The inquest into the death of Noah Donohoe cost about £3.9m of public money, according to figures released to the BBC.

Donohoe was 14 when he went missing from his home in Belfast in June 2020 and was found six days later in a culvert on the other side of the city.

Eyewitnesses, who were the last to see him in the vicinity of the culvert, reported that he was naked.

The inquest opened in January, with the jury delivering its findings in September. It found there was insufficient evidence to explain why Noah behaved how he did when he left his home.

The jury found that it was possible, but not probable, that failings by the Department for Infrastructure (DfI) over the culvert in which he was found dead contributed to his death.

They also found numerous failings in the Police Service of Northern Ireland's (PSNI) investigation but that these did not contribute to the 14-year-old's death.

The DfI and PSNI were both represented in court during the inquest.

Figures released to the BBC under the Freedom of Information Act show the DfI spent about £1.1m on legal costs and £28,889 on experts for the inquest.

The PSNI spent £575,147 on legal costs, £22,257 on expert witnesses, £770,576 on policing costs and £574,029 on other outlays associated with the inquest.

The Department of Justice (DoJ) was responsible for the provision of legal aid to other parties represented at the inquest, on which it spent £373,246.

The DoJ also spent £432,200 on legal services provided to the coroner, who ran and oversaw the inquest.

The inquest heard evidence from 76 witnesses and statements from a further 42 people, and involved maps, video footage, photographs, police logs and expert reports.

Jurors were tasked with agreeing findings on 10 questions, including the time and location of Noah's death, which they placed at between 19:00 BST and midnight on 21 June 2020, the day he disappeared, in the lower reaches of the culvert.

The process faced numerous delays and overran initial estimates for its duration by several months.

One such delay was caused by an issue regarding a member of the jury, the details of which could not previously be reported due to restrictions issued by the coroner.

They said Juror A was introducing theories not based on evidence heard in the inquest and was unfit to be part of the process.

These theories included that Noah Donohoe was trying to communicate with Juror A, that Noah had been influenced to enter the culvert by watching the bobsled at the Olympics, and that Noah's body may have moved down the culvert by a similar process to that used by ancient Egyptians to build the pyramids.

On the basis of these concerns, legal representatives of Fiona Donohoe, Noah's mother, made an application to have the juror removed.

With the jury unable to reach a verdict after three days, the inquest was adjourned over the summer due to the holiday plans of some of the jurors.

When the inquest returned in September, the coroner, after investigating the claims against Juror A, took the decision to discharge him on the basis that he had carried out his own research and engaged in speculation, rather than relying on evidence presented in court.