The jury in the trial of Jeffrey Donaldson for alleged sex offences has been sworn in, marking the beginning of one of the most high-profile trials in Northern Ireland in recent years.
Donaldson, the former Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader and MP, entered Newry Crown Court on Tuesday amid a heavy police and media presence. The trial is expected to last approximately four weeks.
The 63-year-old is accused of rape, gross indecency, and other sexual offences spanning 21 years. His wife, Eleanor Donaldson, 60, is charged with aiding and abetting rape and indecent assault, and will face a trial of facts. Both deny the charges.
Wearing a blue suit with a white shirt and green tie, Donaldson sat in the dock with his arms crossed, flanked by two court staff. When asked by the trial judge, Paul Ramsey, if he was ready, Donaldson replied: “Yes.”
The judge informed potential jurors that Donaldson was well known in public life but was entitled to the same fair trial as anyone else. After the jury was sworn in, it was told that the prosecution would begin its opening address on Wednesday.
Donaldson faces 18 charges involving two alleged victims. The rape charge alleges he had unlawful sexual intercourse without consent between 1985 and 1991. Nine indecent assault allegations span 1985 to 2006, and he is also charged with gross indecency towards a child between 2005 and 2006.
His wife faces five charges related to aiding and abetting his alleged offending. Eleanor Donaldson was last week deemed unfit to stand trial on mental health grounds and will instead face a trial of facts, which tests the evidence but cannot result in a criminal conviction. Lawyers will represent her, but she will not participate in the proceedings. The two sets of proceedings will occur simultaneously, with different legal teams representing the husband and wife.
Donaldson, a former MP for Lagan Valley in County Down, was a dominant figure in unionism and a key player at Westminster. He helped broker the post-Brexit Windsor framework on Northern Ireland’s trading arrangements.
Police arrested him and his wife at their home and questioned them in March 2024. He subsequently resigned as an MP and DUP leader and was suspended from the party. The case threw the DUP and the Stormont executive into disarray.
Northern Ireland’s attorney general, Brenda King, has warned the public against making social media posts that could infringe victims’ right to anonymity or affect jury members.
The DUP replaced Donaldson with Gavin Robinson, an MP for East Belfast, who continued the party’s work on the Windsor framework, which Donaldson had negotiated with Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government weeks before his arrest.
Donaldson was born into a Presbyterian family in the fishing village of Kilkeel. He became a full-time political activist at 18 and married Eleanor in 1987. He served apprenticeships in the Ulster Unionist Party with Enoch Powell and leader James Molyneaux before defecting to the DUP in 2003. He was knighted for political services in 2016 and became DUP leader in 2021.
