Noah Donohoe: the latest news is very bad

[MNettersForNoahAndFiona]

Many Mumsnetters will have already seen and kindly supported my threads and those of others about the disappearance and death of young Noah Donohoe in Belfast in June 2020. For those who haven't, Noah's naked body was retrieved from a drain after he had been missing for 6 days. Two years later, his grieving mother Fiona, with her sister Niamh at her side, is still having to fight for the truth about her adored son's disappearance and death and for justice for him.

Yesterday, Fiona was given official notice by the government/NIO that a Public Interest Immunity Certificate has been granted. It was signed by the new Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Shailesh Vara, MP for North West Cambridgeshire. This means that the police/PSNI are allowed to keep hundreds of pages of information from their botched investigation into the disappearance and death of this innocent and precious child secret. It was received by the police/PSNI and Crown Solicitors Office on the 19th July and his mother was not told for over a week.

Mr Vara was appointed after Brandon Lewis resigned from Boris Johnson's cabinet. He has only been in his post as NI Secretary for two weeks. This is not a good start. Signing the PII Certificate so swiftly indicates to me that he has not taken due time and care to learn all the facts in Noah's case. I think anyone who concludes from this that Mr Vara is just a government and police puppet could be forgiven.

For those Mumsnetters not in Northern Ireland who believe that PII Certificates don't concern you, a PII Certificate application from the police/PSNI protected Robert Howard, a known prolific and violent child killer and rapist. It allowed him to travel to England, Scotland and Ireland. He was only brought to justice when he raped and killed a child in Kent. This is only one example of many.

If you are not outraged, then you have not been paying attention. What can you do? Please think about this and do what you can. Please join us in raising awareness about Noah on social media, with your own government representatives and mainstream media. If you want to contact Shailesh Vara directly about Noah's case:
members.parliament.uk/member/1496/contact
Email at NIO: [email protected]
He is also on Twitter:
twitter.com/ShaileshVara

Here is a factual and reliable pinned Twitter thread for people new to Noah's story or wanting to know more:
mobile.twitter.com/MarymoBelfast/status/1370453351616425985
Here is Fiona's podcast:

Here is a Channel 4 News report: www.channel4.com/news/noah-donohoe-family-seek-answers-over-belfast-teenagers-death And please, if you haven't already, do still join the 309,146 people who have showed they care by signing Fiona's petition. Link in the OP of this thread: www.mumsnet.com/talk/petitions_noticeboard/4573833-noah-donohoe-his-mothers-fight-for-the-truth-and-justice-please-help-stop-the-police-coroner-and-brandon-lewis-from-keeping-investigation-files-into-the-death-of-a-child-secret-thread-3?

Thank you sincerely for reading and for your support. 💙

TLDR:
As Marion Wright Edelman said, if we don't stand up for children, then we don't stand for much. Shame on you, Shailesh Vara. AIBU?

PIIs are also used to protect informants, MI5/6 agents, police officers and paramilitaries, amongst others - sometimes the involvement of these people in crimes. The police/PSNI reportedly spent £1.6 million on paying their informers over 5 years. Sometimes they are used to cover up corruption, collusion and incompetence. Sometimes they protect the dangerous and guilty - see Robert Howard, who was an informant.

They should not be used again in the death of an innocent child. This is nothing to do with terrorism. The PSNI needs to stop relying so heavily on past excuses and on informants and actually do some detecting and policing, something that has been sorely lacking in Noah's case. Senior officers twice refused requests from their own officers to upgrade Noah's disappearance to a critical incident. Why? What did they know?

Is the PII in the public interest? No. Justice and the truth about the death of an innocent child is in the public interest. It won't bring Noah back, but it will protect other children. Other children recently have very fortunately managed to get away - see Flynn Maguire, for example.

The police, coroner and Shailesh Vara are protecting the wrong people.

The trouble is what does covering it up achieve? It might temporarily hold things stable but if there's rot it has to be exposed and felt with.

The issues in Northern Ireland as so complex I understand that. But how can things move on and change when shit like this is still being covered up.

I fully believe both the police and people within the local community know exactly what happened to Noah.
If there are people so dangerous in NI that releasing these files is a security risk then that needs dealing with and these people removed from society.
Innocent children must not be allowed to pay the price.

Thank you @Suzi888💙

Thank you so much @MNettersForNoahAndFiona . I’m sorry I was so distressed that the bit about the help didn’t sink in.

It’s so so sad. To think you’re in a community and they can treat your child like this, not lift a finger to help him when he desperately needs help.
How he must have suffered.

I really feel for him mum and aunty. It’s beyond horrible.

Thank you, I’ll join in the social media campaign.

💙

What a beautiful boy.

I sent an email to C4 news desk to thank them for highlighting Noah's case and hopefully they'll do some investigations into the case sometime in the future.

They should not be used again in the death of an innocent child. This is nothing to do with terrorism. The PSNI needs to stop relying so heavily on past excuses and on informants and actually do some detecting and policing, something that has been sorely lacking in Noah's case. Senior officers twice refused requests from their own officers to upgrade Noah's disappearance to a critical incident. Why? What did they know?

