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A visit to a “gay sauna” and allegations disclosed to former DUP MP Ian Paisley are to feature in an investigation into the “double life” of former DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson.
On Monday, Donaldson was convicted of 18 counts of sex abuse, including one count of rape, which he committed against two women when they were children.
The disgraced former Lagan Valley MP, who surrendered his Knighthood this week, is to be sentenced in September.
The Belfast Telegraph and the BBC have now reported that former DUP MP Ian Paisley said that five years ago he was approached by a young woman who claimed she had been “exploited” by Donaldson.
Mr Paisley has said that the woman did not wish to make a formal complaint, but said he told Mr Poots.
In a text to Mr Poots in 2021, Paisley described the woman as a “victim.”
The DUP has sought to distance itself from Donaldson, who they described as a “wicked deceiver” who led a “double and duplicitous double life” in the wake of the verdict.
A BBC Spotlight investigation to air on Friday heard from senior police officers and politicians who described Donaldson’s behaviour as “hypocritical” at at risk of being compromised by his political opponents.
The BBC investigation reports that two senior PSNI officers observed Donaldson entering a sauna in London that marketed itself as a meeting place for gay men back in 2006. The sauna, which is now closed, was located near the Houses of Parliament.
Former head of the PSNI’s Serious Crime Branch, Tim Hanley, tells the documentary he was “100% sure” he saw Donaldson enter the premises, with another detective confirming the account.
“Somebody’s sexuality is their own business. But I think it’s the whole, if you like, history of the DUP,” Mr Hanely said. “I found it incredible.”
It was during the 2021 leadership contest between Donaldson and Edwin Poots that Mr Paisley described the woman as a “victim” in a text sent to another politician.
“A woman approached, she wasn’t a teenager, but she was a young woman,” he said.
“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 Democratic Unionist Party’.”
“The woman wasn’t talking to me on some minor issue. This was deeply upsetting,” he added.
Edwin Poots insisted that they had “observed at all times the wishes of the young woman.”
Stormont speaker Mr Poots has accused Donaldson of telling lies many times over the years, but said that he could never have imagined the former party leader to be so “depraved.”
Poots quoted the Bible in a Facebook post which read: “The Lord Jesus Christ said, of those who harm children, that it would be better if a millstone was put around their neck and they were cast into the depth of the sea.”
“I found Donaldson out on lies too many times over many years, though I could never have imagined he could have been so depraved,” said Poots.
Poots, who had been DUP leader for just three weeks, was replaced by Donaldson in 2021 after a split within the party.
The Belfast Telegraph reports that according to a party insider, “two DUP figures were told that Donaldson was a sex pest, but they continued to support him.”
Meanwhile, the DUP has said that it had no knowledge of the issues raised, nor did it receive any complaints about inappropriate and/or criminal behaviour by Jeffrey Donaldson.
Party insiders have also said that they felt “betrayed” that Donaldson tricked them into thinking he was a God fearing Christian, adding that there was no sign over the years of “any turmoil and torment in his life.”
Eleanor Donaldson (60) was found to have committed the acts relating to offences of aiding and abetting. However, as she was subject to a trial of the facts, she will not face a criminal sentence.
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