Northern Ireland politician jailed for child sex offences

The former leader of Northern Ireland's largest unionist party has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for historic child sex offences.

Jeffrey Donaldson, 63, was one of Northern Ireland's best-known politicians until his arrest two years ago.

He was convicted in June of one count of rape, four counts of gross indecency and 13 indecent assault charges involving two girls between 1985 and 2008.

He had denied the charges.

Donaldson led the Democratic Unionist Party, the biggest party in favour of keeping Northern Ireland in the United Kingdom, from 2021 until 2024.

He resigned as leader of the conservative DUP after his arrest, and gave up the seat in the UK House of Commons that he had held since 1997.

Judge:'Catastrophic descent into disgrace'

Judge Paul Ramsey said that the ex-politician had undergone a "catastrophic descent into disgrace."

He sentenced him at Newry Crown Court, south of Belfast, to 11 years for offences against one victim and four years for the other, to run consecutively.

"There has not been, and doubtless will not be, one word of regret, apology or shame from this man to at least provide his victims with some crumb of comfort,"

the judge said.

During his trial, Donaldson denied all the allegations against him. He said that he was "crystal clear" that he did not rape one of the girls when she was a child decades ago.

Donaldson's wife, Eleanor Donaldson, 60, was found to have aided and abetted her husband's offences for witnessing the abuse and doing nothing to intervene.

Because of mental health issues, she faced only a fact-finding hearing that could not result in a conviction.

The two victims testified that Donaldson groped them when they were around primary school age.

The older of the two, referred to in court as Complainant B, said he raped her.

Donaldson testified that the rape "just didn't happen."

Complainant B said that in the 1990s, years after the abuse, Donaldson apologised to her "for what had happened in the past."

Donaldson testified that he had apologised to her for making her feel uncomfortable.

Donaldson wrote a letter to Complainant A in 2020 to say he regretted the "hurt, pain and distress" he caused.

He claimed that the letter did not refer to sex abuse allegations but other behaviour.

Donaldson's lawyer, Kieran Vaughan, said at a pre sentencing hearing that his client had achieved "significant things in his life."

"These convictions obliterate all those achievements he has made in his life," he said.