Ben Lowry: Last time Jeffrey Donaldson encountered a mob at court, but yesterday there was no verbal abuse hurled at him

https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/people/last-time-jeffrey-donaldson-encountered-a-mob-at-court-but-yesterday-there-was-no-verbal-abuse-hurled-at-him-4690072

​He got out wearing a dark blue suit, sporting a beard and looking perhaps slightly heavier around the face than he had done when still in politics earlier this year.

His arrival at the building for the latest pre-trial hearing in the sexual abuse case in which he is charged was met with silence, through a throng of journalists.

There was none of the larger public crowd that was present at his last appearance in late April.

​Sir Jeffrey Donaldson stepped out of a white car, sporting a beard and looking heavier around the face than he had done earlier this year. Photo: Niall Carson/PA Wire
​Sir Jeffrey Donaldson stepped out of a white car, sporting a beard and looking heavier around the face than he had done earlier this year. Photo: Niall Carson/PA Wire
Then, the number of people outside the court security gate was so big that the outgoing Lagan Valley MP had to make his way through a media pack that shouted questions at him.

He would emerge from the court later that morning to disgraceful scenes in which bystanders surged forward and shouted abuse. The PSNI appeared for a while to lose control of events to the mob, so that Donaldson and his lawyer had to return to the secure area of the court until their vehicle could stop and they could re-emerge through a line of linked PSNI officers.

There was no trace of such disorder yesterday.

The police had introduced barriers to clear a pathway to the gate and had blocked off much of a car park on the other side of the road from the court to make the wider area more secure.

Lady Donaldson at points seemed almost to be smiling in court, perhaps trying to convey a sense of ease in the surroundings. Photo: Niall Carson/PA Wire
Lady Donaldson at points seemed almost to be smiling in court, perhaps trying to convey a sense of ease in the surroundings. Photo: Niall Carson/PA Wire
Perhaps the PSNI had intended in that first hearing to show that everyone, no matter their status in society, would be treated the same before the law. Yesterday they bowed to the reality that such an approach towards the court appearance of one of the most prominent politicians in recent Northern Ireland history would merely lead to an onslaught of verbal abuse, and perhaps even injury.

An hour later Sir Jeffrey was already inside the long and narrow courtroom with his wife Lady (Eleanor) Donaldson at 10.25am when the media filed into the upstairs chamber where the hearing was to be held before the district judge, Eamonn King.

His bench was at one end of the room, opposite the dock at the other, where the Donaldsons were placed.

Here too, within the courtroom, the atmosphere was very different to what it had been in the previous appearance. A public gallery down the side of the court, opposite the media seating, was not full as it had been last time, and the multiple rows of benches for lawyers in the heart of the courtroom were not as packed either.

Yesterday’s hearing seemed to lack the same sense of intense public curiosity.

As the couple waited for proceedings to begin, they sat silently, looking ahead, while other people in the courtroom talked among themselves casually, before the arrival of the judge.

Sir Jeffrey looked ahead, his arms crossed, separated from his wife by a young male custody officer. At one point he shuffled in his seat.

There was no sign of the fish lapel badge, a symbol of Christianity, that Sir Jeffrey has long worn in public, and which he had on his suit jacket for the last appearance.

Lady Donaldson was wearing a beige jacket and mostly had a neutral expression, but at points seemed almost to be smiling as she waited for the judge to arise, perhaps trying to convey a sense of ease in the surroundings.

To her right was seated another uniformed custody officer, a woman.

When the hearing began, the Donaldsons both stood in a sombre fashion, their hands crossed in front of them as they listened to the clerk checking their identities and reading the charges, and responded to the brief questions asked of them (see below).

At the end of the short hearing, the couple left in single file through a door behind them, alongside the custody officers.

They had to remain in the court to confirm details around their bail, before they departed separately.

Lady Donaldson left the court first.

Sir Jeffrey then exited the complex with his solicitor. They appeared to be waiting within the secure area of the court until their car pulled up outside.

This time there was no abuse, no delay in the arrival of the car, no difficulty in finding a path to it, no noise indeed apart from a single journalist’s question as to whether or not he wanted to say anything.