{"id":460956,"date":"2026-05-22T00:53:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T00:53:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/460956\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T00:53:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T00:53:11","slug":"jeffrey-donaldsons-sex-offences-trial-to-run-alongside-wifes-case-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/460956\/","title":{"rendered":"Jeffrey Donaldson\u2019s sex offences trial to run alongside wife\u2019s case \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The trial of former <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/democratic-unionist-party\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/democratic-unionist-party\/\">DUP<\/a> leader <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/jeffrey-donaldson\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/jeffrey-donaldson\/\">Jeffrey Donaldson<\/a> for sexual offences will run simultaneously with a trial of the facts of his wife Eleanor, a judge has ruled. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">During a brief hearing at Newry Crown Court on Thursday, Judge Paul Ramsey confirmed both proceedings would begin as scheduled on Tuesday, May 26th. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Jeffrey Donaldson (63), with an address in Dromore, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/down\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/down\/\">Co Down<\/a>, is accused of 18 offences \u2013 one count of rape, four of gross indecency with or towards a child, and 13 of indecent assault on a female, on dates between 1987 and 2008.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Eleanor Donaldson (60), of the same address, is charged with five counts of aiding and abetting in connection with charges against her husband. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Both Eleanor and Jeffrey Donaldson deny the charges. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">On Wednesday, Eleanor Donaldson was ruled unfit to stand trial on the basis of medical evidence, and will instead face a trial of the facts. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">A trial of the facts takes the place of a criminal trial where a court has ruled the defendant is medically unfit to stand trial. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The jury will determine, on the basis of evidence already given, whether the defendant committed the acts they are charged with.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">It cannot result in a conviction, but the jury can make a finding that the defendant committed the act, or it can acquit.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"Eleanor Donaldson outside Newry Crown Court in February 2025. Photograph: Liam McBurney\/PA Wire\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/7NKSOWF6J575NJQ77WBLXMYFZY.jpg\"   width=\"800\" height=\"530\"\/>Eleanor Donaldson outside Newry Crown Court in February 2025. Photograph: Liam McBurney\/PA Wire <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The trial, which was originally due to begin in March 2025, was postponed twice due to the deterioration in the mental health of Eleanor Donaldson.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">On Thursday, the court was told the aim is to swear in a jury on May 26th and for the prosecution to open its case the following day. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The longstanding MP for Lagan Valley, Jeffrey Donaldson resigned as DUP leader and was suspended from the party after he was arrested and charged with non-recent sex offences in March 2024. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Weeks before his arrest, he had led the DUP back into Stormont after a two-year boycott of the Northern Ireland powersharing institutions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The then deputy leader, Gavin Robinson, the MP for east Belfast, took over as DUP leader. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The trial of former DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson for sexual offences will run simultaneously with a trial of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":460957,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[21753,14063,42,14062,43,2443,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-460956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-down","tag-dup-links","tag-headlines","tag-jeffrey-donaldson","tag-news","tag-northern-ireland","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=460956"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460956\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/460957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=460956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=460956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=460956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}