FORMER DUP LEADER Jeffrey Donaldson told police he wasn’t doing “anything untoward” in an incident where an alleged victim claimed he used a light to stare at her.

The trial over historical sexual offences at Newry Crown Court is being played audio recordings of the former MP’s interviews with detectives following his arrest in 2024.

Donaldson, 63, has pleaded not guilty to 18 alleged offences.

The charges include one count of rape and allegations of indecent assault and gross indecency, and span a time period between 1985 and 2008 involving two alleged victims.

Complainant A and B have both previously given evidence at the sexual offences trial.

Eleanor Donaldson (60), from Dublinhill Road, Dromore, Co Down, denies several charges of aiding and abetting her husband’s alleged offending.

She is facing a trial of the facts and is not participating in the proceedings.

Today, the jury of five women and seven men heard that Donaldson had been interviewed by police for four and a half hours following his arrest in the early hours of 28 March 2024.

Three hours of the interviews will be played to the jury.

Donaldson, wearing a blue suit, sat in the dock at the back of the court while the audio of the first interview was played.

The interview at Antrim PSNI station began with the former DUP leader confirming his name and date of birth.

Asked at the beginning if he wanted to say anything about the alleged offences, he replied “No.”

The court has previously heard about an allegation that Donaldson had “perched” over the top of Complainant A when she was a child, using a light to look at her “private parts”.

In his police interview, Donaldson raised the incident, telling detectives he believed he had “startled” the girl.

He said: “It obviously frightened her. She thought that I was shining a light at her.”

“You know, I didn’t have a light.

“You know, I wasn’t doing anything untoward.”

He added: “She clearly still has a concern about that.”

He said “at no stage” had Complainant A ever claimed “I touched her or did anything inappropriate on that occasion”.

In the interview, Donaldson said there had been “good times and difficult times” in his marriage to Eleanor Donaldson.

He said his work as a politician had “put a strain on our marriage”.

Donaldson said: “The role I hold is all-consuming, it takes up a lot of time.”

The trial continues.

Jeffrey Donaldson, a former long-standing MP for Lagan Valley, was arrested and charged at the end of March 2024.

He resigned as DUP leader and was suspended from the party after the allegations emerged.

Weeks before his arrest, he had led the DUP back into devolved government at Stormont after a two-year boycott of the powersharing institutions.