Jeffrey Donaldson to appeal against conviction for child sexual offences

Jeffrey Donaldson is to appeal against his conviction for rape and other sexual offences against two children.The former Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader’s legal team lodged documents with the court of appeal in Belfast on Friday, his solicitor, John McBurney, said.If granted the appeal will add another chapter to a case that stunned Northern Ireland and engulfed the DUP in crisis.A jury at Newry crown court found Donaldson, 63, guilty last month of 18 sexual offences against two victims who were children at the time of the abuse more than 30 years ago.Donaldson denied all the accusations – one count of rape plus gross indecency and indecent assault – which spanned 1985 and 2008.He has been held at Maghaberry prison in his former parliamentary constituency of Lagan Valley in County Down in advance of sentencing in September. The trial judge, Paul Ramsey, said a custodial sentence was inevitable and would be lengthy.Donaldson’s arrest in 2024, followed by the four-week trial and verdict, was a sensational downfall for an establishment figure who had dominated unionism and played a key role at Westminster during post-Brexit negotiations over Northern Ireland’s position in the UK.The grounds for appeal potentially include an unsuccessful attempt by Donaldson’s lawyers to separate his criminal trial from the trial of the facts of his wife, Eleanor Donaldson, the BBC reported.Deemed unfit to stand trial on mental health grounds, the 60-year-old faced a trial of the facts, which can test evidence but not result in a criminal conviction, and was found to have aided and abetted her husband’s offending.Since the verdict senior DUP figures have gone public with claims of Donaldson being a drunken sex pest during his long political career – stories that contradicted his previous image as a God-fearing teetotaller in line with the legacy of the party’s late founder, Ian Paisley.The party has set up a review to establish what people knew about the former leader’s behaviour. It will be led by Jim Gamble, a former senior police officer.The Stormont assembly has also launched a review into alleged abuse or inappropriate behaviour by Donaldson during his tenure as an MLA from 2003 to 2010.