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NEWRY, Northern Ireland — The disgraced former leader of Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party, Jeffrey Donaldson, was found guilty Monday of committing a 23-year series of sexual crimes against two young victims.
After three days of deliberations, a jury found Donaldson, 63, guilty on all 18 criminal counts that he had sexually abused two women when they were children. The charges included 13 counts of indecent assault, four of gross indecency, and one of rape.
The jurors also found that Donaldson’s wife, Eleanor, had aided and abetted some of his crimes. She will not face any criminal penalty because Judge Paul Ramsey ruled she was too mentally unwell to face trial.
Ramsey ordered Jeffrey Donaldson — one of Northern Ireland’s most prominent politicians for decades — to be remanded in custody ahead of his scheduled sentencing Sept. 25. The judge told Donaldson he would be listed on the U.K.’s National Sex Offenders Register and must expect to face “a lengthy sentence.” His legal team did not immediately indicate whether he would pursue an appeal.
