Donaldson commentary 'utterly irresponsible', says police chief

Commentary about Jeffrey Donaldson after his conviction for sexual abuse has been "utterly irresponsible", the Police Service of Northern Ireland's (PSNI) chief constable has said.

Jon Boutcher said it was important that public commentary and journalism recognised the "integrity of the criminal justice process".

Donaldson is in custody waiting to be sentenced after he was convicted of 18 counts of sex abuse, including one count of rape, committed against two women when they were children.

Boutcher said the victims were "finding the current media frenzy and wild speculation incredibly difficult to handle".

"I, of course, understand the public interest, but the commentary has been utterly irresponsible," Boutcher told the Policing Board on Thursday.

"I am aware that journalists have tried to reach out to the victims. That must stop. They do not wish to speak to the media, and everyone must respect the authority of the ongoing court process."

He added that lifelong anonymity was given to complainants in sexual offence cases and "great attention must be taken" to make sure this was not undermined or victims were not discouraged from coming forward.

"I remind everyone that publicly identifying a victim of a sexual offence is of itself a criminal offence," he said.

"We are actively investigating social media posts in connection with this trial."

Since Donaldson's convictions a number of people have spoken out about his alleged behaviour in the past.

These include contributors to BBC News NI's Spotlight programme, who said Donaldson's behaviour included public drunkenness, a visit to a gay sauna and acting inappropriately towards a female colleague on a trip abroad.

Prior to the programme TUV leader Jim Allister suggested, in a statement, that knowledge of Jeffrey Donaldson's crimes may have been used as "leverage" in a deal to restore power sharing in Northern Ireland in 2024, which the government said was "absolute nonsense".

The former Ulster Unionist Party leader, Doug Beattie also said that the Police Ombudsman "needs to investigate" what intelligence the PSNI had on Donaldson a year prior to his arrest in 2024 and whether any of it was "actionable".

The chief constable said there was "no surveillance" on Donaldson and there was no "blackmail against him by the government".

Boutcher was responding to a question put to him by the Sinn Féin MLA Deirdre Hargey. She asked the chief constable for clarification around issues raised in the Spotlight programme and other questions being put in the media.

Boutcher said he was not going to add to the "wild speculation and ridiculous commentary" of what had been said in the media over the last week.

He said it was "not right on the victims", and that there was a criminal justice process which was ongoing.

"I do not want to comment on the Spotlight programme because I think it was irresponsible to put it out at that time."

Referring to claims from retired officers who appeared in the programme he said he did not understand why they said what they did.

A BBC spokesperson said: "Spotlight's journalism was careful, victim-centred and in the public interest. It identified issues that warrant scrutiny and about which there are legitimate questions and concerns."