The Noah Donohoe Inquest: 60. Witness accused of 'untruth'

Added: 2026-05-28

[00:00:00]Was it quite inexcusable for a police officer to view the culvert from a distance and not go in and examine it closely the day after Noah disappeared?

[00:00:09]>> Constable James George was asked that question by Brenda Campbell today on behalf of Noah's mom. He was described as the first police officer who would have had eyes on the culvert.

[00:00:21]>> I was in court. This is a special series of the state of us podcast.

[00:00:25]>> Welcome back to the Noah Dono Inquest.

[00:00:32]Hello, Declan Harvey.

[00:00:34]>> Hello, Tar Mills. This is our 60th episode. I think there's nobody involved in this inquest who would have predicted it would have lasted this long, but yet as we go on, there's still more evidence to uncover, still more parts of the of the puzzle to put together. Um, and today the focus was really on the speed of the police investigation. It's a theme that's been picked on before, I think. Um, but it all goes back to the initial hours and days after Noah went missing. Um, so who is Constable James George? It feels like a name that we've maybe seen in some of the police records.

[00:01:09]>> His name has been mentioned before. Um, I'll get on to that. Um, he was the police search adviser, the Pulsa. Um, that's a term we've heard many times.

[00:01:17]And he was on the night shift on the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday while Noah was missing. He was on duty when Noah's bike was discovered in uh, Northwood Road on the Monday. and he was on duty and in charge of the search for the Monday into the Tuesday, the Tuesday into the weddednesday, and the weddednesday into the Thursday. And when Brenda Campbell got to her feet to ask him questions, she laid out this quite unusual choreography of events that have led up to him giving evidence today. She said the first um thing is that he didn't give a statement until the 22nd of April this year. So, just a month ago, he's never given a statement. No one has ever approached him about his part in the police search. That's despite an inspector doing an internal PSNI review into what happened during the search. That took place in October 2020. Constable George was not part of that. No one asked him when the Culver entrance was first identified during the search. No one asked him how quickly that had happened or if the search could or should have happened sooner. and he agreed when she said no one had contacted him until Shawn McCarry from Community Rescue Service had mentioned his name in evidence. And then Inspector Barry Hutchkins, who was the lead pulse, who we've also already heard from, also mentioned his name in evidence. And that was whenever the police went to talk to Constable James George.

[00:02:40]>> And what's the point that Brenda Campbell was making? Well, she's she's wondering why given his sort of very important role on that Monday, Tuesday, and weddednesday, why he wasn't questioned earlier, but she didn't get into any wider evidence about that today. And it wasn't really for Constable George to answer that question. But she said by the 27th of June on the day Noah's body was found, would it not have occurred to anyone that it was likely he was one of the first people who would have had eyes on the cul culvert? And he said yes. She said, "Did you rack your brains when Noah's body was found about the culvert?

[00:03:15]Did you sit on the Saturday and go, gosh, what was the first thing that was mentioned about the culvert? Why did we not go into the culvert any sooner?" And he said, "Look, um," and he repeated this several times today, that it was a search, not a rescue, and the culvert never seemed to him to be a priority search area. He said once he had seen it, he thought it was very unattractive for a naked child to hide in because it was wet and potentially dangerous. And he was focused instead on the sheds, the outhouses, the gardens, and the surrounding homes, which he thought were much more likely place for a child to hide.

[00:03:49]>> That's interesting because it will be for the jury to decide because other witnesses we know have described it completely the opposite. They've said because Noah was naked, it would have been a more attractive place. But that's I suppose um what the jury will weigh up. Um I presume because we're used to how this thing rolls though before Brenda Campbell gets to ask her questions, the barister for the coroner kind of sets out the main thrust of it.

[00:04:12]Um there was Declan Quinn today I think for the coroner.

[00:04:17]What what was he focused on? Well, he was talking about the stream at various points and the culvert and actually when in answer to some of Brenda Campbell's questions as well, it was raised about the Monday evening.

[00:04:32]What was the process by which Constable George had examined the culvert? And we were shown a screenshot of the railings on the linear park side and you know what could you see through that? And he said, "Look, somebody of my height, I could see quite clearly through that."

[00:04:47]But Brenda Campbell said, "No, why did you not go down and look at the entrance, look at the bars, look at the hatch, you know, have a really good examination of of that piece of equipment that is in the middle of this park behind the houses. Why did you not do that? And he maintained that he could see through the bars and that was enough through the fence, through the palisade fence. Um, so this was mentioned quite a lot that Constable George mentioned the stream in a lot of his handovers and a lot of the statements and the OAL log, you know, the kind of central point that the police all feed into and it's a living document and everybody has access to it. But there was no mention of the culvert in the early days. So, um, Conipal George was saying, well, look, he felt that the stream was a risk for the people who were searching and they needed to be made aware of that, but he came back to his original point. I didn't think that Noah Dono was in there. There was no evidence to suggest he'd gone into the culvert. So, he just simply didn't think that he was in there.

[00:05:43]>> And even though you've said he was on the night shift, he was still down around the park, Northwood Road.

[00:05:50]>> Absolutely. And he said that he had um he called it getting ground sense and this was in his statement. He says where you go and see for yourself the hazards and risks of an environment in the reality in real life. And he said in the early days of the search those other areas that needed to be prioritized really come from their um statistics and their procedures that they follow when it comes to missing people. and he said places no was more likely um to be based would have been at somebody else's house and we've heard these Grampian guidelines before that all the police um forces in the UK use and it's all the statistical research so basically 15% of under 15y olds who go missing are found within a kilometer of the place last seen and usually at a friend's house. So um he was saying that that's that's how they follow through how they do missing persons. they look at the statistical research. So, it's more likely that they're found within a kilometer in a friend's house. So, he said his focus was very much on the houses and gardens.

