Jury in trial of former DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson sworn in

LAST UPDATE | 7 hrs ago

A JURY HAS been sworn in to hear the trial of former DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson.

The prosecution will deliver the opening address at Newry Crown Court on Wednesday.

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.

He arrived at Newry Courthouse in Co Down shortly after 9am wearing a blue suit with a white shirt and green tie.

He was met by his solicitor John McBurney, who accompanied him into the court building.

Police had erected metal barriers at the court entrance prior to his arrival to cordon off the waiting media.

At the start of proceedings, Donaldson replied “yes” when asked by trial judge Paul Ramsey if he was ready for his trial.

He then sat in the dock with his arms crossed flanked by two court staff while the process of jury selection began.

Addressing potential jurors, the judge said Donaldson is “well known in public life here in Northern Ireland”.

He added: “He is entitled to the same fair trial as everyone else.”

The judge said the allegations against Donaldson were “of a sexual nature”. A list of witnesses in the trial was then read to potential jurors.

The judge said the trial was expected to last between three and four weeks.

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The jury was then sworn and was told the trial would begin hearing the prosecution opening address on Wednesday.

Donaldson’s wife, Eleanor Donaldson (60), from Dublinhill Road, Dromore, Co Down, denies several charges of aiding and abetting her husband’s alleged offending.

She has been ruled unfit to be tried and is facing a “trial of the facts”, which will proceed simultaneously with her husband’s criminal trial.

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.”

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 power-sharing 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.

With reporting from Press Association

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