Possible drugs in Noah Donohoe’s system ‘cannot be excluded’, inquest hears

It cannot be ruled out that Noah Donohoe may have had drugs in his system at the time of his death, toxicologists have told an inquest.

Forensic analysts said there was no evidence that the schoolboy was under the influence of drugs or alcohol, but the presence of some substances including so-called “designer drugs” cannot be excluded because of the limits of testing.

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

Forensic scientist Amy Eleanor Quinn, who carried out a toxicological analysis on samples from Noah’s body in July 2020, gave evidence to the inquest at Belfast Coroners Court on Wednesday, alongside Dr Simon Elliott, consultant forensic toxicologist, who carried out a review and further testing of samples in November 2024.

In a joint statement they agreed that Ms Quinn had found evidence of a small amount of alcohol in Noah’s blood but that this was consistent with having been generated by the body after death and there was no reason to believe he had consumed alcohol in the hours before he died.

They further agreed “there is no toxicological evidence that the deceased was under the influence of drugs at the time of his death within the range of screening performed”.

They also agreed that “it is not possible to exclude that drugs not included in the scope of analysis may have been present at the time of his death”.

Reiterating there is no toxicological evidence that Noah was under the influence of drugs at the time of his death, they added “this cannot be stated with absolute certainty” as “many drugs exist outside the scope of testing performed in this case and the instability of drugs” must be considered.

Ms Quinn read a statement in which she confirmed she had tested Noah’s blood sample for a range of drugs including methamphetamine, ecstasy, benzodiazepines, cocaine, cannabis, ketamine, opiates and fentanyl, as well as pharmaceuticals like antidepressants and paracetamol, none of which produced a positive result.

She confirmed that some hallucinogens like LSD or magic mushrooms were not included in these tests.

Dr Elliott said in a statement that the “range of screening is such that the testing can only exclude the drugs covered” and “it is not realistically possible to cover the thousands of drugs/substances that could be involved”.

He also added that the “limit of detection is fundamental” and that only if that drug was present at a certain concentration “would it be detected and reported as positive”.

The toxicologist said that “specifically due to their chemical structure” many synthetic cannabinoids such as that commonly referred to as “spice” are unstable and “may not be detected in post-mortem samples”.

Overall he concluded that based on the range of screening by Ms Quinn and the possibility of drugs breaking down prior to analysis, “negative findings do not entirely exclude that Noah had been administered a psychotropic substance prior to death”.

Nick Scott, counsel to the coroner, asked the experts to elaborate on two issues of post-mortem toxicological analysis – what was the scope of testing (what substances are tested for), and the limits of testing (if substances can break down to become undetectable).

The toxicologists agreed that it is “not possible” to screen for all types of synthetic cannabinoids, as there are such a large variety of different types, and Ms Quinn added that if you don’t have access to the specific drug to reference it in testing “then you’re limited in knowing that your theoretical screening will pick that up”.

She added: “Not finding it does not mean that it was not there.”

They further agreed that it “cannot be completely excluded” that drugs may have been present at the time of death that subsequently were broken down.

Dr Elliott said “that does happen and is known to happen particularly in relation to synthetic cannabinoids, there is a possibility the drug may have been taken prior to death that has become undetectable as a result of degradation”.

In questions asked of Ms Quinn before Wednesday, she listed some of the possible side effects of spice, which include paranoia, psychosis, hallucination and depersonalisation, as well as physical impacts including a lack of balance or co-ordination.

Noah had been captured on CCTV the night he went missing cycling naked, and, asked if any of Noah’s behaviour was consistent with having taken spice, Ms Quinn said it was not her area of expertise on which to comment.

Dr Elliott agreed that some of Noah’s observed “unusual behaviour” would be “best addressed by someone who is aware of what someone behaving in a psychotic or mind-altering way would be”.

Donal Lunny KC, barrister for the PSNI, presented a police log from October 2021, when Ms Quinn had been approached about the possibility of spice being relevant in Noah’s case.

The officer recalled the conversation where Ms Quinn outlined there were “countless different variants” of the type of drug making it “near impossible” to look for in toxicology.

“I certainly made them aware of the limitations in the testing,” she told the inquest.

Under questioning from Brenda Campbell KC, who is representing Noah’s mother, Fiona Donohoe, Dr Elliott said he has worked on “hundreds” of cases involving synthetic cannabinoids, since the drugs grew to prominence in the late 2000s.

Asked if he agreed that, “in broad terms”, Noah’s behaviour was consistent with having taken spice, he said yes.

He said he had not personally seen the CCTV footage “but in terms of adolescent individual who in the space of 20 minutes essentially has no clothes, he’s falling off his bike” is “not a common occurrence” and therefore there “does seem to be some disconnect between the normal function of an individual”.

He added that some stimulant drugs like cocaine can cause an increase in body temperature that would lead to someone removing clothing, but that synthetic cannabinoids do not fall into that category.

Ms Campbell said that by 6pm on the evening of his disappearance, things had started to “go wrong” for Noah, and asked Dr Elliott if that short time frame in Noah’s change in behaviour impacted his assessment.

He said that if synthetic cannabinoids are smoked “it is rapidly absorbed and the effects are within minutes”.