Dad of missing 3-year-old speaks out as final footage of toddler before disappearance released
Suffolk police have released footage of Noah Woods’ last sighting before the three-year-old went missing from a playground in Brantham.
It comes as his father, Rhys Woods, has issued a statement thanking the hundreds of volunteers for their support and issuing a plea to widen the search.
Noah was at the playground in Merriam Close with a relative when he disappeared on Tuesday afternoon (15 September), and is thought to have run down an alleyway towards a nearby new-build housing estate.
Since then, a huge search operation has been ongoing to locate the child, who is non-verbal, partially deaf, and is currently undergoing an assessment for autism, involving police and local volunteers.
In the latest update on Wednesday (16 September), 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.”
As we say, the force also released new CCTV stills and footage of Noah at the playground before he went missing.
The video, recorded at 2.37pm, shows the toddler spinning and running around a roundabout.
In the update, Superintendent Pearse also 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.”
Pearse urged: “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 enquiries and search activity as effectively as possible.”
Meanwhile, in his own plea to the public, Noah’s father, Rhys, has urged people not to give up and said he ‘cannot go another night knowing he’s out there alone’.
As reported by LBC News, he wrote: "Thank every single one of you who have taken part in the search for our boy Noah. To clear things up, because people really do make up their own stories, he is only mildly autistic and has partial hearing loss, he is fully capable of every day tasks.
"We still have nothing, all the emergency services and all of you have shown how strong this community is, with people coming from far and wide.”
He continued: "The emergency services are very confident that the high risk areas (Decoy pond, railway lines) are all clear."
"This means, knowing our boy, he has gone even further, could I ask that all of you brilliant people out there today expand further if you are able to? Reference where I have outlined, and maybe even further than this.
"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."
As a result of his vulnerabilities, police advised that Noah will not respond to his name.
He is described as white, with curly ginger hair, and is wearing a white Bluey T-shirt, shorts and black Vans trainers with a white stripe.
Residents are still being asked to check their gardens, sheds and outbuildings, or any other place a child may have be hidden or sought shelter.
Police also request that locals ‘review CCTV or doorbell cameras, and for motorists travelling in and around Brantham to review any dashcam footage from 3pm yesterday’.
Anyone who believes they have seen Noah is asked to contact Suffolk police on 999, quoting CAD 203 of 15 September.
Anyone with any other information can report it via the Suffolk police website, by phoning 111, or using the Live Chat service by clicking the icon at the bottom right corner of this site.
Madison Burgess