that anyone entering the tunnel without proper protective clothing would have been "absolutely frozen." He described the environment as "freezing cold," with water seeping into his sealed flood suit during the search operation.
"My flood suit at the time is sealed, but doesn't fully seal around the waist, so when I was lying down the water was coming over the top of me and up into the bottom of my jacket," Mr Menary testified. When asked by coroner's counsel Declan Quinn about conditions for someone without protective gear, he stated unequivocally: "Somebody doing that with no clothes would have been absolutely horrendous and you would have been absolutely frozen."
The Search Operation Details
The inquest, now in its fourth week and being heard with a jury, is examining the circumstances surrounding Noah's death. The St Malachy's College pupil was found dead in a storm drain tunnel in north Belfast in June 2020, six days after leaving his home on his bicycle to meet friends in the Cavehill area of the city. A post-mortem examination determined the cause of death was drowning.
Mr Menary resumed his evidence on Wednesday, explaining that his team had restarted their search of a section of the storm drain network on Thursday, June 25, 2020—four days after Noah was reported missing. The tunnel could be accessed from a culvert entrance in Northwood Linear Park, close to where Noah was last seen on the previous Sunday.
The retired inspector emphasized that at this stage, the operation was strictly a search mission, not a body recovery effort. "We were looking for anything strange or out of the ordinary within the culvert," he told the jury, noting there was "no evidence" at that point that Noah had entered the storm drain system.
Physical Challenges and Emotional Impact
Mr Menary described searching an area beneath Seaview football pitch, home to Crusaders FC, where conditions were particularly difficult. He detailed the physical exertion required to navigate from the Linear Park entrance to the section of tunnel he searched, explaining that the cold water would have continually washed over anyone in the passage.
"You begin to get disorientated because of the cold, you begin to slow down and you just continually move on that section underneath the football pitch," he testified. The retired officer became emotional when reflecting on Noah's experience, calling it "heartbreaking" to think the teenager had been in the tunnel.
"It's hard and that bit underneath the pitch was fairly horrendous," Mr Menary concluded, painting a vivid picture of the challenging environment that has become central to understanding the tragic events of June 2020.
