Ex-leader of Northern Ireland’s largest unionist party sentenced to 15 years for sex abuse

LONDON (AP) — Jeffrey Donaldson, the former leader of Northern Ireland’s largest unionist party, was sentenced on Thursday to 15 years in prison for the rape and sex abuse of two girls decades ago.

Donaldson, 63, was one of Northern Ireland's best-known politicians until his arrest stunned his political colleagues and wider society two years ago.

He was convicted in June of one count of rape, four counts of gross indecency and 13 indecent assault charges involving two girls between 1985 and 2008. He had denied the charges.

Donaldson led the Democratic Unionist Party, the biggest party in favor of keeping Northern Ireland in the United Kingdom, from 2021 until 2024. He resigned as leader of the conservative DUP after his arrest, and gave up the seat in the U.K. House of Commons that he had held since 1997.

Judge Paul Ramsey said that the ex-politician had undergone a “catastrophic descent into disgrace.” He sentenced him at Newry Crown Court, south of Belfast, to 11 years for offenses against one victim and four years for the other, to run consecutively.

“There has not been, and doubtless will not be, one word of regret, apology or shame from this man to at least provide his victims with some crumb of comfort,” the judge said.

During his trial, Donaldson denied all the allegations against him. He said that he was “crystal clear” that he didn't rape one of the girls when she was a child decades ago.

Donaldson’s wife, Eleanor Donaldson, 60, was found to have aided and abetted her husband’s offenses for witnessing the abuse and doing nothing to intervene. Because of mental health issues, she faced only a fact-finding hearing that couldn't result in a conviction.

The two victims testified that Donaldson groped them when they were around primary school age. The older of the two, referred to in court as Complainant B, said he raped her.

The Associated Press doesn’t name victims of alleged sexual violence, and U.K. law protects their identities from the media for life.

Donaldson testified that the rape “just didn’t happen."

Complainant B said that in the 1990s, years after the abuse, Donaldson apologized to her “for what had happened in the past.” Donaldson testified that he had apologized to her for making her feel uncomfortable.

Donaldson wrote a letter to Complainant A in 2020 to say he regretted “hurt, pain and distress” he caused. He claimed that the letter did not refer to sex abuse allegations but other behavior.

Donaldson’s lawyer, Kieran Vaughan, said at a presentencing hearing that his client had achieved “significant things in his life.”

“These convictions obliterate all those achievements he has made in his life,” he said.