Donaldson told police letter to alleged victim was not an apology for sex abuse

Lady Eleanor Donaldson told police her husband, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, would not talk about an incident in which she saw him with one of the two alleged victims, their sex abuse trial has heard.

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 Democratic Unionist Party (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.

"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?"

"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.

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

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

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.

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 "devastat