Former DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson has been jailed for 15 years after being convicted of child sex offences against two women when they were minors.
Donaldson, 63, was sentenced at Newry Crown Court on Thursday after a jury unanimously found him guilty in July of 18 offences, including rape, indecent assault and gross indecency.
The offences took place over a 23-year period and involved one victim who was raped while still at primary school. She was also indecently assaulted on nine occasions, including once in front of Donaldson’s wife, Eleanor.
The second victim, known as Victim A, was also a child when Donaldson kissed her, put his tongue in her mouth and groped her beneath her clothing.
Judge Paul Ramsey said Donaldson had “stoutly” denied his guilt and demonstrated no responsibility for his offending or empathy towards his victims.
Donaldson was given 11 years for the offences against Victim B and four years for those against Victim A. The terms will be served consecutively.
In a written victim impact statement read to the court, Victim B said: “Every day I pray God will let me die.” She added: “I wonder what it is like not to be afraid at night.”
The court heard that the abuse had affected every relationship she had experienced, while Victim A had been left with anxiety, nightmares and extremely low self-worth. She was said to have grown up feeling dirty and ashamed, while carrying high levels of anger.
Donaldson’s wife was found to have aided and abetted him by turning a blind eye to the abuse, despite witnessing some of it. On one occasion, the court heard, she walked away and pulled the door shut after seeing an assault.
She was not tried because she was too ill. Donaldson denied the charges, describing them as “unbelievable”, and has since said he intends to appeal his convictions.
He remained emotionless as he was returned to custody to begin his sentence.
Donaldson was arrested and charged in 2024, while he was one of Northern Ireland’s best-known politicians. He had first been elected to Parliament in 1997 and was the longest-serving Northern Ireland MP, representing Lagan Valley in County Down.
He resigned as leader of the DUP, which subsequently began a “focused, independent review” into what was known within the party about his conduct.
Following his conviction, Donaldson was stripped of his knighthood.
