Suffolk Police Superintendent Tom Pearse has issued a new statement following online speculation of criminality as the search continues for the missing three-year-old boy Noah
Police have issued a new statement following online speculation regarding a missing three-year-old boy who vanished from a Suffolk village. The search continues for Noah Woods and remains a missing persons investigation with no indication anything sinister has happened, police have said.
A massive search operation is under way in Brantham supported by hundreds of volunteers in the desperate hunt to find toddler. He went missing after a visit to a play area in the village on Tuesday afternoon (September 15) when he became separated from a relative.
According to police and the boy’s father, Noah is non-verbal and partially deaf and will not respond to his name if called.
In an update on Wednesday (September 16) afternoon, Superintendent Tom Pearse from Suffolk police said: “This is being treated as a missing person investigation at this stage and there is nothing to indicate anything sinister or any element of criminality has taken place although we keep an open mind as to the circumstances.”
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.
The boy’s father, Rhy’s, posted on social media asking volunteers to widen their search beyond the village where possible.
He wrote: “I cannot go another night knowing he’s out there alone, please don’t give up on him guys. He is out there somewhere and I appreciate every single one of you.”
In the update from police on Wednesday afternoon, Mr Pearse urged volunteers to report to the co-ordination centre and to avoid the railway and open water, which need specialist searching.
He said: “It has now been around 24 hours since Noah was reported as missing to us and we are doing everything we can to find him.
“We are extremely grateful for the support shown by the public. If you are helping please report into the co-ordination centre to ensure the search continues to be done in a systematic and co-ordinated fashion.
“This will ensure we can carefully plan and take account of people supporting the search.
“We politely ask people to avoid open waters and railways – these are areas that require specialist and professional expertise. We also ask that personal drones are not used as these can interfere with specialist search equipment.
“There may also be times when officers may need to restrict access to certain areas or move away from search locations.
“Please do not be offended if this happens; it is necessary to allow us to carry out our inquiries and search activity as effectively as possible.”