Wife of Northern Ireland's Jeffrey Donaldson unfit for trial, judge says

Eleanor Donaldson, the ​wife of former Northern Ireland ​politician Jeffrey Donaldson, is unfit ‌to stand ​trial alongside her husband on charges related to historical sex offences, a judge ‌ruled on Wednesday. Former Democratic Unionist Party leader Donaldson is due to stand trial next week on one count of rape, 13 ‌counts of indecent assault on a female child and four counts ‌of gross indecency towards a child. He has pleaded not guilty.

The trial of Donaldson and his wife Eleanor has been delayed for more than a ⁠year ​due to ⁠Eleanor, whose charges include aiding and abetting rape, being unwell. Judge Paul Ramsey made ⁠the ruling that she was unfit to be tried after hearing medical ​evidence on Wednesday.

Eleanor will instead face a so-called trial ⁠of the facts, where the jury is asked to decide whether or ⁠not ​the accused committed an offence, rather than whether they are guilty or not guilty. Jeffrey Donaldson, once one of Northern Ireland's ⁠best-known politicians, stepped down suddenly as head of the region's largest pro-British unionist ⁠party in ⁠March 2024 after the DUP said he had been charged with allegations of a historical nature.

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