Man who stole Noah Donohoe rucksack says he ‘never met or saw’ schoolboy

A man who stole Noah Donohoe’s rucksack has told an inquest he never met or saw the schoolboy.

Daryl Paul, of Cliftonville Avenue, previously pleaded guilty to stealing a rucksack containing Noah’s laptop and books.

In a statement read out at Belfast Coroner’s Court, he said he was “upset” by “untrue” rumours about him.

He said he and his family had received threats and that if he knew what would happen after picking up the bag he would never have done so.

The inquest into the death of the schoolboy, which is being heard before a jury, is in its 12th week.

Noah, a pupil at St Malachy’s College, was 14 when his naked body was found in a storm drain tunnel in north Belfast on June 27 2020, six days after leaving home on his bike to meet two friends in the Cavehill area of the city.

A post-mortem examination found the cause of death was drowning.

The jury heard evidence on Wednesday from a woman about how she came into possession of Noah’s laptop.

Maria Nolan told the inquest that Paul told her that he had a laptop that he could sell at Cash Converters to raise money to buy drugs on June 24 2020.

The laptop was Noah’s, and was part of several items that had gone missing – including his backpack and coat.

On Thursday, a transcript of a police interview with Paul in November 2020 was read out to the inquest by the coroner’s counsel, Peter Coll KC.

A video interview held by two journalists with Paul was also shown to the jury, and a statement from Paul to the inquest dated October 2025 was read out by Mr Coll.

In his 2025 statement, Paul said he was on bail at the time of Noah Donohoe’s disappearance and recounted the route he walked through the city on the day he found the rucksack.

After jumping the railings around construction work at Ulster University, he spoke to a man with tattoos and dressed in overalls he described as a “caretaker” before discovering the bag in a walkway nearby.

Paul said he picked up the bag, which was propped against the side of the walkway, and placed it in his Poundland bag before continuing his journey.

He said the bag was open and the laptop was not visible, but he could tell there was likely a laptop in it because of how heavy it was.

He said he had assumed it belonged to a college student and suspected it came from a burglary at the college.

“I was in the habit of stealing things to get money,” he said, adding that he had “drug problems” at the time.

He said that later, when he checked the bag, he found a laptop, a Quran, blue USB, the book 12 Rules for Life by Jordan Peterson and a notebook with “the same line written over and over again”.

He said that at the time, he was not aware of a missing schoolboy and was unsure what to do with the laptop, which he said would not turn on and had no charger.

He said he left the laptop with Ms Nolan “for safekeeping” and days later he and Ms Nolan decided to try to sell the laptop to Cash Converters, but were unable.

He said he was holding bags with clothes he had shoplifted from SuperDry at the time and he was arrested that evening.

That night, he said police entered his cell and asked where the missing schoolboy’s laptop was.

He said this was the first time he became aware of Noah Donohoe’s disappearance.

He said he “immediately” told police the laptop was with Ms Nolan at her hostel.

He said he wanted to be clear that he had “never met Noah” and that he had “never met or even seen Noah”.

He said that while he picked up the rucksack, he never picked up a coat.

“I made comments on the video (to journalists) about feeling bad for Noah’s family… those comments were true and I still mean them,” he said.

He urged anyone who has information about what happened to Noah to come forward.

“My role in Noah’s case went no further than stealing the laptop,” he said, adding that he was “upset” about the “untrue” rumours about him.

“Had I known all the trouble it would cause me, I would never have picked it up.”

Evidence before the inquest continues on Thursday afternoon