THIS DAY LAST week, former DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson was convicted of serious sexual offences against children.

The jury at Newry Crown Court unanimously found the 63-year-old guilty of 18 sexual offences, including one count of rape, against two women when they were children.

In the week since, media reports have raised questions about how much was known within the DUP about Donaldson’s wider conduct in the period before his 2024 arrest over sex abuse allegations.

In particular, there have been questions about whether anyone was aware that Donaldson allegedly engaged in behaviour in his private life that, although legal, was very much at odds with his public positions on political and social issues.

BBC Spotlight investigation

On Friday, a BBC NI Spotlight investigation reported that some senior DUP figures were aware of another woman, who was not involved in the recent court case, who had raised concerns about Donaldson’s behaviour but had not wished to make a formal complaint.

Former DUP MP Ian Paisley Jr said that five years ago, he was approached by a young woman who said she had been “exploited” by Donaldson.

“She wasn’t a teenager, but she was a young woman,” said Paisley.

Paisley described her as a “victim” in a text to another politician during the DUP leadership contest between Donaldson and Edwin Poots in 2021.

Speaking on Spotlight, Paisley remarked: “And she said ‘Jeffrey Donaldson exploited me, that man used me and I want you to do everything in your power to make sure he is not the leader of the DUP.”

Paisley further remarked that this was not “some minor issue” and that it was “deeply unsettling”.

Paisley told Poots, who was very briefly DUP leader after beating Donaldson in a 2021 leadership election – Poots lasted only three weeks and later that year, Donaldson became party leader.

No formal complaint was made and Poots said “we observed at all times the wishes of the young woman”.

However, the DUP has said it had “no knowledge of these issues” and was “shocked to learn of these alleged incidents”.

A party spokesperson added that the DUP did not receive any complaints “internally or externally about inappropriate and/or criminal behaviour by Jeffrey Donaldson”.

Spotlight also reported that two senior PSNI officers observed Donaldson entering a sauna in London that marketed itself as a meeting place for gay men in 2006 – despite the politician referring to homosexuality as “sinful” in the same year.

Paisley also alleged on the Spotlight programme that on a trade mission to Beijing, Donaldson “projectile vomited over the mayor of Beijing”.

Ian Paisley: " He (Jeffrey Donaldson ) actually projectile vomited over the Mayor of Beijing " 😬🤢#spotlightni #dup pic.twitter.com/BiYjajXGFk

— Jay (@JibbaJabb) June 26, 2026

In addition to this, Paisley claimed that on a 2018 visit to Washington, Donaldson was “falling over drunk” and had to be held up by aides.

On this same night, Paisley said Donaldson sat on a female politician’s lap and tried to kiss her.

“I saw Jeffrey blindingly drunk, trying to kiss her, in a restaurant in a hotel,” said Paisley.

“I said to people, ‘get that man out of here before he does himself any more damage’.”

Wallace Thompson, a founding member of the DUP, said he thinks founder of the party Ian Paisley would be “turning in his grave” about the “immoral” life that Donaldson lived.

“Dr Paisley would be turning in his grave at what is happening now because it [the DUP] was founded on strong moral principles,” said Thompson on BBC NI’s Good Morning Ulster.

He added that it will be a “monumental task” for the party to deal with the fallout.

“I hope they do manage to sort it out but it is going to be very difficult, it is almost like a nuclear explosion in political terms.”

Ian Paisley pictured at the DUP's headquarters in 1997 Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

Meanwhile, the Police Ombudsman in Northern Ireland has been called on to probe what the PSNI knew about Donaldson.

Spotlight reported that a police detective suspected that Donaldson could be a secret child abuser a year before he was named to the PSNI.

It reported that the detective and a child safeguarding expert suspected Donaldson following an exploratory meeting at the Presbyterian Church in Ireland’s headquarters with Complainant A and her partner before they made a formal complaint.

Complainant A said she had first been abused when of primary school age.

She told the jury of one incident where she claimed Donaldson had used a light, possibly a torch, to look at her “private parts”.

Complainant A said she told Donaldson’s wife Eleanor, who was found to have aided and abetted her husband’s sex offending, about the alleged incident.

