Three-year-old Noah Woods left a Suffolk playground through a gap in a fence before he was found dead in a nearby pond, an inquest has heard.
Noah disappeared from an under-fives play area in Brantham on 15 September while being cared for by relatives as part of his normal routine.
DCI Matthew Connick told the inquest that CCTV showed Noah playing with a relative before he “left through a gap in the fence leading to the memorial garden where he left through an open gate”.
Noah then headed towards Decoy Pond while “being closely followed by his relative who was trying to keep up with him”, the inquest heard.
The relative “shouted after him”, but lost sight of Noah after about 200 metres, prompting a major search involving around 1,300 members of the public.
A Metropolitan Police diver found Noah the following afternoon about five metres from the bank of Decoy Pond, within submerged tree roots.
Suffolk Police said his death was not being treated as suspicious.
Noah’s family asked that he be remembered as “the happy little boy that he was”.
“Noah was a happy, cheeky, playful three-year-old boy who loved to laugh, loved to giggle and who brought joy wherever he went,” they said. The inquest was adjourned to a later date.
