Donaldson told police letter was not apology, court told

Former DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson told police a letter he sent to one of two women who have accused him of sexually abusing her while she was a child was not an apology for the alleged offences, a court has heard.

He also rejected a claim that he had acknowledged during a meeting with the alleged victim and her husband that he had abused her.

The jury of seven men and five women at Newry Crown Court today listened to the last of four police interviews conducted with Mr Donaldson in March 2024.

Mr Donaldson has pleaded not guilty to 18 charges including one count of rape.

The trial has previously been told that he sent a handwritten letter to Complainant A in June 2020, saying he was seeking forgiveness and help from God.

She is one of two women who have accused him of sexually abusing them when they were children.

In the letter, Mr Donaldson said he "truly regretted all the hurt, pain and stress" he had caused.

It went on to say that he was hoping that God would "lift a sinner from the deep pit of sin" and that pit had been dug by him because of his "selfish and deceptive ways".

Asked about the letter during the police interview, Mr Donaldson insisted it had nothing to do with "any allegation or any action involving sexual abuse".

He added: "Nowhere in that letter did I indicate nor was I alluding to incidents of sexual abuse."

Mr Donaldson told police the remorse he had expressed "was about other things".

"The letter was not written in a context where A had confronted me or some incident had happened with A," he said.

Complainant A told police in her interview that she believed the letter was an apology for her abuse, but that Mr Donaldson was "a very clever man" who had not used those words.

The former MP told police: "I can't accept the view that this was some clever rouse on my part to cover something and make it go away."

The former DUP leader was also asked by police about a claim by Complainant A and her husband regarding what happened during a meeting between the couple and Mr Donaldson and his wife Eleanor.

It was put to him that the alleged victim had nodded yes and acknowledged that she had been abused.

Mr Donaldson rejected that claim.

"That I told A I sexually abused her?" he said.

"No".

When asked if A had asked him during that meeting whether he had sexually abused her, he replied: "Not to my recollection."

He was then asked if he was saying that A and her husband were lying.

"I’m saying that their recollection of the conversation is different from mine," he replied.

The former MP also said A had never said to him that he had abused her.

"I did not sexually abuse A," he said.

"Did I admit to something I didn’t do? No."

Mr Donaldson was also asked if he was saying both alleged victims in the case, complainants A and B, were lying.

"I’m saying that the specific allegations that have been put to me are untrue," he said.

The jury then heard recordings of police interviews with his wife, Eleanor Donaldson.

Mrs Donaldson does not have to be in court as she has been deemed medically unfit to face a conventional criminal trial.

She is instead facing a "trial of facts" with a jury asked to determine if she committed the offences. She cannot be found guilty or go to jail, but she can be acquitted.

She has pleaded not guilty to five charges including aiding and abetting his alleged offending.

At the start of the police interview played to the court today she was asked: "Are you guilty of these offences?"

She replied: "No."

Mrs Donaldson told police she had never witnessed "any inappropriate behaviour" involving her husband and the second alleged victim.

Complainant B has claimed that Mrs Donaldson walked into a room and witnessed her husband with his hands under her clothes rubbing her breasts and walked out without intervening.

Mrs Donaldson told police she had walked into a darkened room and saw her husband standing in front of B, did not see anything inappropriate.

"I never had any cause of concern ever, I never felt that apart from thinking that that was strange and that what was that about and I asked Jeffrey about it and he just dismissed it," she said.

"It didn't sit well with me, but I couldn't get anywhere with it."

She went on to tell the officer: "I just literally thought something’s not right here."

She added: "I saw nothing."

Asked if she had ever witnessed any inappropriate behaviour with Mr Donaldson towards B she replied: "No, absolutely nothing."

Mrs Donaldson was asked if she was aware of claims by Complainant B that Mr Donaldson had put his hands down her pants on a number of occasions.

She replied: "No".

She was also asked about an allegation by B that her husband had raped her while she was a primary school pupil.

Mrs Donaldson rejected the account of what happened and said she was not aware of her husband sexually abusing B.

Asked by the police officer how she was feeling about hearing the allegations, she said: "I'm devastated".

She…