‘Incomprehensible’: disbelief after Jeffrey Donaldson found guilty of historical sex charges

Jeffrey Donaldson, former leader of the Democratic Unionist party, arriving in court for the first time over historical sex offence charges. Photograph: Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters View image in fullscreen Jeffrey Donaldson, former leader of the Democratic Unionist party, arriving in court for the first time over historical sex offence charges. Photograph: Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters ‘Incomprehensible’: disbelief after Jeffrey Donaldson found guilty of historical sex charges Former DUP leader led a double life championing conservative values while inflicting sexual harm on two schoolgirls W hile Joe Biden feted Jeffrey Donaldson at the White House during St Patrick’s Day celebrations in March 2024 a handful of detectives back home in Northern Ireland were quietly completing the countdown to his unmasking. Weeks earlier Donaldson had steered the Democratic Unionist party ( DUP ) back to power-sharing at Stormont, a political feat that rebooted the Good Friday agreement and imbued a statesmanlike aura to his triumphant visit to Washington. The Lagan Valley MP looked like an accountant and spoke in a passionless monotone – an antithesis to his fire-breathing predecessor Ian Paisley – yet he had brokered a deal with Downing Street over Northern Ireland’s post-Brexit status in the UK and convinced his party to accept it. But days after his return from the US, on a damp, dark morning, the police swooped on his County Down home and everything Northern Ireland thought it knew about Donaldson imploded. The Presbyterian family man who wore a fish badge on his lapel to signify his Christian faith was charged with 18 historical sexual offences – one count of rape plus multiple counts of indecent assault and gross indecency against two young victims – and his wife, Eleanor, was charged with aiding and abetting the abuse. Two years later, the figure who stood convicted in the dock of courtroom one of Newry crown court appeared unchanged – immaculate suit, a bit jowly, no visible emotion – but was now a pariah. Four weeks of evidence in the often sweltering chamber uncloaked a previously hidden Donaldson, 63, a predator who abused two girls over two decades while ascending the political ranks to prestige and power. “It is just incomprehensible, that you have known someone for a lifetime and worked with for a lifetime and this happens,” said Reginald Empey, a unionist grandee who used to work closely with Donaldson. “You’re talking stuff which is off the charts here.” Lord Empey said he got on well with Donaldson when he was a rising star in the Ulster Unionist party (UUP), before his defection to the DUP. “He was very highly regarded, ticked all the boxes, young, articulate, had a nice way with him. He wasn’t aggressive. He wasn’t a shouter.” Regardless of the verdict, Donaldson was destroyed as a politician, said Empey. “Nobody can put Humpty Dumpty together again.” View image in fullscreen Donaldson, then former DUP leader addresses the media after a meeting on a p