“NO RELEVANT INFORMATION” was identified in a review carried out by the Northern Ireland Assembly into the conduct of former DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson while he was at Stormont. 

The 63-year-old was found guilty in June of 18 sexual offences following a four-week trial at Newry Crown Court.

He was convicted of one count of rape, 13 counts of indecent assault and four counts of gross indecency, which he committed against two women when they were children, on dates between 1985 and 2008.

He was remanded in custody to Maghaberry Prison near Lisburn in Co Antrim and is due to be sentenced on 25 September, with a review date ahead of that on 11 September. Donaldson is appealing the convictions. 

A number of organisations announced they would carry out reviews after Donaldson’s convictions to attempt to uncover any incidents of inappropriate behaviour by him, including his former party the DUP. 

Northern Ireland Assembly speaker and DUP MLA Edwin Poots asked the assembly’s chief executive to carry out a review to enable anyone to report “any incidents of abuse or inappropriate behaviour they directly experienced” with Donaldson while he was a member of the assembly from 2003 to 2010, or while he was a regular visitor to parliament buildings as an MP. 

The review was launched on 10 July and included public and internal communications, a dedicated contact route, support arrangements and searches of relevant Assembly Commission records. It has now concluded. 

“No reports were received through the dedicated review contact route and no relevant information was identified through the internal information search,” a spokesperson said.

“The report therefore concludes that no matter has arisen within the scope of the review requiring further investigation, referral to the PSNI, or referral to another statutory agency.”

They added that the report is clear “that this conclusion is necessarily limited”.

“The absence of reports or relevant records does not determine that no incidents occurred; it means that, within the scope and methodology of the review, none were reported to the review and no relevant information was identified.”

The spokesperson said any subsequent approach received by the assembly “will be handled under Assembly Commission policies and procedures, with urgent referral to the PSNI or another statutory agency where appropriate”.

They added: “Anyone wishing to report a criminal matter should contact the PSNI directly.”