Trial of former DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson to get underway

THE TRIAL OF former DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson is set to get underway later.

Jury selection is due to begin today, and full trial proceedings could start on Wednesday.

His wife Eleanor Donaldson, who has been ruled unfit to be tried, will face a “trial of the facts” which will proceed simultaneously.

A trial of the facts tests the evidence in the case but cannot result in her being criminally convicted.

The judge had previously heard legal submissions on whether that trial of the facts should run alongside the trial of Jeffrey Donaldson or as separate proceedings at a different time.

Delivering his ruling, the judge said: “The interests of justice require that this case be progressed in a manner that is fair to all parties, but also as expediously as such fairness permits.

“Accordingly I rule that the trial of Jeffrey Donaldson and the trial of the facts of Eleanor Donaldson be held simultaneously.”

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Jeffrey Donaldson (63) has pleaded not guilty to 18 alleged offences.

The charges include one count of rape and allegations of indecent assault and gross indecency, and span a time period between 1985 and 2008, involving two alleged victims.

Eleanor Donaldson (60), of Dublinhill Road, Dromore, has denied charges of aiding and abetting.

Jeffrey Donaldson, a former long-standing MP for Lagan Valley, was arrested and charged at the end of March 2024.

He resigned as DUP leader and was suspended from the party after the allegations emerged.

Weeks before his arrest, he had led the DUP back into devolved government at Stormont after a two-year boycott of the powersharing institutions.

The trial was due to begin in March 2025, but was postponed twice due to Eleanor Donaldson’s medical issues.

Judge Paul Ramsey last week ruled at Newry Crown Court that Eleanor is unfit to stand trial after considering evidence from several psychiatric experts.

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