Arabic version: تحقيق قضائي يستمع إلى أن نوا وودز غادر الملعب عبر فجوة في السياج

According to BBC News, an inquest has heard that three-year-old Noah Woods left a play area in Brantham, Suffolk, through a gap in a fence before he was found dead in nearby Decoy Pond. Assistant coroner Jyoti Gill described it as a “very sad and tragic death” when she opened and adjourned the hearing in Ipswich.

Noah went missing on 15 September after CCTV showed him playing with a relative close by, Det Ch Insp Matt Connick of Suffolk Police told Suffolk Coroner’s Court. The court heard that he left the playground, entered a memorial garden and exited through an open gate. He then ran down a path on a new housing estate towards the pond, with the relative following and trying to catch up.

The relative shouted to Noah but he went out of sight shortly afterwards, the inquest heard. Another man joined the search before police were called. At least 1,300 people, including emergency services, local residents and members of the public, took part in efforts to find him over the following 24 hours. Helicopters and dog units searched the area near the River Stour on the Suffolk-Essex border.

Metropolitan Police divers searched Decoy Pond on 16 September, where Noah had last been seen. His body was found five metres from the pond’s edge, within submerged tree roots and at a depth of 1.8 metres. Paramedics confirmed his death at 16:31 BST, and his mother formally identified him at Ipswich Hospital that evening.

A post-mortem examination at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge requires further investigation before a final conclusion on the cause of death can be reached, the court was told. Police are not treating the death as suspicious. A date for the full inquest has not been set. Noah’s father, Rhys Woods, said his son was “the sweetest and most innocent little boy, with nothing but love to give”.