{"id":617780,"date":"2026-08-03T07:47:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T07:47:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/617780\/"},"modified":"2026-08-03T07:47:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T07:47:15","slug":"ive-always-voted-dup-but-never-again-jeffrey-donaldsons-former-constituents-on-his-conviction-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/617780\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I\u2019ve always voted DUP but never again\u2019: Jeffrey Donaldson\u2019s former constituents on his conviction \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Claire Rutherford received Christmas cards from Jeffrey Donaldson<\/a> when she was living in her family home in Hillsborough, Co Down<\/a>, over 20 years ago.<\/p>\n

If she found one today she\u2019d burn it, she says.<\/p>\n

The business consultant (45) is power-walking in white shorts down the affluent Main Street of Royal Hillsborough where Donaldson was a permanent fixture in the village\u2019s artisan coffee shops and on doorsteps for decades as Lagan Valley MP.<\/p>\n

Invited to every royal visit \u2013 Hillsborough Castle has long been an official residence for the British royal family and received royal status in 2021 \u2013 he was always in attendance.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was constantly in the village,\u201d says Rutherford.<\/p>\n

Her grandfather was a well known Orange Order<\/a> member but she was a moderate unionist.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the MP for the area, he tried to ingratiate himself with people like me. The Christmas cards were hand-signed from \u2018Jeffrey and family\u2019. It actually makes me sick.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is six weeks since the former DUP leader was found guilty of 18 sex abuse offences, including rape, committed against two women when they were children.<\/p>\n

\"'[Donaldson‘[Donaldson is] supposed to be a Christian, but he hasn\u2019t repented. It\u2019s very sad.’ Photograph: Arthur Allison\/Pacemaker Press <\/p>\n

Since Donaldson\u2019s conviction, which he is appealing, there has been a drip-feed of stories about his secret double life.<\/p>\n

Stripped of his knighthood by Britian\u2019s king Charles two weeks ago, <\/b>the disgraced politician\u2019s conduct is at the centre of a review commissioned by the DUP into who knew what and when within the party and if members failed to act or turned a blind eye to his behaviour.<\/p>\n

Visits to gay saunas and an alleged sexual assault on a woman in his Westminster office are among the string of claims that have emerged.<\/p>\n

Reports of preferential treatment<\/a> at Maghaberry prison outside Lisburn, where the 63-year-old is on remand awaiting a sentencing hearing in September, have sparked outrage.<\/p>\n

Three other inquiries are under way about his actions in the workplace; one by the Northern Ireland Civil Service, one by the Stormont Assembly while another was ordered by his former party, the Ulster Unionist Party, within days of the DUP announcing its investigation.<\/p>\n

There is \u201cdeep distaste\u201d for Donaldson in the wake of the revelations, according to Rutherford.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople thought he was a man of good moral compass and he certainly was not,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

WhatsApp groups \u201cexploded\u201d among her friends after he lodged his appeal.<\/p>\n

\n

There is a feeling of intense embarrassment in the constituency<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Anger at his co-accused and wife, Eleanor Donaldson, who was found to have aided and abetted his offences but will not go to prison after being prosecuted under a trial of the facts on mental health grounds, is also widespread.<\/p>\n

It was suggested she was asked to leave a Co Down caravan park by holidaymakers earlier this month.<\/p>\n

Eleanor Donaldson was regularly seen at the Cranfield caravan site, less than 7km from the fishing port town of Kilkeel, Co Down, where she and her husband grew up.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been found guilty, there\u2019s more stuff coming out and yet there\u2019s no sense of remorse. They both think they\u2019re above the law \u2013 that\u2019s the general feeling,\u201d says Rutherford.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Eleanor Donaldson \u2013 what happens next?Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

There are some DUP voters living in rural communities outside Hillsborough who believed he would be acquitted, she adds.<\/p>\n

\u201cA friend of mine teaches in one of the town lands and says there is a wee bit more support for him in the countryside. I think they thought he was going to be found innocent. The fact he wasn\u2019t shocked the hardliners,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Red, white and blue bunting flutters above Rutherford\u2019s head in the historic Georgian <\/b>village, <\/b>long a bastion of unionist identity. It was one of the host venues for this year\u2019s Twelfth celebrations.<\/p>\n

But the expansion of new housing developments and growth of Hillsborough as a commuter base to Belfast has led to the area becoming more mixed, adds Rutherford.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have unionist friends and nationalist friends, they\u2019re all disgusted by Jeffrey Donaldson.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"LisburnLisburn Street, Hillsborough, in Donaldson’s former constituency of Lagan Valley. Photograph: Arthur Allison\/Pacemaker Press <\/p>\n

As Lagan Valley MP for 27 years, Donaldson went to the \u201copening of an envelope\u201d in the constituency, according to a politician who did not wish to be named.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven though he did travel the world, he didn\u2019t neglect Lagan Valley.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn all the criticism of him, that has been never levelled \u2013 that he wasn\u2019t attentive. So there is a feeling of intense embarrassment in the constituency. As for Eleanor, there is absolute disbelief.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eight kilometres away in the small market town of Dromore, two pensioners are overheard in a cafe loudly discussing the Christian fish pin the convicted paedophile wore on his lapel throughout his trial.<\/p>\n

