PSNI intelligence on Donaldson to be probed by Police Ombudsman, MLA urges

Independent MLA Doug Beattie has called for the Police Ombudsman to investigate what the PSNI knew about Jeffrey Donaldson's abuse before his 2024 arrest.

MLA demands Ombudsman inquiry into what PSNI knew about Donaldson

Independent MLA Doug Beattie has formally requested that the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland launch a full investigation into what the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) knew about Jeffrey Donaldson's sexual offending prior to his arrest, the Irish Times reports.

Donaldson, the disgraced former leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, was convicted last week of 18 sexual offences — including one count of rape — against two women who were children at the time of the abuse.

In the days following the verdict, a series of significant questions have emerged regarding how much was known, both within the DUP and among law enforcement, about Donaldson's conduct before he was arrested in 2024. The DUP announced on Friday that it is commissioning an independent inquiry into what revelations were known and by whom.

BBC Spotlight reported that a police detective had suspected Donaldson could be a secret child abuser approximately a year before he was formally named to police. According to the programme, the detective and a child safeguarding expert formed that suspicion after an exploratory meeting at the Presbyterian Church in Ireland's headquarters with Complainant A and her partner. Complainant A did not identify her abuser by name at that meeting, and did not name Donaldson to police until 2024; however, both individuals present believed she was describing him.

The same BBC Northern Ireland programme reported that two senior police officers observed Donaldson entering a London sauna in 2006 that marketed itself as a meeting place for gay men — the same year the politician publicly described homosexuality as "sinful."

Beattie, the former Ulster Unionist Party leader, set out three specific areas of concern in correspondence to the Police Ombudsman. He cited the reported scale of the abuse as "shocking," pointed to individuals who had since come forward indicating that concerns about Donaldson's behaviour had previously been raised, and highlighted what he described as the most pressing question: whether a senior safeguarding officer within the PSNI may have held relevant intelligence up to a year before Donaldson's arrest.

"While it is understood that intelligence does not in itself constitute evidence, this raises fundamental and legitimate questions," Beattie said.

He posed three specific questions he wants answered: what the PSNI knew and when; whether any such information was treated as a matter of national security given Donaldson's prominent role at Westminster; and whether concerns were communicated to the Northern Ireland Office.

"These are important and reasonable questions which require clear and transparent answers," Beattie said. He confirmed he had written to the Police Ombudsman requesting a full investigation into the intelligence held by the PSNI, whether that intelligence reached the threshold of evidence, and whether there was any failure to act on information indicating a potential risk to individuals or to national security.

Source: Irish Times