The Donaldson Sex Abuse Trial: 4. Eleanor accused of seeing abuse

Added: 2026-05-31

[00:00:00]New accusations in court today that Lady Elner Donaldson saw her husband touch a child under her clothing and rub his hand on the girl's chest, but did nothing to stop it.

[00:00:10]>> The woman who said this said it happened to her when she was a child, and she told the court, "The facts are the facts, and I'm sticking to those. It was an intense day of exchanges between this alleged victim and Sir Jeffrey Donaldson's defense barrister." and some extraordinary detail about Lady Donaldson bugging her husband's car over suspicions he was having an affair with a constituent. Sir Jeffrey and his wife, Lady Elner Donaldson, deny all the charges against them. I was in court.

[00:00:38]>> This is a special series from the State of Us podcast from the BBC in Northern Ireland. This is the DonaldElsson sex abuse trial.

[00:00:50]>> Hello, I'm Declan Harvey. I'm in our studio in Belfast >> and I'm Tara Mills. I'm here in Yuri in our remote studio near the Crown Court where I heard the second day of evidence from complainant day, one of the two women who accused Sir Jeffrey Donaldson of sexual assault in this case. And a reminder that in this series there will be details that some people find distressing.

[00:01:11]>> Yeah. And maybe it is worth just before we get into the evidence in detail um bringing you kind of up to speed as to um what this case involves. Sir Jeffrey is accused of acts of gross indecency and indecent assault against complainant A when she was a child and that was between the years 1999 and 2008.

[00:01:34]Other alleged offenses date back as far as 1985. They include uh an allegation of rape and that relates to a second woman known as complainant B. She's the older of the two complainants, but she says she was also a child at the time.

[00:01:50]>> And the other part of the trial that we'll be stepping you through is of his wife, Lady Elanor Donaldson, who faces five related charges of aiding and abetting those alleged sex offenses, which she has denied. She's been found unfit for a conventional trial due to poor mental health. Instead, a trial of the facts is being held in which she will not participate. So, while she isn't in court and she faces different outcomes, she's still very much a defendant in this case.

[00:02:16]>> Yeah. And if you want to know more about the trial of the facts, go back to our first episode. Um, and we kind of set that out with the help of uh Sarah McCone or or solicitor in residence if you like, the person who's helping us through bits of the of the process. Um, let's get back to the evidence today though. Um because Tara, we were hearing from complainant A. She is the younger of the two women and her evidence began yesterday. Listeners will remember that as the day came to an end, Jeffrey Donaldson's barister Kieran Vaughn was cross-examining her uh putting it to her that she had either fabricated events or dreamt them and now just believes that they're real.

[00:02:56]>> Yes. Yes. And it was a point that she very strongly denied and called insulting. And that was a phrase she used again today when Karen Vaughn suggested that she had fabricated other evidence. And I'll give you an example of one exchange. It was around complainant A's claim that Lady Elner Donaldson had witnessed her husband, rubbing her chest area under her clothes, and had not intervened and had walked away. Now, Kieran Vaughn said to complainant A, "I'm suggesting to you that that did not happen." And complainant A replied, "I disagree with that entirely." And the court heard yesterday about a letter sent from Jeffrey Donaldson to complainant A. And in it, he expressed regret for her cause to her. Now, Kieran Vaughn suggested that it was not about sexual abuse. And complainant A said because of Jeffrey Donaldson's career, he's a clever man and he would never put into writing what he had done, but he can heavily suggest.

[00:03:47]And she said although she felt the letter was a form of apology, it wasn't one she would accept as an apology because he didn't go into detail.

[00:03:56]>> And how was she during cross-examination, Darra?

[00:03:59]>> Well, it was a long day of evidence. She had a big bottle of water beside her and and regularly took sips from that. And there were a couple of times she broke down and Karen Vaughn um asked her to take a drink of water and he said, "I don't want to see you cry." And then at another point, Judge Ramsay intervened.

[00:04:16]Karen vaugh had been asking a series of questions to complainant A and at one point she appeared to preempt what he was going to say next and Karen Vaughn said to her this is the way it works I ask the questions and you answer them and then Mr. Justice Ramsey said to complainant day that Kieran Bon was right and asked her not to anticipate the question even if you don't like it.

[00:04:37]>> And and there was some detail as I understand it today about this woman saying that she spoke to members of a church and how that ended up with an eventual report to police about these allegations of abuse.

[00:04:51]>> Yes. And again, Kieran Vaughn, Jeffrey Donaldson's defense barristister, had questions about that during the cross-examination. And he asked complainant day, "Why did it take a year before you went to the police after reporting it to the church?" And she said, "I wasn't ready to do it. It was a huge decision, and I knew this would not be a normal case because of who he is, and I knew it was a huge case, and it would involve the media, and it was not a decision that you would take lightly."

[00:05:18]When the prosecution was first setting out its case, um it made clear to the jury that the two complainants had eventually gone to the police together.

[00:05:31]They made the report at the same time.

[00:05:34]Um that was brought up today, was it?

[00:05:37]>> Yes. Um Kieran Vaughn again during cross-examination said that complainant B had sent a text message to complainant A the day after they'd both been to the police to report the allegations of abuse. And the text message said better two voices than one. And complainant A said she didn't have a view on that and said the reason that complainant B had sent it to her was because she had been very anxious about making the complaint about reporting those allegations to the police. And she said she had thought about it so many times before and had talked herself out of it. And she said even on the day that she was reporting it to the police, she had very nearly changed her mind.

[00:06:18]>> Um, so as we said, quite an intense day of exchanges. Any other standout moments?

[00:06:24]>> Yes, there was a moment in the court today when the jury was told that Lady Elellanar Donaldson had placed a bugging device in her husband's car over fears he was having an affair with a constituent. And the detail was outlined by Jeffrey Donaldson's barristister Karen Vaughn during evidence heard by the jury and it was alleged that the former DUP leader had been in touch with a constituent in a flirtatious way.

[00:06:48]>> Okay. Um so we are at the end of uh week one um of this almost a full week. Uh what's next?

[00:06:56]>> Well, the court finished slightly earlier today. A Kieran vaugh was finished his cross- examination at about 3:00 and the judge decided that Lady Donaldson's barristister could start his cross-examination of complainant A first thing on Monday. And it's worth reminding ourselves just although she's unfit for trial and we have talked about the trial of the facts running alongside Jeffrey Donaldson's trial, but it does mean she does have legal representation in court and her barristister can ask questions of all of the witnesses too.

[00:07:25]>> Okay. Okay. Well, we will follow the hearings day by day as they happen at Nuri Crown Court to Tower. Thanks for that. Uh you can subscribe on whatever platform you're listening or watching this on and uh you won't miss any updates as this continues. Again, the Donaldson sex abuse trial is expected to last three to four weeks. Uh but for now, at the end of week one, thanks for listening.

[00:07:46]>> Bye-bye.