Lady Donaldson told police Sir Jeffrey would not talk about alleged breast touching incident

Lady Eleanor Donaldson told police her husband, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, would not talk about an incident in which she walked into a room and found him with one of the two alleged victims in the sex abuse trial against them.

Complainant B previously told Newry Crown Court that Lady Donaldson had witnessed Sir Jeffrey touching her breasts, but had said nothing and walked away.

In an interview with police after her arrest in 2024, Lady Donaldson said they were both fully clothed, but described it as an "unexplained situation".

The former DUP leader denies 18 sex abuse charges, allegedly committed between 1985 and 2008. Lady Donaldson denies five charges of aiding and abetting his alleged offending.

The offences against two alleged victims allegedly occurred when they were both children.

Lady Donaldson faces a trial of the facts after she was previously deemed unfit to face a conventional trial on mental health grounds, and is therefore not participating in proceedings.

In March 2024, she told police she had seen Sir Jeffrey and Complainant B together in a room.

"I could see they were both standing there, but that was it," Lady Donaldson said.

An officer asked: "Were they both fully clothed when you walked in?"

She responded: "Absolutely yes there were.

"I just saw them standing there and that was it and I just literally reversed. I said: 'I'm ready to go.'"

She said Sir Jeffrey had said he and Complainant B had been "just talking".

Later in the interview, an officer asked: "Has your mind ever went to the thought that something sexual was taking place?"

She responded: "I just didn't know, I'll be honest… he never gave me details about anything.

"He would not talk about it."

A police officer asked her: "You're saying you couldn't see what was happening?

"I couldn't see. I didn't see," she replied.

Lady Donaldson later said: "It didn't sit well with me but I couldn't get anywhere with it."

She described it as an "unexplained situation".

She added: "I never got to the bottom of that and I was told not to ask a question anymore because it was dealt with."

Lady Donaldson said she subsequently raised the matter with her husband.

"I asked Jeffrey about it and he just dismissed it."

She also said that years after it happened, she became aware he had asked for Complainant B's forgiveness at a meeting in Armoy.

But she told police she never knew what the forgiveness was for.

"No matter how many times I brought that up it was never disclosed to me," she said.

Lady Donaldson added her husband had said "that's in the past and it's been dealt with".

Asked about the circumstances of an alleged incident where Complainant B claimed she was raped by Sir Jeffrey, she told police: "I would say that didn't happen. Absolutely not, oh my goodness."

Lady Donaldson said she was "devastated" hearing about the allegation.

She added: "That's totally outside my knowledge of what I would expect from him."

She also told police she had no awareness of allegations made by Complainant A that she was sexually abused when she was a child.

"I've never been party or seen anything like that."

An officer asked how Lady Donaldson felt on hearing the sex abuse allegations raised during the interview, which lasted several hours.

"I'm just in disbelief to be honest… horrified."

She is then asked: "Is it possible everybody is starting to downplay the truth because nobody wants this getting out?"

Lady Donaldson replied: "I have nothing to hide and therefore it's not for me to say 'let's all keep it hush hush' or whatever."

On Tuesday morning, the jury of seven men and five women were played the final part of Sir Jeffrey's police interview.

In it he told police that a letter he wrote to Complainant A was not an apology for sex abuse.

The trial previously heard that in 2020, he wrote to Complainant A expressing "regret" for the "hurt, pain and distress" he had caused her.

In her evidence, the woman said she thought the letter was an attempt to "apologise" for the alleged abuse.

However, Sir Jeffrey told police she is mistaken.

"Nowhere in that letter did I indicate, nor was I alluding to, incidents of sexual abuse," he told the police officer interviewing him.

"None of that is to do with any allegation or any action involving sexual abuse."

He claimed the letter related to "remorse about other things".

Sir Jeffrey also denied that he had admitted abusing Complainant A when she had confronted him in the presence of her husband.

During the interview, the officer put it to him that "he nodded his head to indicate yes" when Complainant A asked him to confirm he had abused her.

"She has never said to me you did this or that to me," he said.

The officer asked: "Did she ask if you had sexually abused her?"

Sir Jeffrey replied: "Not to my recollection. No"

He is then asked if he believed she and her husband are lying.

"I'm saying that their recollection of the conversation is different from mine."

Both of the complainants in the trial reported their allegations to the Police Service of Northern Ireland in March 2024.

Sir Jeffrey denies acts of gross indecency and indecent assault against Complainant A when she was a child, between 1999 and 2008.

Other alleged offences, dating back to 1985, including a charge of rape, relate to a second woman, Complainant B, when she was also a child, which he also denies.

The trial continues.