Paedo political celebration chief ‘visited homosexual sauna whereas demonising homosexuals’

An investigation has delved deeper into the horror behaviour shown by Jeffrey Donaldson with senior former police officers and politicians speaking out about what they saw behind the scenes

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More scandalous secrets have come out about the double life of disgraced former MP Jeffrey Donaldson. An investigation has delved deeper into the horror behaviour shown by the former government minister with senior former police officers and politicians speaking out about what they saw behind the scenes.

Incidents now being aired include a visit to a London sauna marketed as a meeting place for gay men, which he visited in the same year he described homosexuality as “sinful”. Pals say that the a lot of the behaviour they have seen, although not illegal, shows how the man was living a “double life”

A BBC NI Spotlight documentary has looked closely at his life and contacted Donaldson about allegations shown in the programme but he did not respond. On Monday, the ex-DUP leader been convicted of 18 counts of sex abuse, including one count of rape, which he committed against two women when they were children.

Former DUP MP Ian Paisley Jr said that five years ago he was approached by a young woman who said she had been “exploited” by Donaldson and the investigation opened from there.

Paisley described her as a “victim” in a text to another politician during the DUP leadership contest between Donaldson and Edwin Poots in 2021 and police then got involved.

“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 said the woman did not want to make a formal complaint to police initially but did open up to him and he tried to support her.

Poots said: “We observed at all times the wishes of the young woman.”

A DUP statement said the party “has no knowledge of these issues raised and is shocked to learn of these alleged incidents highlighted.

“At no time did the party receive any complaints internally or externally about inappropriate and/or criminal behaviour by Jeffrey Donaldson.”

As a politician, Donaldson had a reputation as someone who could rise to the big occasions, rarely faltering under pressure.

It’s part of the reason why many believe he rose through the ranks of his parties so quickly, and was able to keep a secure seat at Westminster for almost thirty years.

However, the BBC has been told how Donaldson was taking huge risks with his personal security during peace talks to restore Stormont.

In 2006, two senior PSNI detectives saw Donaldson entering a sauna which marketed itself as a meeting place for gay men.

Chariots was based in central London, near the Houses of Parliament and the home of the security services.

It’s no longer there, but former head of the PSNI’s Serious Crime Branch, Tim Hanley, said he was “100% sure” Donaldson entered the building.

The other detective confirmed Hanley’s account to the BBC.

“Somebody’s sexuality is their own business. But I think it’s the whole, if you like, history of the DUP.

“They were opposed to gay marriage, they’ve always had that angle, that bigotry towards members of the gay community and that’s where the shock came from, that there could be such a double standard.

“I found it incredible,” he said.

That same year Donaldson told the Northern Ireland Assembly: “Judaism, Islam and Christianity all teach that homosexual practice is sinful… it is a sincerely held view by Christians and people of other faiths.”

DUP Communities Minister Gordon Lyons said he had no awareness of the double life Donaldson was apparently leading.

He said the shock at revelations about Donaldson’s life over the past couple of years was down to the former DUP leader being “a duplicitous individual”.

“It was clearly wrong what took place but it was not something that anyone was really aware of and that’s why there was so much shock at the time.

“We as a party will want to move on and move past this, however for the victims that’s going to take a lot longer and they are at the centre of all of this.”