Jeffrey Donaldson

We were all told to be in court for 10 a.m.

this morning, but it was about 10.40 in Newry Crown Court when Ciarán Bone Casey, who is defending Geoffrey Donaldson in this case, stood up to address the court.

And he says, I call Geoffrey Donaldson.

And at that point, dressed in his Navy suit, Mr. Donaldson, who has spent the entire time obviously sitting in the dock where the defendant sits, got up from his seat and walked to the witness box where he then sat down.

He was given a Bible and sworn oath, as do all witnesses in court cases.

And he was asked his name and he responded to Geoffrey Mark Donaldson and then sat down.

Yeah, so we start off where he talks about how he was born in the morning hospital.

He's the eldest of eight children.

He went to school in Kilkeel.

He said he left school at 16 and he worked as an apprentice electrical engineer for a few years.

He joined the Young Ulster Unionist Movement at the age of 18.

And he said he worked for his local MP then for three years.

He then said that he, in 1985, he told the court that he was elected by a by-election to the Northern Ireland Assembly.

That would have been the old Northern Ireland Assembly at the age of 22.

And the jury heard then that he said he met his wife, Eleanor, at a live event and they married in 1987.

He said that they spent a lot of time together, as dating couples do.

And after marrying, he said, told the court that the couple bought their first house, which was in a new build development in Kilkeel.

And he spoke about how when they moved in, it was sparsely furnished, as he described it.

He says in 1983, they then moved to Moira.

And then after that, they spent about 10 years there before moving to Jamore, where he still lives now.