On Saturday, August 10th, three days before Nora’s body was found, her mother made a statement thanking the police searchers. This was also the day after the family released a statement describing Nora’s “vulnerabilities”. Friday was very late in the search [which had started on Monday] to be making this clear.

One aspect that stood out in that latest statement [released on August 9th], was Nora’s apparent lack of co-ordination and her ability to balance. On the one hand they said she was struggling to ride a bike, on the other hand she was enjoying going for walks with her family [and there are also family photos of her doing so].

Family Dynamics #1: When the Quoirin Family went for a walk, did it look like this?

But the mere notion that Nora was trying to ride a bike and able to go to school on her own suggests that her balance and co-ordination was impinged, not seriously curtailed.

The images below confirm this impression.  In the first, it appears Nora is the only one of the three children [their faces have been blurred to protect their identities] “struggling with her balance”. But that’s if we see the image in isolation.

In the next image we see Nora actually riding [balancing] on her scooter, unassisted, moments after the children in front of her have cruised down the hill towards the photographer.

In the second image, the child in the yellow dress appears to be struggling – or simply stopping – on the bicycle. The man looking after them is closer to the child in the yellow dress than to Nora.  The distance between the children and the length of the road also shows that although Nora wasn’t able to keep up with her able-bodied peers, she was able to join them on their excursion regardless.

But the emphasis on Nora’s “limitedness” made it seem as if Nora would never go wandering off by herself. We can clearly see that if she wanted to, she could, and very likely did.

“Nora was starting to become more independent…” – Garratt Park School Media Statement