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The State of Us

53. Escaping the tunnel

5/12/202611 min

A special series from The State of Us podcast. In the summer of 2020, 14-year-old Noah Donohoe went missing in Belfast. Six days later his body was found in a storm drain. His disappearance and death have dominated headlines for five and a half years. The inquest into his death will, for the first time, lay out the facts and evidence in this case. In this special series from The State of Us podcast, Tara Mills and Declan Harvey take you inside the courtroom, bringing you the evidence as it unfolds each day. A Department for Infrastructure official explains why he crawled through the storm drain in preparation for the inquest.

Clips

Could Noah Have Escaped?
Why He Crawled In
Conflict Of Interest Challenge
Debris Or Security Screen?
Suggesting Wider Gaps Over Time
Inside The Tunnel Details
The Abandoned Internal Review

Transcript preview

First 90 seconds

  1. Tara Mills· Host0:00

    Did a Department for Infrastructure official crawl through the tunnel where Noah died to try to suggest the 14-year-old could have escaped if he had wanted to?

  2. Declan Harvey· Host0:09

    Jonathan McKee was back in the witness box today. He said he only went into the culvert to see the layout for himself and to help this inquest process.

  3. Tara Mills· Host0:19

    I was in court.

  4. Declan Harvey· Host0:20

    This is a special series for the State of Us podcast. Welcome back to the Noah Donohoe Inquest.

  5. Tara Mills· Host0:24

    [upbeat music] Hello, Declan Harvey.

  6. Declan Harvey· Host0:30

    Hello, Tara Mills. What's this about?

  7. Tara Mills· Host0:32

    So Brenda Campbell, for Noah's mom, was back cross-examining Jonathan McKee today. He's obviously the most senior Department for Infrastructure official that we're going to hear from in the inquest, and we had evidence from him on Thursday and Friday, if people want to go back and listen. She asked him various questions about the conversations between the police and the DFI while Noah was missing. She, um, asked some questions about the desilting of the tunnel and about gas alarms and things like that. So then videos were shown to the jury of inside the tunnel, and that's right from Northwood Road right down to the outlet, um, into Belfast Lough. Took about 15 minutes to record that whole journey, that one kilometer, and it was a, a little camera on a tractor. Um, they didn't show that to the jury, but that's what was explained, um, that it's a, a little CCTV camera, and it is sent along the whole length of the tunnel, and it was just to give a sense of l- how much silt was there on the day that was taken, what the light was like. And then she asked

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