[00:06:53]And he said the culvert was a possible, not a probable location for Noah. And he said there were many, many more likely places for him to be.

[00:07:02]>> I suppose as the pulsa, he's responsible for this search, but I presume as well responsible for the safety of the team.

[00:07:10]And we've heard about that, haven't we?

[00:07:12]the the pressure to search, but also the pressure to protect the searchers.

[00:07:17]>> Absolutely. And it's come up time and time again. I'm sure you've heard it as well. And but what really struck me about his evidence today was he was absolutely clear and concise about the priority list. And number one, if you are searching, the number one priority is for yourself and your own safety. The number two priority is for those who are searching with you. And the third one is the casualty as he called it. And I thought it was quite interesting to have that spelled out because it's sort of been implied at various different places along the way. But he was quite clear as a Pulsa, as somebody who's been trained in safety and search and rescue, those are the priorities. And there was another point that stood out today. And during Constable George's evidence, there was a series of emails and handovers. And it was gone through quite painstakingly exactly what information was included and what wasn't as he handed over to colleagues on the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. And there was an email from Inspector Lachlan to all police. And this was on the Tuesday morning and it said in block capitals in red ink, high-risk missing person still not located with sort of seven or eight exclamation marks. And Declan Quinn for the coroner asked Constable George about this and said, you know, what was the reason for that? And he said, well, Inspector Lachlan really wanted to know what was going on. And Declan Quinn said, well, look, was the highprofile nature of this praying on people's minds? You know, was that influencing you and how you carried out the search?

[00:08:48]And he said, no. Um, it didn't change how we approached the case. We approached it as we would approach any missing person. But he agreed that that email from Inspector Lachlan really was indicative of how seriously everyone was taking it.

[00:09:01]>> And that was sent when?

[00:09:02]>> And that was sent on the Tuesday morning.

[00:09:04]>> Tuesday morning. Right. Okay.

[00:09:06]>> This is this still hasn't been sorted out this missing person because as we've heard and we heard it again today, the first 24 hours are crucial and any are after the first 24 hours just make it less and less likely that the person will be found. And then there was another um interesting point that Constible George um raised which was on the Tuesday they were still getting calls from the public to say that they'd seen Noah. And Constable George said he wanted he had emailed in to say look can we make it public that Noah was naked because that will reduce the number of people kind of effectively not necessarily intentionally wasting police time. But he said every time they got a potential sighting of Noah, resources had to be put in that direction. And he was the one that kind of spearheaded the the move to to get the fact that Noah was naked publicized so that people out in the public would know. And that reminds me of evidence we've heard of a a sighting that was reported in the grounds of St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church on the other side of the city.

[00:10:06]Young lad in green coat was seen. But of course the green coat had been discarded before he even got as far as Northwood Road. So that information would inform you'd imagine.

[00:10:18]>> And it's difficult isn't it because in those situations people are desperately trying to help and it's not necessarily um with you know with a bad um intention. There was something else as well. And on the 23rd, which is the 23rd of June, which is the Tuesday, he was asked at that point, did he know the culvert was tidal? Did he know that the, you know, that it would fill with tidal water? And he said no. Um, he said he had gone to see the outflow of the culvert for himself. So, he had gone down to Dargan to look and see the pipes coming out. And he had discussed at that point that somebody needed to search the pipes. It was put to him, well, why didn't you search both ends? and he said, "No, that's not how these searches happen. The search happens from place last seen." So, it would always have been the search would always have started in a systematic way at Northwood Road and work its way down to the Translink depot. It wouldn't you would never have started at both ends to come to the middle. And he said that's just procedural. That's just how any search is carried out.

[00:11:15]>> Okay. So, that's um Constible George. Um just finally, what was the tone of the evidence today? Because depending on some police witnesses, it can be a little bit more um fraught.

[00:11:30]>> Mhm.

[00:11:31]>> Some days others.

[00:11:32]>> I wouldn't say it was fraught, but there were a couple of occasions where Brenda Campbell kind of um you know, she she said is it's quite inexcusable and that he wasn't going to see the culvert that he looked through the railing. She said, "Is that not quite inexcusable?" And at that point, Donaloney got up and said he felt that was an unfair characterization that Constable George had given his explanation and and didn't need to answer that question. And there was another point where um there were things that were in his statement and some things that were not in his statement that were then questioned in court today. And at one point, Brenda Campbell asked him, "Did you listen to the evidence? Did you hear what Shawn McCarry said about you? Did you read it anywhere? What about Barry Hutchkins?"

[00:12:15]And he said, "Absolutely not. No, I didn't um I didn't look at any of it. I didn't see any of it. I didn't watch any of it. And she said, "Well, I think that might be an untruth." And again, Don Lonnie made attempted to make an objection and then um the coroner intervened and said, "You know, I think he's answered he's answered that question, but I'll leave it up to you where you go with that next and she didn't pursue it."

[00:12:37]>> Okay. Well, um we wait for more evidence tomorrow then. any indication of what the rest of the week might look like?

[00:12:46]Sometimes we get a nod, sometimes we don't.

[00:12:48]>> Yeah, I mean, I think we're probably looking at the rest of this week and the rest of next week in terms of evidence.

[00:12:56]Um, but I suppose if we've learned one thing along the way, there's no real point in predicting any of it because we're just not sure. I mean, there were two witnesses listed for today and we only got through one. So, again, you know, that is just a constant knock-on effect that that has. Um, so we'll just wait and see what happens tomorrow.

[00:13:13]>> Okay. Well, you'll hear it all here um as this special series continues. That's it for this evening, but we'll pick up again tomorrow.

[00:13:20]>> Thanks for listening.