Police quiz Iris Robinson on financial affairs

Disgraced former MP Iris Robinson has been questioned by police investigating her financial affairs, it was revealed tonight.

The wife of Northern Ireland First Minister Peter Robinson was interviewed in London, where she has been living since she quit politics in shame over her affair with a teenager.

Mr Robinson's Democratic Unionist Party insisted tonight that he had not been questioned.

Mrs Robinson, 60, resigned as MP for Strangford as well as giving up her seat in the Northern Ireland Assembly after admitting to having an affair with Kirk McCambley, 19.

It is understood that detectives asked her how she managed to persuade two friends, both developers, to loan her £50,000 (€60,658) to help her lover set up a restaurant business on the banks of the River Lagan in South Belfast.

It is believed she was questioned earlier this month after police confirmed they had launched an inquiry into her financial affairs, headed up by Detective Chief Superintendent Roy McComb.

Mrs Robinson has not been seen in Northern Ireland since the scandal broke last January.

She has been undergoing acute psychiatric treatment in London. She tried to kill herself by swallowing tablets after admitting her infidelity to her husband.

Police in Belfast tonight refused to comment on the inquiry.

A spokesman said: "We do not comment on named individuals. Neither do we discuss our investigative process."

A spokesman for the DUP said Mr Robinson, who lost his East Belfast seat in last month's British General Election, had not been questioned.

Castlereagh Borough Council, of which Mrs Robinson was also a member, is carrying out its own independent inquiry.