NOAH WENT MISSING. THEN A BODY WAS FOUND IN THE POND. POLICE HAVE NOW CONFIRMED WHO IT WAS.

The answer that thousands of people had been desperately waiting for has arrived — and it is devastating.

The body recovered from Decoy Pond in Brantham is 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.

Within hours, Brantham became the centre of a massive search.

Around 1,300 people joined police officers, search dogs, helicopters, firefighters, coastguard crews, specialist volunteers and Metropolitan Police divers in the hunt for the missing toddler.

For more than 24 hours, they searched for one thing: Noah alive.

Instead, specialist divers recovered a child’s body from Decoy Pond.

Police have now formally identified the child as Noah.

Suffolk Constabulary says his death is not being treated as suspicious, although the circumstances remain unexplained and further enquiries are continuing for the coroner.

Noah’s father, Rhys Woods, described his son as “the sweetest and most innocent little boy.”

Flowers, toys and messages are now being left at the playground where Noah was last seen as Brantham mourns the end of a search that had drawn thousands together.

For more than a day, everyone was asking the same question: Where is Noah?

Now they know.