Is the PII in the public interest? No. Justice and the truth about the death of an innocent child is in the public interest. It won't bring Noah back, but it will protect other children. Other children recently have very fortunately managed to get away - see Flynn Maguire, for example.

The expert speaks again. 🙄

Has it still not occurred to you that there is also an alternate chance that other lives could be put at risk by releasing sensitive information? Maybe not, but you absolutely don't know that for sure despite your self assured claims.

Has it still not occurred to you that there is also an alternate chance that other lives could be put at risk by releasing sensitive information?

Who's lives? The murderer? The paramilitary informants?

Fiona has always said she doesn't want any violence she wants the truth.
why shouldn't a child's murder be investigated to protect criminals?

Maybe not, but you absolutely don't know that for sure despite your self assured claims.

Is that a good enough reason for not investigating a child's suspicious death?

No one wants violence just the truth, Noah isn't the first child murder case that has been covered by PII.

Do you know how that ended?

It's a underhanded overuse of a procedure that is in place for different reasons.

As an aside from bringing the murderer to justice, the PSNI need to be fully investigated by superiors asking why they acted in the way they did while Noah was missing.

Did they lose all knowledge of training or what were they protecting? Not the young innocent DC who was missing.

Who's lives? The murderer? The paramilitary informants?

Maybe the life of another innocent young person killed in retaliation when the previously confidential documents show that they were investigating sectarian motives but couldn't find enough conclusive evidence to take it further.

Maybe the life of another innocent young person killed in retaliation when the previously confidential documents show that they were investigating sectarian motives.

I'd put my life on down knowing that wouldn't happen.
If it was a case of an eye for an eye it would have already happened.

Even the hardened Catholics who have endured years of conflict who live in the same area as Noah want peace.

The balance is already unfair, they're aware they're the underdog when it comes to community support, why would they want to make things worse.

There was a Facebook clip a few years ago threatening to catch a wee Catholic boy to kick him to death on a well known loyalist strip in defiance of the NI protocol.

Catholics didn't react violently nor did they react violently to the atrocious bonfire displays.

Or to the public transport explosions.

On another note the footage of the wheelie bin being taken for forensic investigations on July 12th would be funny if the past forensic investigations weren't so pathetic.

@YesJess Have you listened to the podcast?

Yes, a beautiful boy inside and out, @HikingforScenery

Thank you @EmeraldShamrock1 - perhaps Justine will point her husband in the right direction...

No need to apologise at all @HikingforScenery . There is two years-worth of information to work through and it is distressing. It's a natural reaction for any decent person, isn't it, to help a child in danger? Noah was a kind boy and would have helped anyone. It is a living nightmare for Fiona and Niamh but they are also being incredibly strong for Noah. Thank you for caring so much and for helping. 💙

On another note the footage of the wheelie bin being taken for forensic investigations on July 12th would be funny if the past forensic investigations weren't so pathetic.
Yes I saw that, @EmeraldShamrock1 ! I thought, how many police officers does it take to arrest a wheelie bin?! If only they were as hot on forensics for the disappearance and death of an innocent child as they are being for a broken window.

Thank you @Dobbysgotthesocks - I couldn't agree more. The rot are a tiny minority and yet they are still being allowed to spoil things for the decent majority in all communities. Innocent children like Noah have suffered dearly because of that.

@MNettersForNoahAndFiona I just feel that by continuing to cover it up, it just hands the power to this minority. It says the police and politicians are too scared to go after you so you can do what you damn well want including killing innocent children.
Is that really the type of society that any of us want to live in? That we want to bring our kids up in? This is bigger than Noah's case. It's about the safety and security of everyone in Northern Ireland.

The Northern Ireland Office said Mr Vara carefully considered the PII application, having been fully briefed by officials, adding it did not comment “on ongoing coronial proceedings”.

Oh to have been a fly on the wall.

Noah💙

Noah Donohoe has been trending on Twitter again. Thank you to anyone reading who helps to make this possible. 💙

💙

Statement from Sinéad McLaughlin MLA:
Urgent questions need answered after the Secretary of State signed off a PII in relation to the death of Noah Donohoe, whose family deserves nothing less than full transparency as they seek truth and justice.

As a member of the Policing Board, I will be requesting a meeting to seek answers.

Tensions are rising, the truth will come, the continued pressure will open the door to the truth.
#Noah

Well said @Dobbysgotthesocks - thank you. And not just 'too scared' either, it raises the question of collusion and corruption between that tiny hate-filled minority and some police and politicians.
It's about the safety and security of everyone in Northern Ireland.
And it's about the safety and security of the rest of the UK and Ireland, and potentially internationally, as we saw with Robert Howard - the travelling prolific violent sex offender and child killer - also protected with a PII Certificate by the police/PSNI and UK government.

Thank you @Floisme and welcome back.