Officer defends police handling of search for Noah Donohoe
A police officer has defended the Police Service of Northern Ireland's (PSNI) handling of the search for Noah Donohoe.
The 14-year-old disappeared in north Belfast after cycling across the city in June 2020.
His body was found more than 600 metres downstream from a culvert entrance close to his last known location.
PSNI Constable George gave evidence at an inquest into the boy's death on Tuesday.
He was a police search adviser (POLSA) during the search for the missing schoolboy, and he outlined details of the police strategy during searches close to where Noah was seen naked before he disappeared.
The police officer was asked about decisions he took during his role as a police adviser while the search was in progress.
'It wasn't a priority in my search'
He was questioned about his decision not to seek specialised support to search the culvert entrance on the Monday night, the night after Noah's disappearance.
Noah went missing on Sunday 21 June 2020.
George said he saw the culvert through a security fence on the Monday night while he was in nearby Linear Park, but he said that he did not go into the immediate land around the culvert to inspect the entrance in detail.
The culvert is just metres inside the security fence.
"It wasn't a priority in my search."
He explained that his view at that time was that there were more "probable" areas where Noah might have been expected to hide or seek shelter and he (George) was therefore concentrating on other areas including nearby back gardens and outhouses.
The witness said there were "all kinds of urban spaces" and overgrown areas where someone could have concealed themselves.
'That was an error on my part'
The police officer also said he had never previously known of a case where a missing person went into a culvert, adding "at no time before or after that case".
The witness was also asked why he stated in a statement to the inquest, dated last month, that he was not aware of the culvert on the Monday night after Noah's disappearance.
"That was an error on my part."
The police officer was also asked why he did not seek the help of a specialised police search team to conduct searches at the culvert the following day, Tuesday.
"I had no reason to believe that there was anyone in there."
Searches of the tunnel system began later in the week.
The witness also told the inquest that the safety of police officers takes precedence during searches for a missing person in potentially hazardous environments.
'Tried and trusted system'
George told the inquest on Tuesday that searches in the culvert had to be consistent with the need to protect the health and safety of searchers.
Referring to officers involved in any such search, the witness said:
"Our job is to protect them."
He explained that the avoidance of any potential risk to an individual officer is the primary concern in potentially hazardous environments, followed by safety considerations for the search team, and then the missing person.
Questions have been asked previously about aspects of the police search strategy in the tunnel and if simultaneous searches could have been conducted from both ends of the tunnel system running from the culvert entrance.
George told the coroner Mr Justice Rooney and the jury that the police strategy at the time was based on "a tried and trusted system" which focused on conducting searches outwards from the last known location of a missing person.
The police officer also said he believes the PSNI made "very significant progress" on the day after Noah's disappearance in tracking his "pattern of movement" on the day of his disappearance.
Asked about his reflections on his own decision-making during the search for Noah, after he learned that the schoolboy's body had been found six days after his disappearance, the witness said any human being in that position would ask themselves
"could I have done more?"
