North Antrim MP Jim Allister tables motion calling for removal of Sir Jeffrey Donaldson's knighthood
The MP for North Antrim, Jim Allister, is calling for the removal of Sir Jeffrey Donaldson’s knighthood following his conviction for sexual offences.
The former DUP leader and long-standing Lagan Valley MP Sir Jeffrey Donaldson was found guilty of 18 historical sex offences against two women when they were children, including one count of rape, 13 of indecent assault and four of gross indecency.
The jury at Newry Crown Court returned its verdict on Monday, June 22, after deliberations across two days at the end of last week.
The 63-year-old ex-MP had pleaded not guilty to 18 alleged offences spanning a period between 1985 and 2008.
Two women – known as Complainants A and B to protect their identity – both gave evidence at the trial, alleging they had been abused by him as children.
Donaldson’s 60-year-old wife Eleanor, from Dublinhill Road, Dromore, was found to have committed the acts relating to offences of aiding and abetting her husband’s alleged offending following a trial of the facts on mental health grounds.
The trial of the facts tested the evidence in the case but could not result in a criminal conviction.
Speaking after the verdicts, MP Jim Allister said: "The conviction of Jeffrey Donaldson for multiple sexual offences is truly shocking.
"Primarily my thoughts are with his victims, but for whose immense courage and honesty, Donaldson would have continued to play out the role of ‘statesman’. Now, he stands exposed as a pedophile.
"Donaldson must be stripped of his knighthood forthwith."
Mr Allister added that he had tabled the following motion in the House of Commons: “That this House calls on the Prime Minister to recommend to His Majesty The King that the Knighthood of Jeffrey Donaldson, the former MP for Lagan Valley, be removed, following his criminal convictions for sexual offences.”