The Claire Byrne Show
Prosecution to open case against ex-DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson
27 May 2026
Chapter 1: What charges does Sir Jeffrey Donaldson face in his trial?
The Clare Byrne Show on Newstalk with Aviva Insurance.
Well, the trial of the former Democratic Unionist Party leader Sir Geoffrey Donaldson is due to start today. Joining me from outside Newry Crown Court is Newstalk reporter Emily Keegan. Emily, thank you for joining us from outside the court this morning as that trial is expected to begin. So what will happen today?
Yeah, so yesterday, Jeffrey Donaldson arrived at the court about an hour before anything was actually said to get going. And shortly after 11 o'clock, the jury was sworn in for both his trial and the trial of facts that is going up against his wife, Eleanor Donaldson. Now, just to remind people before we really get into it, Jeffrey himself
faces 18 charges, including rape, gross indecency with or towards a child, and indecent assault. And his wife, Eleanor, is charged with five counts of aiding and abetting in relation to those charges that he faces.
But last week, she was deemed medically unfit to stand a criminal trial, so she's facing a trial of facts instead, which essentially means the jury have to determine whether or not she... committed the offences but can't actually find her guilty. So she'll never be criminally convicted if that were to be the case, if that were to be the outcome that the jury decided on.
So yesterday, Geoffrey arrived in court. Eleanor won't be here for the proceedings given the nature of her case. And he sat in court with his arms crossed as the jury was sworn in. So we have 12 jurors ready to go this morning. They're returning for about half past 10 when the case, the prosecution is to set out its case in the court, in the...
And it is expected to be a lengthy trial, isn't it? And the estimate is four weeks.
Yeah, so between three to four weeks is the timeframe that the jury were given yesterday. The alleged offences are said to have happened to two alleged victims. So there will be a lot of witnesses in this case and there will be a lot of evidence to be laid out. Now, it is also important to stress that both Geoffrey and Eleanor deny the charges and have pleaded not guilty to all of them.
OK, just going back to this trial of facts that Eleanor is facing, Eleanor Donaldson. Can you talk us through what exactly that means?
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Chapter 2: What is the significance of the trial of facts for Eleanor Donaldson?
And naturally, given the political landscape up here, he's already quite a controversial figure for a lot of people. So it was expected that people's political beliefs might kind of be something that was put to them before they were to actually be sworn in. It wasn't as detailed as we may have expected.
They were asked to inform the court if they or anyone they know is close to or anyone they're close to is involved in politics or in the DUP. And if they were involved in any and there was a list of church groups given and youth groups and if they were involved in any of them or knew anyone. But that was essentially it.
It was mainly if if you knew Jeffrey Eleanor or any of the witnesses personally, that was the only thing that was really concerning to the judge.
OK, Emily, so as you said, the prosecution case begins today. Has the prosecution outlined what their case will be at this stage or are we waiting for that to happen?
Yeah, so to be fair, the jury selection was expected to take all day yesterday. So I don't think anybody was really prepared to hear the prosecution's case. It did actually inevitably end up being wrapped up within an hour. So it was much speedier than we expected. But nothing got underway yesterday afternoon. So at half past 10, the court is resuming.
The jury will take their seats and that's when we'll start to hear the prosecution's case.
Emily, thank you very much. Emily Keegan there, Newstalk reporter, will be at Newry Crown Court for the day and we'll have plenty of updates on Newstalk as we go through that.
And of course, over the next four weeks, we'll be hearing the details from Geoffrey Donaldson's trial.
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