Noah Woods' father shares 'painful' statement after body found in search
The father of missing toddler Noah Woods have issued a statement after a body was found by police.
Taking to a community Facebook group on Thursday (17 Sept), Rhys Woods wrote: "As I’m sure you have all seen, the body that was found in Decoy Pond is our little Noah.
"There are no words to describe the pain of this loss, we are all absolutely heartbroken, Noah was the sweetest and most innocent little boy, with nothing but love to give, and we are going to miss him so very much."
He continued: "It has been a privilege to be your parents and be able to have packed so much love in the short three years you were with us."
Rhys also issued a 'heartfelt thank you to everyone … who came together to search for our boy'.
"It seems he has made an impact across the whole nation," he continued, adding that people appeared to have taken his son into their own hearts 'with all the overwhelming help'.
"The compassion shown by all of you will never be forgotten by us, and brought us comfort and strength at the darkest time of our lives," Rhys continued.
"This was the most heartbreaking outcome for us, we were just hoping that he would be hiding somewhere obvious where someone could find him, that’s what we kept telling ourselves the whole time.
"With our love and deepest gratitude, from his daddy and mummy and little brother."
It follows the police update on Wednesday (16 Sept), which confirmed the tragic news that the body of a child had been discovered in a nearby pond and that Noah’s family had been informed.
Superintendent Tom Pearse from Suffolk police said: "Police dive teams this afternoon have sadly recovered the body of a child from Decoy Pond in Brantham.
"Formal identification has yet to take place, but the family of Noah Woods have been informed of this development.”
He explained that the discovery of the body is ‘currently being treated as not suspicious but unexplained’ and ‘the coroner will be informed of this development’.
Pearse continued: "First and foremost, our thoughts are with Noah’s family and all those who knew him.
"We have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of public support, people putting on their boots and helping us search."
He added: “As a parent myself, I completely understand why people would want to help, and such a response is one that typifies the strong sense of community and the heart-warming nature of Suffolk people that make the county such a special place.”
“I am sure you appreciate the family now need time, space and privacy and I thank you for your understanding in this.”
Specialist dive teams from the Metropolitan Police had been called in to help with the search for the three-year-old boy and were seen searching the water on Wednesday afternoon.
Noah was with a relative when he disappeared from a playground in Merriam Close, Brantham
on Tuesday afternoon, and was believed to have run down an alleyway towards a nearby new-build housing estate.
A huge search operation broke out immediately afterwards in an attempt to locate the child, who is non-verbal, partially deaf, and was undergoing an assessment for autism.
As well as a massive ground search, helicopters, sniffer dogs, and thermal imaging were used to try and find Noah, as officers went door to door and scoured CCTV.
The BBC reports that more than 1,300 members of the public turned up to help the search.
Volunteers were gathered in a garden area at Brantham Leisure Centre to hear yesterday’s devastating update and were brought to tears after Pearse broke the news, the Press Association reports.
On Wednesday, the force released the final CCTV stills and footage of Noah at the playground before he went missing.
The video, recorded at 2.37pm, showed the toddler spinning and running around a roundabout.
Madison Burgess