Judge imposes three-year treatment order on Donaldson for aiding and abetting sexual offences by her husband, Jeffrey
Jeffrey Donaldson’s wife, Eleanor, has been placed on the sex offender register for five years for aiding and abetting sexual offences by her disgraced husband.
Eleanor Donaldson appeared via remote link at Newry crown court to hear the order on Friday one month after her husband, the former Democratic Unionist party (DUP) leader, was convicted of abusing two women when they were children.
The 60-year-old bowed her head and cried as Judge Paul Ramsey imposed a three-year supervision and treatment order as well as placing her on the sex offender register. Asked if she understood the court order, she nodded and said yes.
In June her husband was convicted of 18 sexual offences, including one count of rape, spanning 1985 to 2008. The case stunned Northern Ireland and destroyed the career and reputation of a politician who had been the leading voice of unionism. In October he was sentenced to 15 years.
His wife faced a trial of the facts after being deemed unfit to participate in a conventional trial on mental health grounds. A jury found that she had aided and abetted her husband’s abuse.
She could not be given a prison sentence, only a hospital order, a supervised treatment order or…
