A coroner has expressed concern he was not told that AI software to be used in the inquest of schoolboy Noah Donohoe had only been available to police for a trial period that expired last month.
Mr Justice Rooney convened an unscheduled review hearing in the Royal Courts of Justice in Belfast on Friday morning after the issue over the artificial intelligence technology emerged.
Noah, 14, was found dead in a storm drain in Belfast in June 2020 – six days after he went missing as he cycled to meet up with friends.
The coroner’s court had previously been told that AI was being used by the PSNI to examine hours of CCTV footage in an attempt to discover if there were incidents of the schoolboy leaving his home in the early hours in the days before he went missing.
On Friday, the court heard that the issue over the expiration of the AI software trial period was identified when efforts were made to find a suitable date for a counsel for the coroner to review the footage.
Counsel for the PSNI Donal Lunny KC told Mr Justice Rooney that the legal parties involved in the case had not been aware of the end of January expiration date.
He said once the issue was identified by a solicitor in the Crown Solicitor’s Office she took steps to alert the PSNI over the need to “expedite” the permanent purchase of the software.
Mr Lunny said the purchase had been fast-tracked and he expressed hope the software would be back in operation by February 17.
“I don’t believe anyone was told the period ended at the end of January, it would have been helpful if that had been flagged up,” the barrister told the court.
“But we are where we are with it. It now requires the PSNI to purchase it, that obviously has a cost for public bodies like the PSNI. As you know, there are processes that have to be gone through.
“Happily, with the intervention of my instructing solicitor, and others, those have been expedited and authorities been obtained to purchase a number of licences.”
He added: “I’m just sorry that we didn’t get back to the Coroners Service to tell you that that was happening before this review was required. We ought to have and we didn’t. But, as I say, the authorities are there, we’re expediting the purchase of them.”
Mr Lunny continued: “We anticipate they’ll be available, ready to use, by Monday February 17.
“We can’t say that with 100% certainty, because we’re waiting for the software company to come back to the PSNI. We don’t anticipate any difficulties with it.”
Noah’s mother, Fiona Donohoe, is hoping to secure answers to some of the questions surrounding the death of her son through the inquest process.
The full inquest is anticipated to be held before the summer.
Barrister for Ms Donohoe, Brenda Campbell KC, said the family only became aware of the issue with the AI trial period when they received notification on Thursday of the unscheduled review hearing.
She expressed gratitude to the coroner for “keeping close eyes on what’s going on in the background”.
The coroner explained to Ms Campbell that he had written to the police when he discovered the software was only set to be available for a trial period.
“I was more concerned by the fact that this would cause a delay in counsel for the coroner being able to see the CCTV footage,” he said.
“So that is the reason why we’re here today.
“What I’ve been told by Mr Lunny is that the Crown solicitors were working behind the scenes, they realised that there was an issue here, and they were working behind the scenes to make sure it wouldn’t be an issue.
“From what I’ve been told, they’ve succeeded in many ways. So, I’m happy. I’m glad we had the review, but that was the reason for it.”
The next review hearing in the case is due on February 26.
