Noah Woods, three, died after leaving playground through gap in fence, inquest told

A three-year-old boy who was found dead in a pond after going missing from a playground had left the play area “through a gap in the fence”, an inquest heard.

Noah Woods became separated from a relative after visiting the playground in Merriam Close, Brantham, on the afternoon of 15 September, Suffolk police said.

About 1,300 members of the public joined a search to find Noah, who police said was non-verbal, partially deaf and had been undergoing an assessment for autism.

Met police divers recovered his body from what is known locally as Decoy Pond on the afternoon of 16 September. Suffolk police said his death was not being treated as suspicious.

The inquest into Noah’s death was opened and adjourned in Ipswich on Friday.

DCI Matthew Connick told the hearing that on 15 September, Noah, of East Bergholt, Suffolk, was being “looked after by relatives and this was part of a normal routine for Noah”.

He said they walked to an under-fives play area and CCTV footage in the park “showed Noah playing with his relative”. The first piece of footage was timed at 2.13pm and he was last seen playing at 2.37pm, said Connick, who added that the CCTV was motion-activated so did not provide continuous footage.

He said the relative, who was not named at the hearing, had provided a statement to police.

The officer said Noah “left through a gap in the fence leading to the memorial garden where he left through an open gate”. He said Noah went in the direction of Decoy Pond and he was “being closely followed by his relative who was trying to keep up with him”.

He said the relative “shouted after him” but after 200 metres Noah could not be seen. “Police were called and a large-scale search operation began,” Connick said.

He said Noah was found by a Met police diver “approximately 5 metres from the bank and within submerged tree roots”. The depth was estimated at 1.8 metres at that point, he added.

A postmortem at Addenbrooke’s hospital mortuary in Cambridge recorded his medical cause of death as pending further investigation, Connick said. Noah’s death was confirmed at 4.31pm by paramedics and his identity was formally confirmed by his mother, Charlie Peck, at Ipswich hospital that evening.

An assistant coroner for Suffolk, Jyoti Gill, said at the outset of the hearing, which was not attended by the boy’s family: “I would like to express my deepest condolences to Noah’s family and friends and all those affected by Noah’s death.”

She said at the end of the six-minute hearing: “The inquest is adjourned to a date to be fixed in due course. Once again, my deepest condolences.”

Noah’s father, Rhys Woods, paid tribute to his son in a message shared on a community Facebook group last week. He described Noah as the “sweetest and most innocent little boy, with nothing but love to give”, and added: “We are going to miss him so very much.”

Football players also paid tribute to Noah during Everton’s home match against Ipswich Town on Saturday by wearing black armbands.