The Police Ombudsman has been requested to probe what police knew about disgraced former DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson, who was convicted last week of 18 sexual offences, including one count of rape, against two women when they were children.
Questions Over DUP Knowledge
Over the past week, questions have been raised about how much the DUP knew regarding Donaldson’s wider conduct before his 2024 arrest on sex abuse allegations. The DUP announced on Friday that it is commissioning an independent inquiry into the revelations and who knew what.
BBC Spotlight reported that a police detective suspected Donaldson could be a secret child abuser a year before he was named to police. The detective and a child safeguarding expert suspected Donaldson after an exploratory meeting at the Presbyterian Church in Ireland’s headquarters with Complainant A and her partner, before they made a formal complaint. Complainant A did not name her abuser in that meeting and did not name Donaldson to police until 2024, but the programme heard that both believed the woman was describing Donaldson.
PSNI Intelligence Concerns
The BBC Northern Ireland programme also reported that two senior police officers observed Donaldson entering a sauna in London that marketed itself as a meeting place for gay men in 2006, despite Donaldson referring to homosexuality as “sinful” in the same year.
Independent unionist MLA Doug Beattie has called for the Police Ombudsman to investigate what the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) knew regarding Donaldson’s child sexual abuse offences. “The commentary in the days following Donaldson’s conviction has raised a number of serious concerns,” the former UUP leader said.
“Firstly, the reported scale of the abuse is shocking. Secondly, a number of individuals have since come forward indicating that concerns were raised about his behaviour, with some suggesting knowledge of victims or of predatory behaviour. Of particular concern are suggestions that a senior safeguarding officer within the PSNI may have held intelligence relating to Donaldson’s behaviour up to a year before his arrest. While it is understood that intelligence does not in itself constitute evidence, this raises fundamental and legitimate questions,” Beattie added.
Key Questions Raised
Beattie outlined specific questions: “What did the PSNI know, and when did they know it? Was any such information considered a matter of national security, given Donaldson’s prominent role at Westminster? And were these concerns communicated to the Northern Ireland Office?”
He concluded: “These are important and reasonable questions which require clear and transparent answers. For that reason, I have written to the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland requesting a full investigation into the intelligence held by the PSNI, whether that intelligence reached the threshold of evidence, and whether there was any failure to act on information indicating a potential risk to individuals or to national security.”
