Noah Donohoe Inquest Adjourned After 10 Jurors Fail to Reach Unanimous Verdict

Q: After months of evidence, what crucial detail is preventing a unanimous verdict on how Noah Donohoe died?

It has not been made public what specific point is dividing the jury. The evidence heard at the inquest appears clear on some core facts: Noah Donohoe’s post-mortem found he died by drowning, and an expert witness said he likely died on the day he disappeared in June 2020, six days before his body was found in an underground water tunnel. But the jury is not deciding only the medical cause of death. It must return unanimous findings on a wider set of issues, including how he came to die, the date of death, and whether any police failings contributed. That distinction is crucial. The unresolved issue is not publicly identified as a single missing fact, but rather the jury’s inability so far to agree unanimously on the circumstances or manner of Noah’s death and related findings. After hearing months of evidence from dozens of witnesses, jurors deliberated for about 24 to 25 hours over three days without reaching agreement. The immediate reason the inquest was adjourned was practical, not evidential: four jurors had imminent holiday commitments, making it impossible to continue with the full 10-person jury. Mr Justice Rooney said it would be wrong to rush exhausted jurors or exclude any of them, so the case will resume later this year.

3 articles · Updated · bbc.co.uk · Jul 3

Mr Justice Rooney halted the Noah Donohoe inquest shortly before 01:00 BST on Friday, saying proceedings would resume in August or September after the 10-member jury failed to agree a verdict.
Four jurors had imminent holiday conflicts—two unavailable on Friday and two more from Saturday—leaving the coroner to call the situation unprecedented after three days of deliberations.
The jury, made up of eight men and two women, had sat until nearly 23:30 on Thursday and moved from Laganside Court to the Royal Courts of Justice during the late-night session.
Rooney said the panel had devoted more than five months to the inquest since January and was exhausted, adding it would be wrong to rush a decision or exclude any juror from the final process.
The inquest is examining the circumstances of Donohoe's death in north Belfast after he was found dead almost a week after going missing in June 2020.