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The former leader of Northern Ireland’s biggest pro-UK party, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, pleaded not guilty to 18 charges of historic sex offences on Tuesday as his trial was set for next year.
Donaldson, a longtime former Democratic Unionist party MP, is accused of offences relating to two alleged victims, including one charge of rape. He made no further comment as he left Newry Crown Court.
Judge Paul Ramsey said the trial would start on March 24, 2025 and was expected to last two weeks. No application has been made to move the trial from Newry, a largely nationalist area of Northern Ireland.
Lady Eleanor Donaldson, wife of the former politician, pleaded not guilty to three charges related to aiding and abetting her husband. Her legal team have sought to dismiss two of the charges.
The case will be reviewed on October 25 but neither defendant is required to attend court on that day.
Donaldson, 61, who spearheaded his party’s resistance to post-Brexit trading arrangements for Northern Ireland, was arrested in March, stunning the region and triggering his humiliating exit from the political scene.
He immediately resigned as DUP leader but stayed on as an MP. However, he did not contest the UK general election in July. Donaldson was replaced by Gavin Robinson, another MP, as DUP leader.
Donaldson has said he will strenuously contest the sex charges, relating to actions that allegedly took place between 1985 and 2008.
The former DUP leader’s downfall came at the height of his political powers, after he clinched a deal with the UK government to allay some of his party’s Brexit concerns.
The deal paved the way for the return in February of the Stormont executive and assembly that Donaldson had boycotted, making them unable to operate under Northern Ireland’s power-sharing rules.
