Episode

The Donaldson trial

Podcast
The State of Us
Published
May 22, 2026
Duration seconds
702
Processing state
not_requested
Canonical source
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0nmsb52
Audio
http://open.live.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/6/redir/version/2.0/mediaset/audio-nondrm-download-rss/proto/http/vpid/p0nms6k4.mp3
JSON
/v1/public/podcasts/the-state-of-us-7319280/episodes/the-donaldson-trial
Markdown
/podcast/the-state-of-us-7319280/the-donaldson-trial.md

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Summary

A special series from The State of Us podcast. Sir Jeffrey Donaldson and his wife Lady Eleanor Donaldson have pleaded not guilty to a combined 23 sex abuse charges. Lady Donaldson has been declared unfit to stand criminal trial on mental health grounds. Instead she will face a trial of facts, in which a jury cannot find the person guilty but can decide if they committed the alleged offences. Solicitor Sarah McKeown talks us through how the court came to that decision and how the process will work. For more on the upcoming trial: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp8p274vmp4o