The BelTel

Newry Crown Court has heard Jeffrey Donaldson sent a message to a minister supporting one of his alleged victims, saying he wanted to “repent before them as he had before God.”  The husband of an alleged victim in the abuse trial has broken down as he gave evidence on Thursday.   63-year-old former MP Jeffrey Donaldson has pleaded not guilty to all the 18 charges he is facing, they include rape and several counts of gross indecency and of indecent assault. His wife Eleanor Donaldson, from Dublinhill Road in Dromore, County Down denies several charges of aiding and abetting her husband’s alleged offending.  She is facing a trial of the facts.   Allison Morris is covering the trial for the Belfast Telegraph.

A woman who claims former DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson raped her as a child has told a court in Newry she regrets not contacting police sooner. Witness B said she has “tried not to be a victim” in the years since the alleged abuse. During cross-examination on Wednesday afternoon, she said she wished she had “screamed out”. Jeffrey Donaldson is accused of rape and several counts of gross indecency and of indecent assault. The former MP has pleaded not guilty to the 18 alleged offences.  His wife, Eleanor Donaldson, from Dublinhill Road in Dromore, Co Down, denies several charges of aiding and abetting – she faces a trial of the facts as she has been ruled unfit for a criminal trial.  Allison Morris is covering the trial for the Belfast Telegraph.   

Stephen McCullagh will do at least 31 years of jail time before he is even considered for release.  32-year-old Natalie McNally had been 15 weeks pregnant when she was subjected to a violent attack and murdered at her home in Lurgan in December 2022.  The judge, Mr Justice Kinney, told McCullagh that he committed a “brutal senseless murder and planned it in remorseless detail.”  “The killing was cold blooded and calculated.”  McCullagh tried to pin the murder on Lewis Jones, Natalie’s ex-partner, after having set up a false alibi.   But the jury rejected that and found McCullagh guilty of the murder at Belfast Crown Court earlier this year.  Kurtis Reid was in court for the tariff hearing.  

The UUP’s fortunes, or at least its leader’s, had been rising in the polls – but now the party is sinking into civil war. Its former leader Doug Beattie has quit the party and has launched a blistering assault on current leader Jon Burrows – even saying he “regretted” ever persuading Burrows to join the party. Mr Beattie resigned from the UUP at the weekend, accusing former PSNI man Burrows of a “vindictive attempt” to oust him. Mr Burrows has yet to comment publicly. Meanwhile, reports suggest he doesn’t have the support of the party’s Stormont MLAs  The Belfast Telegraph’s Political Editor Suzanne Breen broke the story that Doug Beattie was set to leave the party. 

A jury has heard a police interview recording of a woman who claims she was raped as a child by Jeffrey Donaldson. Jurors at Newry Crown Court heard allegations against the former DUP leader by a woman who claims it happened when she was at primary school. She also alleged that Donaldson arranged for her to be sent to a Christian Rehabilitation Centre and apologised to her there.  Sixty-three-year-old Jeffrey Donaldson has pleaded not guilty to 18 alleged offences said to have taken place between 1985 and 2008 involving two complainants known as Witness A and B. His wife Eleanor Donaldson faces a trial of the facts on aiding and abetting allegations after the trial judge ruled her medically unfit to stand trial. Allison Morris is covering the trial for the Belfast Telegraph.  

Eleanor Donaldson “did nothing” when told of an allegation of abuse by her husband, Jeffrey Donaldson, a court has heard. The claim from one of the alleged victims came during week two of the former DUP leader’s trial. 63-year-old Sir Jeffrey Donaldson has pleaded not guilty to 18 alleged offences.  The charges include one count of rape and allegations of indecent assault and gross indecency.  Donaldson’s wife Lady Eleanor Donaldson, from Dublinhill Road, Dromore, Co Down, denies several charges of aiding and abetting her husband’s alleged offending.  The 60-year-old is facing a trial of the facts, not a criminal trial, after judge Paul Ramsey ruled her unfit to stand trial on mental health grounds.  Allison Morris was in court for day four of evidence.