THE mobile phone of Belfast schoolboy Noah Donohoe was found damaged by a member of the public, an inquest into his death has heard.
The body of the 14 year-old St Malachy's College pupil was found in a storm drain in North Belfast, six days after he went missing in June 2020.
On Tuesday, an inquest into his death heard from Adelaide Armstrong, who found Noah's mobile phone the day after he went missing. She told the inquest that she found the device inside railings and close to the road in Castleton Park in North Belfast.
She said the phone screen was damaged and brought it home to charge it in an effort to contact the owner. She subsequently saw a message on the device from the police asking anyone who found the phone to contact them.
She also noticed missed calls from "Mum" on the phone.
On Tuesday, the inquest also heard from the first police officer who met Noah's mum, Fiona Donohoe on the night of his disappearance.
Sgt David Murphy told the inquest how Fiona described her son as having been "very emotional" during the week before and had been acting "strange".
He said she told him that her son had been "hugging and kissing" her a lot and telling her that "he loves her a lot".
He said that Fiona told him that her son's disappearance was "totally out of character" and he would normally be home long before 10pm.
Sgt Murphy also said Noah had never come to the attention of the police previously.
He also revealed that the PSNI investigation was initially treated as a "medium-risk" case before being upgraded to a "high-risk" case.
The inquest continues.