This is the town where Donaldson lived and went to church.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s supposed to be a Christian, but he hasn\u2019t repented. It\u2019s very sad,\u201d one of the pensioners says over her sourdough and eggs.<\/p>\n

In the town square, Howard Bull is keen to express the hurt felt in the community following Donaldson\u2019s conviction.<\/p>\n

It is most acute within the Presbyterian faith, he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe horrendous crime is one thing. For people round here \u2013 this is a very strong Protestant area \u2013 there is a sense of betrayal. <\/p>\n

\u201cOne of our own has literally let down not only our religion, but he\u2019s brought into disrepute the whole area, the church … everything.<\/p>\n

\n

Claire Rutherford says she\u2019d rather vote for a united Ireland than be led by the DUP<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cHe was somebody who people looked up to and would have taken the lead from. He was waving the flag for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bull attends a neighbouring Presbyterian church in Dromara \u2013 he has met Donaldson several times through a friend \u2013 and is critical of the \u201csilence\u201d among senior church figures and worshippers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI find it appalling, it\u2019s almost as if everyone was in denial. No one wanted to admit that somebody from within our ranks was a rapist.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all been hushed. It\u2019s all whispers. I think it\u2019s because the scandal is bringing disgrace upon the church.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey can\u2019t deal with it when what people should be doing is discussing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Christian is furious about Donaldson appealing his conviction.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been found guilty and he\u2019s got the affrontery and brass neck to stand there and still try to gaslight us into thinking that everyone else is wrong,\u201d Bull says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the arrogance of it. It\u2019s the \u2018I\u2019m Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, how dare you accuse me\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the rural Dublinhill road in Dromore, the Donaldson family home is perched on a corner overlooking the Mourne Mountains.<\/p>\n

Sprawling detached houses are dotted along the quiet country road behind electric gates and rolling green fields.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a very private individual, we rarely saw him,\u201d says a neighbour.<\/p>\n

\"\"Why the fallout from Jeffrey Donaldson\u2019s conviction keeps growing<\/p>\n

\u201cBut everyone is very shocked. We did buy newspapers but I couldn\u2019t bring myself to read them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Residents have been \u201cvery quiet\u201d since last month\u2019s conviction, says another neighbour who doesn\u2019t want to be named.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople up here don\u2019t get together that often but we all know each other.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of the comments during the trial were around his professed Christian faith. That\u2019s upset a lot of people round here as they\u2019re church goers. I think they feel particularly betrayed.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Neighbourhood Watch WhatsApp group covers the road and Ballynaris. the next townland, but the fallout from the case has not been \u201cdiscussed at all\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cYet it could have been an opportunity to talk about it. I think the last thing on it was a missing cat,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n

The impact of Donaldson\u2019s offending could have a devastating impact on DUP\u2019s electoral fortunes at next May\u2019s Assembly elections, according to a recent opinion poll.<\/p>\n

Support has slumped to a five-year low while seven in 10 voters say they don\u2019t believe the DUP review will establish the full truth about Donaldson\u2019s time in the party, a LucidTalk poll published by the Belfast Telegraph found last week.<\/p>\n

In Lisburn, a woman finishing her shift at a cafe close to his former MP constituency office is adamant she will vote for the rival Traditional Unionist Voice party next year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always voted DUP but never again. Jeffrey Donaldson is a big part of it. All you hear is people saying \u2018what has pervy Jeffrey done now?\u2019,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cHim appealing takes the biscuit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Back in Hillsborough, Rutherford echoes her view.<\/p>\n

She says she\u2019d rather vote for a united Ireland than be led by the DUP.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s how much I dislike them and I wouldn\u2019t be alone in this,\u201d Rutherford adds.<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t voted for the DUP in over 20 years. I\u2019m now very much a unionist with a small \u2018u\u2019. The way the DUP get on using the moral standing over the years when there\u2019s been so many scandals \u2013 how dare they!<\/p>\n

\u201cJeffrey Donaldson is the nail in the coffin.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Claire Rutherford received Christmas cards from Jeffrey Donaldson when she was living in her family home in Hillsborough,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":617781,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[41],"tags":[663,9,10,31778,17927,13,14,6,41435,11,12,15,16,5,954,26870,7,8,51350,39896,65,66,67],"class_list":["post-617780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","tag-belfast","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-democratic-unionist-party","tag-down","tag-featured-news","tag-featurednews","tag-headlines","tag-jeffrey-donaldson","tag-latest-news","tag-latestnews","tag-main-news","tag-mainnews","tag-news","tag-northern-ireland","tag-orange-order","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories","tag-traditional-unionist-voice","tag-ulster-unionist-party","tag-world","tag-world-news","tag-worldnews"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117030476867250774","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617780","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=617780"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617780\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/617781"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=617780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=617780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=617780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}