Brenda Campbell QC of the Garden Court Chambers Inquests & Inquiries Team is representing the family of Noah Donohoe instructed by Niall Murphy of KRW Law.
Police in Northern Ireland are investigating a fresh claim that Belfast teenager Noah Donohoe was abducted and murdered, a pre-inquest hearing into his death has heard.
Noah was found dead in a storm drain in north Belfast last June, six days after he went missing.
Lawyers for the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) have confirmed that an investigation is ongoing into the claims, first published in a Sunday newspaper, that a prisoner has come forward alleging his cellmate had confessed the murder to him.
At the pre-inquest hearing on 30 June 2021, Brenda Campbell QC, said the claims had caused the family great anxiety. She said:
“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.
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 those reports at the weekend, it very much must be a police matter, and must be a police investigation.
The allegation must be acted upon by the police as a serious and significant police inquiry. It must be done with some urgency, because of course, if there is an ongoing line of police inquiry…then that does impact on the proceedings before this court”.
This case has been widely publicised in the media including the Evening Standard and Belfast Live.
The next pre-inquest hearing has been scheduled for September 16.
