Former DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson is to launch an appeal against his convictions for a string of child sex offences.
The 63-year-old was convicted at Newry Crown Court last month of 18 sex offences, including one count of rape, relating to the abuse of two women when they were children.
The offences were committed between 1985 and 2008.
The two victims gave evidence against him during the trial, during which Donaldson had denied the offences
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His wife Eleanor Donaldson (60) was found to have aided and abetted his crimes following a trial of the facts, which was granted on mental health grounds.
Donaldson was placed on the sex offenders’ register and is due to be sentenced in September. He is currently being held at Maghaberry Prison in Co Antrim, which is in his former parliamentary constituency of Lagan Valley.
Judge Paul Ramsey said at the end of the jury trial that a custodial sentence was inevitable, stating it would be “lengthy”.
Donaldson’s solicitor, John McBurney, on Friday said that papers had been lodged for an appeal.
“I can confirm, having lodged this afternoon on behalf of Jeffrey Donaldson appeal papers with the relevant office for the court of appeal,” he said.
The appeal, if granted, is expected to be heard at the Royal Courts of Justice in Belfast in the autumn and is understood to be aimed at having the convictions set aside.
In 2024, two women, referred to as Complainants A and B during the trial, told police Donaldson had abused them as children from the ages of about seven to 13.
He was arrested in March 2024, shortly after returning from a St Patrick’s Day trip to Washington, which was seen almost as a victory lap after he struck a deal with the Westminster government that brought the DUP back into Stormont and ended its two-year boycott of the Northern political institutions.
Donaldson’s arrest and conviction sent shock waves through politics in Northern Ireland.
The DUP is undertaking a “focused, independent review” to establish what was known within the party about Donaldson’s conduct.
The review will be led by Jim Gamble, a former senior police officer and current head of the INEQE Safeguarding Group.
The Northern Ireland Assembly has also begun a review into alleged abuse or inappropriate behaviour associated with Donaldson in Stormont during his time as an MLA from 2003 to 2010.
Donaldson was also the MP for Lagan Valley from 1997 to 2024.
Earlier this month Donaldson was removed from the UK’s Privy Council. It came after he asked for his name to be removed from the list of members of the body of senior advisers to the king. – PA
