There might be no public update in Jeffrey Donaldson sex case until the first expected court hearing late this month

The former DUP leader, 61, is due in court in Newry on Wednesday April 24. There could be challenges to the terms of his bail prior to then, but there is no indication of that yet.

Without naming Sir Jeffrey, police said on Friday that a man of his age had been charged with non-recent sexual offences, alongside a 57 year old woman, who was charged with aiding and abetting additional offences.

That same day, the DUP released a statement that in effect linked Sir Jeffrey to the police statement. They said the party had got a letter from Sir Jeffrey confirming that he has been charged with historical allegations and indicating that he was stepping down as leader of the DUP. “In accordance with the party rules, the party officers have suspended Mr Donaldson from membership, pending the outcome of a judicial process.”

Sir Jeffrey is reported to be planning to strenuously challenge the charges.

The News Letter has been speaking to criminal lawyers and police experts as to what happened last week.

The first thing we asked about was the timing of Sir Jeffrey’s arrest, reported to have been at his home between 6am and 7am on Thursday, before he was taken to a police station for questioning. We understand that Sir Jeffrey had returned from London the previous day. He attended an Easter service at Stormont that Wednesday night.

There can be various reasons for such an early arrest, but the main one is to maintain an element of surprise, when a person is likely to be at home.

If just one person is under investigation by police, they might be asked to make a voluntary attendance at a police station. But if two people are arrested in a related probe, a sudden detention is often done to prevent them discussing the charges.

In the case of Sir Jeffrey, he is reported to have been bailed to an address in London while the woman has been bailed to her address in Northern Ireland. The exact terms of the bail are unknown, such as whether or not they are allowed to communicate by phone or other means, although it is thought that such contact would normally be prohibited in these cases.

According to some reports, Sir Jeffrey travelled to London early on Friday morning, when news of the two arrests had been reported but before his identity had been revealed. There was, however, widespread speculation by Friday morning that he was the man who had been detained, several hours before the DUP confirmed it at lunchtime – sending shockwaves across Northern Ireland and beyond.

One person familiar with such arrests told the News Letter that it is possible that the police felt that an early rest would be more discreet for a high profile figure such as Sir Jeffrey, when people in the neighbourhood would be less likely to notice him being led away.

In some such arrests, if there is fear of disposal of evidence, for example a drug case, then the property would be searched at the time of the surprise arrest, but there is no indication of that in this case.

There has also been speculation that Sir Jeffrey’s home or vehicle might have been bugged, but this is thought to be most unlikely in such a case. Any such eavesdropping is highly intrusive and would need to be authorised, which in the case of historic sex allegations is unlikely to be granted because it would not be expected to have much chance of success, unless there was reason to believe that a suspect would be in the habit of talking about the case.

In terms of recorded material, there are other possibilities, such as that police have access to a secret tape made by a complainant about the case, in which the suspect has said something incriminating, but there is no reason to believe that the PSNI is in possession of such material in this investigation.

As to the fact that Sir Jeffrey was charged after questioning, rather than a file sent to prosecutors, that tends to mean that police feel there is a strong case to answer. However, the News Letter has no information that such confidence is present in this investigation.

Lawyers tell us that police would probably have been in consultation with prosecutors during the investigation. They also tell us that it is unlikely that the government would be informed of the pending arrest just because it involved a high profile politician, but that might be different if the arrest involved matters of national security. If ministers were informed, it might have been a day or two before arrest.

Police have said that they were only notified of a complaint in this case this month. Lawyers and police experts that we have talked to have expressed surprise that so much progress could be made in such an investigation to reach charge level in such a short space of time.

Sir Jeffrey and the arrested woman could apply to have the bail terms either amended at the April 24 hearing or in court prior to it, but there is no indication of the latter happening, which suggests there will be no public hearing prior to that date. ​​​

It might be some time before the case reaches trial, if indeed it does. The criminal justice system in Northern Ireland was beset by delays prior to the covid pandemic, and is even more behind now. It can take several years for cases to reach trial, particularly if there is complex evidence to be sifted.