A coroner has upheld a police application to withhold sensitive material from an inquest into the death of a schoolboy whose body was found in a drain in Belfast in 2020.
Disclosing the information would create a real risk to the public interest, he ruled, after representations by the police and lawyers for the boy’s family last week.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) has ruled out foul play in the death of Noah Donohoe, 14, who had disappeared while cycling from his home in south Belfast to meet friends across the city.
Nevertheless, his mother, Fiona Donohoe, is hoping for answers through the inquest process to questions surrounding his disappearance. She has been involved in a campaign that drew thousands of people on to the streets of Belfast last month in her support.
The PSNI has made a public interest immunity (PII) application related to material in three police folders that will be used during the inquest.
The requested redactions relate to reference numbers, grading of intelligence, information relating to police sources, and details of investigative methodologies used by the PSNI, which argued that disclosing the information would damage national security interests.
The then Northern Ireland secretary, Shailesh Vara, gave the required signoff to the PSNI in July in a move that drew criticism from those opposing the PII application.
High court judge Mr Justice Michael Humphreys, who is Northern Ireland’s presiding coroner, said on Thursday that none of the material subject to the PII application was of “central relevance” to the questions that November’s scheduled inquest would explore.
“The redactions only relate to the ways in which the police handle and process intelligence information and the identity of sources,” he said. “The actual content of the intelligence information is not redacted at all. So, the next of kin and the coroner will have a full picture of the information which was supplied to the police.”
He said the “lack of probative value” of the material has to be considered against the potential harm posed if information on police methodologies gets into the hands of criminals or terrorists.
The law firm representing the Donohoe family had expressed “grave concerns” over Vara’s actions in signing off the PII, claiming the move appeared to “exacerbate rather than allay deeply-held concerns”.
Michelle O’Neill, the Northern Ireland first minister designate and Sinn Féin Stormont leader, said Vara’s decision was “totally unacceptable”, adding that the use of a PII in the case was “wholly inappropriate”.
The Northern Ireland Office has sought to distance itself and the secretary of state from the issuing of the PII certificate, saying that the application was made by the PSNI and the ultimate decision was down to the coroner.
