English football fans and players pay tribute to three-year-old Noah Woods
Fans and players honoured three-year-old Noah Woods before a Premier League match between Everton and Ipswich Town after the boy died in Suffolk this week. Police say his death is not being treated as suspicious.
A tribute to three-year-old Noah Woods appeared on the big screen before the Premier League match between Everton and Ipswich Town, while players wore black armbands in his memory.
The toddler went missing on Tuesday afternoon after becoming separated from a relative following a visit to a playground in Merriam Close, Brantham, Suffolk Police said. Around 1,300 members of the public took part in the search. Police said Noah was non-verbal, partially deaf, and had been undergoing an assessment for autism.
On Wednesday afternoon, Metropolitan Police divers recovered a body from a lake known locally as Decoy Pond. Suffolk Police said the death was not being treated as suspicious, and on Thursday confirmed the body had been formally identified as Noah, subject to confirmation at a formal inquest.
Tributes at the match and beyond
Three minutes into the game, supporters of both clubs stood to applaud in Noah's memory, Everton said in a social media post. The home side won the match 1-0.
Ipswich Town defender Leif Davis donated £2,000 to a fundraising appeal set up to support Noah's family. Club captain Dara O'Shea and goalkeeper Christian Walton were part of a delegation that laid flowers at the playground where the boy had gone missing.
On Thursday, Noah's father, Rhys Woods, shared a tribute in a community Facebook group, describing the family's heartbreak and calling his son the sweetest and most innocent little boy.
By Saturday evening, a fundraising page set up by Good Dads Club, a community group of fathers based in Colchester, had raised more than £100,000 from over 6,000 donors.
