UK Ex-Party Leader Jailed 15 Years For Child Sex Crimes

Former Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader Jeffrey Donaldson has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for rape and other sexual offences against two girls when they were children.

Donaldson, 63, was sentenced on Thursday at Newry Crown Court in Northern Ireland, months after he was convicted of 18 offences committed between 1985 and 2008.

The offences included one count of rape, 13 counts of indecent assault and four counts of gross indecency. The victims were both of primary school age when some of the abuse began.

Judge Paul Ramsey described Donaldson’s actions as a “catastrophic descent into disgrace” and said the offences had left a lasting impact on the victims.

The court sentenced him to 11 years for offences against one victim and four years for offences against the other, with the terms to run consecutively.

Donaldson denied the charges during his trial and is seeking to appeal his convictions.

He resigned as DUP leader in 2024 following his arrest and also gave up his seat in the United Kingdom’s House of Commons, where he had represented Lagan Valley since 1997.

He was stripped of his knighthood in July following his conviction. He had received the honour in 2016 for his political service.

His wife, Eleanor Donaldson, was found in a separate fact-finding process to have aided and abetted his offending.

However, she was deemed unfit to stand trial on mental health grounds and was not criminally convicted. She has also indicated plans to appeal the finding.

The case has drawn significant attention in Northern Ireland because of Donaldson’s long political career and former position as leader of the region’s largest unionist party.