Donaldson told police letter to alleged victim was not an apology for sex abuse

PA Media

Sir Jeffrey Donaldson told police a letter he wrote to Complainant A, one of his two alleged victims, was not an apology for sex abuse.

The jury at his trial at Newry Crown Court has been listening to the final section of a recording of his police interview from March 2024.

The former DUP leader denies 18 sex abuse charges, allegedly committed between 1985 and 2008.

The offences against two alleged victims allegedly occurred between 1985 and 2008 when they were both children.

The trial previously heard that in 2020, he wrote to Complainant A expressing “regret” for the “hurt, pain and distress” he had caused her.

In her evidence, the woman said she thought the letter was an attempt to “apologise” for the alleged abuse.

However, Sir Jeffrey told police she is mistaken.

“Nowhere in that letter did I indicate, nor was I alluding to, incidents of sexual abuse,” he told the police officer interviewing him.

“None of that is to do with any allegation or any action involving sexual abuse.”

He claimed the letter related to “remorse about other things”.

Sir Jeffrey also denied that he had admitted abusing Complainant A when she had confronted him in the presence of her husband.

During the interview, the officer put it to him that “he nodded his head to indicate yes” when Complainant A asked him to confirm he had abused her.

“She has never said to me you did this or that to me,” he said.

The officer asked: “Did she ask if you had sexually abused her?”

Sir Jeffrey replied: “Not to my recollection. No”

He is then asked if he believed she and her husband are lying.

“I’m saying that their recollection of the conversation is different from mine.”

PA Media

The jury of seven men and five women were also played a recording of Lady Eleanor Donaldson’s police interview.

She denies five charges of aiding and abetting his alleged offending.

The trial has heard it claimed she witnessed her husband allegedly touching the breasts of Complainant B but had said nothing and walked away.

She told police she had seen Sir Jeffrey and Complainant B together in a room.

“I could see they were both standing there, but that was it,” Lady Donaldson said.

An officer asked: “Were they both fully clothed when you walked in?”

She responded: “Absolutely yes there were.

“I just saw them standing there and that was it and I just literally reversed. I said: ‘I’m ready to go’.”

She said Sir Jeffrey had said he and Complainant B had been “just talking”.

Later in the interview, an officer asked: “Has your mind ever went to the thought that something sexual was taking place?”

She responded: “I just didn’t know, I’ll be honest… he never gave me details about anything.

Lady Donaldson said she subsequently raised the matter with her husband.

“I asked Jeffrey about it and he just dismissed it.”

She also said that years after it happened, she became aware he had asked for Complainant B’s forgiveness at a meeting in Armoy.

But she told police she never knew what the forgiveness was for.

“No matter how many times I brought that up it was never disclosed to me,” she said.

Lady Donaldson added her husband had said “that’s in the past and it’s been dealt with”.

Both of the complainants in the trial reported their allegations to the Police Service of Northern Ireland in March 2024.

Sir Jeffrey denies acts of gross indecency and indecent assault against Complainant A when she was a child, between 1999 and 2008.

Other alleged offences, dating back to 1985, including a charge of rape, relate to a second woman, Complainant B, when she was also a child, which he also denies.