Overview
- The criminal trial of Sir Jeffrey Donaldson is underway at Newry Crown Court where he denies 18 historical sexual‑offence charges dating from 1985 to 2008.
- This week the jury heard emotional evidence from the husband of one complainant about a 2019 disclosure in which she described repeated inappropriate touching and forced kissing.
- A Presbyterian minister told the court he received a July 2023 WhatsApp from Donaldson saying he wanted a private meeting and to 'repent', and the minister passed the message to the complainant and to police.
- Lady Eleanor Donaldson has been ruled unfit to face a standard criminal trial and will face a trial of the facts that can only determine whether acts occurred and cannot lead to a conviction.
- Prosecutors have relied on recorded police interviews, contemporaneous messages and a 2020 letter to test memory and consistency in decades‑old allegations and the case continues with cross‑examination and further evidence to follow.