Former DUP leader in court over historic sex offence charges

This case caused confusion in Northern Ireland politics when the

charges

were first made public and that was reflected today in the fact that there were an extraordinary number of cameras outside the

court

, so Jeffrey Donaldson arrived for his first appearance from London, where he has been living since he was born. The defendants arrived separately, his wife and co-accused Sir Elena Donaldson. Now the couple were in the dock separated by a security guard and for the first time the

charges

against both were read in

court

, leaving Jeffrey facing a series of accusations of

historic

crimes. Sexual abuse, including one count of rape and one count of gross indecency.

His wife is accused of complicity in some of these crimes. Now Jeff has been such an important figure in politics here in Northern Ireland that many people were stunned by this case and Today there was a large crowd of onlookers, the police had to push the crowd back and ask people to leave The main road when the couple arrived at the magistrates in Yuri, a giant political figure in front of a gigantic barrage of cameras, was a chaotic arrival at Court. When Jeffrey Donaldson faced charges of rape, gross indecency and other

historic

sexual

offence

s, he separately came after his wife and co-defendant Lady Elena, accused of accessory to rape and indecent assault.

This is the first time Jeffrey Donaldson has been seen in public since he was arrested in March and the media attention is enormous. The

former

DUP

leader

has been a huge figure in politics, but this court case is attracting scrutiny like no other he has faced during his decades-long career. The 61-year-old had been a leading voice in unionist politics when the charges were first announced and he resigned as

leader

of the Democratic Unionist Party; it was feared this would ruin Northern Ireland politics. The country's longest-serving MP, Sir Jeffrey, rose to prominence after opposing the Good Friday agreement.

That's what we think of the framework document he received in 2016, a year later Sir Jeffrey was at the center of negotiations to reach a confidence and supply agreement with Theresa May supporting her government after she lost her parliamentary majority, she was appointed MP for Lagen Valley. leader of the DUP in 2021, but in recent years power-sharing in the North Island collapsed due to his party's opposition to post-Brexit trade deals, the assembly did not meet again until February after Jeffrey convinced his reluctant party to end its boycott of Stormont and return to power. After sharing with Shin Fain came the shocking news of his resignation and charges in court.

Those charges were revealed to relate to two separate complainants. Jeffrey Donaldson and his wife were released on bail of 350 under those bail conditions they can have contact with. another but not with any of the prosecution witnesses both defendants deny all charges against them next hearing will take place in May