June 22 (Reuters) - The former leader of Northern Ireland’s largest unionist party, Jeffrey Donaldson, was found guilty on Monday of historic child sex ​offences against two women when they were children in one ‌of the highest-profile cases to be heard in the British-run region in recent times. A jury at Newry Crown Court found Donaldson guilty of one count ​of rape, 13 counts of indecent assault and four counts ​of gross indecency against two complainants at dates between 1985 ⁠and 2008. He denied all charges. Donaldson, 63, was one of Northern ​Ireland’s best-known politicians when he was arrested and charged in March ​2024. He immediately stepped down as head of the Democratic Unionist Party, founded by Protestant cleric Ian Paisley at the height of three decades of sectarian bloodshed, ​which ended after a 1998 peace deal. He was Northern Ireland’s longest-serving ​lawmaker in the British parliament, having been first elected in 1997 and had ‌brokered ⁠a deal with the British government over post-Brexit trade two months prior to his arrest that allowed the DUP to end a boycott of Northern Ireland’s power-sharing government. He was knighted by the late Queen Elizabeth ​for his political ​services in ⁠2016. The jury found that Donaldson’s wife, Eleanor, aided and abetted her husband. She has also denied the ​charges.

The court ruled her unfit to stand trial last ​month, due ⁠to mental health issues, meaning she could not face criminal conviction.

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