Police did not review CCTV footage of Noah Donohoe leaving his home in the early hours of the day he went missing until 18 months after his death, an inquest has heard.

The 14-year-old's body was found in an underground water tunnel in north Belfast in June 2020, six days after he vanished. A post-mortem examination found drowning was the likely cause of death.

On Friday, Detective Chief Inspector Sam McCallum told the coroner's court that footage of Noah leaving and returning to his south Belfast home between 3.30am and 4am on 21 June 2020 was not watched until January 2022. He noticed it while investigating an unrelated false allegation that had been made in October 2021.

A lawyer representing Noah's mother, Fiona Donohoe, argued that an earlier review of the footage could have opened up additional investigative opportunities, including further CCTV checks and inquiries into Noah's movements overnight. The officer agreed that if the material had been watched sooner, further inquiries would have been made.

The inquest also heard there is no evidence linking a man who took Noah's rucksack to his disappearance. Daryl Paul was later jailed for stealing a laptop from the bag, but CCTV evidence showed he could not have had any contact with the teenager after Noah set out from home, the court was told. The family's legal team accepted there was no such evidence.

Questions were raised about Noah's mobile phone, which he parted from shortly before he went missing. A photograph of part of a hand was recorded on the device within an hour of his disappearance, the hearing was told. Det Ch Insp McCallum said police had been aware the phone was missing but their priority was finding Noah, not tracking the device.

The officer stated there was no evidence whatsoever of any third-party involvement in Noah's death. A barrister for the Police Service of Northern Ireland noted that during five months of hearings no such evidence had emerged.

Det Ch Insp McCallum also confirmed that Noah's next of kin had provided a great deal of important information but had not supplied a formal statement to police. The inquest is expected to continue next week.