Complainant A did not name her abuser in that meeting, and did not name Donaldson to police until 2024, however the programme heard how both believed the woman was describing Donaldson.

‘Detailed internal review’

Hours before the BBC Spotlight programme aired, the DUP announced that it had commissioned a “specific and detailed internal review”.

The party said the review would look into a “number of issues arising following the conviction of Jeffrey Donaldson”.

The DUP added that party leader Gavin Robinson and deputy leader Michelle McIlveen were “deeply concerned” by allegations that have surfaced since Donaldson’s conviction.

The DUP added that it was concerned that some in the party may have had knowledge of inappropriate behaviour which was never reported to party officers.

Speaking this afternoon, Robinson said “it is clear there are a number of individuals, either former members of the DUP or current, who did indicate publicly that they had information that they did not share and was not reported”.

🚨UPDATE: Gavin Robinson says "it is clear" there are former & current DUP members who had information about conduct of Jeffrey Donaldson that was not shared with party

🚫The DUP leader has insisted the party was not formally made aware of any allegations about its former… pic.twitter.com/yRi3sQbBaN

— Cool FM News (@newsoncool) June 29, 2026

He said it is “not okay for this to continue to be the case” and that the party “were not aware of allegations that have subsequently come to light”.

He added that he has not yet spoken to Poots about the issues raised in the Spotlight programme.

Also speaking today, Poots, who is speaker of Stormont, said that he has “nothing to answer for” and that he “didn’t cover-up anything”.

Assembly Speaker Edwin Poots has told MLAs he did nothing wrong in his handling of an allegation made by a woman that she had been exploited by the disgraced former DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldsonhttps://t.co/IIXplgGT8O pic.twitter.com/UNTH1u4SIh

— UTV Live News (@UTVNews) June 29, 2026

Poots added that there was no “criminal or safeguarding issue” to deal with. 

Former DUP special adviser David Graham indicated it will be hard to rebuild trust amid a “drip feed of negativity”.

He told BBC Northern Ireland’s Sunday Politics programme that “this is damaging to the point of potentially beyond repair”.

While Graham said he believes no one in the party knew of the reasons for Donaldson’s conviction in advance, he then pointed to a “drip feed of negativity” from former and current DUP members “essentially saying we knew about Donaldson’s lifestyle”.  

Graham said he has a “degree of sympathy” for party leader Gavin Robinson,” who he said has “played this with a straight bat”.

However, Graham questioned “deafening silence” from others within the party.

“The issue is that the more questions you ask, you’re not getting answers, you’re getting more questions,” he added.

He also cautioned that public trust in the DUP has “deteriorated so much” that it may be “very difficult” for the review to land amid “questions of how independent it is, how trustworthy it is, and actually has it got to the bottom of any issues if there are any issues”.

And while Graham said he doesn’t believe “anyone has anything to hide around the criminal element”, he added: “The political part is, when you spend decades telling everyone else how to live their lives when you’re living your life a totally different way, that’s a challenge here.”

Northern Ireland elections

Next May, voters will go to the polls for both local council and Northern Ireland Assembly elections.

Back in 2017, with Arlene Foster as leader, the DUP won just over 28% of the vote in the Northern Ireland Assemble elections, which decides the MLAs who sit at Stormont.

But in 2022, with Donaldson as leader and Brexit dominating the headlines, the DUP’s percentage slip to just over 21%.

The DUP refused to return to the powersharing executive following this 2022 election due to Brexit disagreements, and returned to Stormont in January 2024.

The most recent polling from April of this year puts the party at just 18% in opinion polling, with the UUP on 13% and the TUV on 11%.

Just weeks after Donaldson’s arrest in 2024, there was a Westminster election and the DUP lost three seats, including a Lagan Valley seat which had long been held by Donaldson.

The party’s vote share was down more than 8%.

UUP leader Jon Burrows last week remarked that it would be “wrong and insensitive to use any aspect” of Donaldson’s conviction or media speculation for “party gain”.

However, the DUP will inevitably fear that the “drip feed of negativity” around Donaldson will hurt the party as it appears to have done in the Westminster election following Donaldson’s arrest.