The body of a child was recovered from a pond in Suffolk, England, during a search for three-year-old Noah Woods, who had become separated from a relative while visiting a playground. Police dive teams recovered the body from Decoy Pond in Brantham on Wednesday, 16 September 2026. Formal identification had not taken place when the development was announced, although Noah’s family had been informed. Police were treating the death as not suspicious but unexplained.
Noah had disappeared the previous afternoon after becoming separated from a relative at a playground in Merriam Close. Suffolk Constabulary said he was believed to have run down an alleyway beside the playground towards a newly constructed housing development.
An extensive search involved Suffolk Constabulary and support from multiple agencies, including Norfolk Constabulary, the Metropolitan Police, British Transport Police, the National Police Air Service, Suffolk HART, SULSAR, the Environment Agency, HM Coastguard, the Fire and Rescue Service and the ambulance service.
Superintendent Tom Pearse said large numbers of officers and staff had been deployed in the search and to support Noah’s family. Police thanked the community for its response and asked that the family be given privacy.
