Noah Woods police share message from lacking boy’s household as specialist diving crew despatched
Police searching for missing three-year-old Noah Woods have shared a short message from the his family as the operation continues to find him over 24 hours since the toddler was reported missing
The family of a missing three-year-old have shared a message, which was read out by police to volunteers, after over 24 hours has passed since the toddler went missing from a park.
Noah Woods was last seen at a playground in Merriam Close, Brantham, on Tuesday afternoon (September 15), before he ran down a nearby alleyway. He is non-verbal and partially deaf and will not respond to his name being called.
Several hundred volunteers have descended on the village after hearing of his disappearance. The family of a missing toddler have said they are “blown away” by the support from volunteers who have turned up to help with the search for the little boy.
The search continues for missing three-year-old Noah Woods(Image: Suffolk Constabulary)
The message comes as the Met Police conmfirmed that a specialist diving team has been sent to support Suffolk Police with the ongoing searches for Noah.
Superintendent Tom Pearse, from Suffolk Constabulary, passed on the family’s message shortly after he updated journalists at Brantham Leisure Centre in an official statement this afternoon (September 16).
He said: “I give my heartfelt thanks to all of you coming out here today. From what I have seen, it is an unbelievably special community.
Superintendent Tom Pearse passed on the family’s message to volunteers (Image: Will Colebourne/PA Wire)
“You have demonstrated that by the way you have all come together. I want to pass on the thanks of Noah’s family. They are unbelievably grateful and blown away by your support.”
The force released new CCTV stills and footage of the little boy in the play area in Merriam Close at 2.37pm on Tuesday just before he vanished.
It is thought that he ran down an alleyway beside the playground towards a nearby new-build housing estate. The surrounding area includes woods and a pond and is near the River Stour and a railway.
Noah is white with curly ginger hair and was wearing a white T-shirt with the TV character Bluey on, shorts and black Vans trainers with a white stripe.
CCTV released by police shows Noah Woods moments before he disappeared(Image: Suffolk Constabulary)
Hundreds of volunteers are searching for Noah, including Rebecca Lucas, 46, who said “everybody’s come together to try and do what they can”.
The theatre production company worker, of Manningtree, Essex, said: “I’ve got two children, I’ve got a seven-year-old and a three-year-old, and obviously this hits quite close to home with Noah being three.
“I think, within the local community, everyone’s really close knit and it just touches at the heart strings; everybody just wants to get involved and see if there’s anything we can do rather than just sit at home.”
She went to a briefing at the village hall earlier on Wednesday, was given an area to search and scoured fields and by a local church for “anything that could possibly give us a clue but we haven’t found anything as yet”.
Volunteers searching for Noah Woods after he went missing on Merriam Close(Image: James Linsell Clark / SWNS)
She said she will be here “as long as they need us”. She said it must be difficult for the family, adding: “I can’t even begin to put myself in that position as a mother, it really pulls at you.”
Sharon Auton, 60, said she went out to help as soon as she saw the news on social media on Tuesday afternoon.
The foster carer, of Brantham, said it was “amazing how much the community has got together over this”. She said that at the village hall people were split into groups, given maps and sent to search different areas.
She said she wanted to “help find this little boy”, adding: “It’s just tragic he’s been lost, I’m hoping he will be found safe and well.”
