3-YEAR-OLD NOAH VANISHED. 1,300 PEOPLE SEARCHED. THEN DIVERS ENTERED THE POND.

For more than 24 hours, Brantham searched desperately for little Noah Woods.

Police officers searched. Volunteers searched. Dogs searched. Helicopters scanned the area.

Then specialist divers entered Decoy Pond.

What they found brought the massive search to a heartbreaking end.

A child’s body was recovered from the water.

Police have now formally confirmed that it was three-year-old Noah Woods.

Noah disappeared at around 2:37 p.m. on September 15, after becoming separated from a relative following a visit to a playground in Brantham, Suffolk.

CCTV showed the toddler running down an alleyway before disappearing from sight.

Within hours, an enormous search operation was underway, involving police, firefighters, coastguard teams, search dogs, helicopters, specialist volunteers and Metropolitan Police divers.

Around 1,300 members of the public joined the effort.

For hours, they searched with one hope: find Noah alive.

That hope ended at Decoy Pond.

Suffolk Constabulary says Noah’s death is not being treated as suspicious, but the circumstances remain unexplained and enquiries are continuing for the coroner.

His father, Rhys Woods, described Noah as “the sweetest and most innocent little boy.”

The playground where he was last seen is now covered with flowers, toys and messages of remembrance.

A little boy disappeared in broad daylight. A community searched through the night. And the discovery at the pond changed everything.