The search for three-year-old Noah Woods continued for days until he was found dead in a pond. He went missing from a playground. He left the play area “through a gap in the fence”, an inquest heard on Friday, according to The Guardian.
Noah Woods became separated from his relative while he was at the playground in Merriam Close, Brantham, in the afternoon of 15 September, as per Suffolk police.
According to the family, Noah was non-verbal, partially deaf and had been undergoing an assessment for .
Around 1,300 people searched for the boy.
Metropolitan Police divers found his body the next afternoon from Decoy Pond.
Police said that Wood’s death was not being treated as suspicious.
At the inquest opening in Ipswich, DCI Matthew Connick said Noah was being looked after by relatives as part of a normal routine. CCTV footage showed him playing at 2:13 pm. His last sighting was at 2:37pm.
According to the Guardian, Connick explained that Noah “left through a gap in the fence leading to the memorial garden where he left through an open gate.” It is believed that he ran toward Decoy Pond while his relative followed, trying to keep up and even shouting after him. However, Noah disappeared from view after about 200 metres, prompting his search.
Police diver reportedly found Noah in 1.8-metre-deep water, trapped within submerged tree roots about 5 metres from the bank. Paramedics confirmed his death at 4:31 pm. His mother, Charlie Peck, formally identified him at Ipswich Hospital in the evening. A postmortem examination recorded his cause of death as pending further investigation.
Assistant Coroner Jyoti Gill adjourned the inquest to a later date, reported the news outlet.
She extended her “deepest condolences to Noah’s family and friends and all those affected by Noah’s death.”
Meanwhile, Noah’s family has issued a statement. They urged people to remember him as “the happy little boy that he was.”
They said, as quoted by The Guardian: “Noah was a happy, cheeky, playful three-year-old boy who loved to laugh, loved to giggle and who brought joy wherever he went. He was part of a loving and caring family, living with his mummy, daddy and his little baby brother. He was at the centre of our world.”
They added: “Noah was being assessed for autism, although he had not received a diagnosis. He also had mild hearing loss and was speech delayed. Despite the challenges he faced, he was learning every day. He was saying new words all the time and had only just started finding and using his little voice.”
His father, Rhys Woods, called him the “sweetest and most innocent little boy, with nothing but love to give” in a post.
