Jeffrey Donaldson: From non-smoking, non-drinking, church-going politician to predatory sex abuser

The Christian family man and former DUP leader led a double life of secretly inflicting harm on innocents while giving polished public performances as a defender of conservative unionism

Jeffrey Donaldson arriving at Newry courthouse on Monday. Picture: Charles McQuillan/Getty

While Joe Biden feted Jeffrey Donaldson at the White House during St Patrick’s Day celebrations in March 2024, a handful of detectives back home in Northern Ireland were quietly completing the countdown to his unmasking.

Weeks earlier, Donaldson had steered the DUP back to power-sharing at Stormont, a political feat that rebooted the Good Friday Agreement and imbued a statesmanlike aura to his triumphant visit to Washington.