Former DUP leader Donaldson jailed after child sex crime conviction

Jeffrey Donaldson spent his first night in Maghaberry Prison after a jury at Newry Crown Court convicted the 63-year-old former DUP leader of 18 historical sex offences, including rape. The verdict, reached after about 10 hours of deliberation following four weeks of evidence, brought down one of the most prominent unionist figures of his generation and sent another shock through Northern Ireland’s political establishment.

Donaldson was found guilty on one count of rape, 13 counts of indecent assault and four counts of gross indecency. The charges related to two women when they were children, with the offences dating from 1985 to 2008. He was remanded in custody after the conviction and told to expect a lengthy sentence.

Sentencing is scheduled for September 25, 2026, with a review hearing earlier that month. For Donaldson, the move from Stormont operator to prisoner at Maghaberry carries a bitter symbolic weight: he had visited the jail many times as an MP before entering it as an inmate.

The political fallout is already widening beyond the courtroom. Donaldson resigned as DUP leader after he was charged in March 2024, but the scale of the conviction has sharpened questions about the damage done to the party’s standing and to public confidence in a leadership class that has long depended on claims of authority and discipline. The case has also revived calls for him to be stripped of honours, including his knighthood.

The DUP said it had acted decisively against Donaldson when he was charged on March 29, 2024, and said he is no longer a member of the party. DUP leader Gavin Robinson said Donaldson had abused the trust of the party and described the crimes as “heinous and despicable,” while paying tribute to the two women who gave evidence against him.

Sinn Féin’s Michelle O’Neill, responding after Donaldson’s resignation in 2024, said her priority was to continue providing leadership and ensure the four-party Executive delivered for the whole community, while making clear the matter belonged to the criminal justice system. The conviction now closes one of the most dramatic collapses in recent Northern Ireland politics, stripping away the authority of a man who once stood at the centre of unionist strategy and Stormont power-sharing.