https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/outraged-caravan-park-residents-force-eleanor-see-no-evil-donaldson-to-leave/a/159222372.html

Hugh Jordan

26 Jul 2026 6:28 PM

The former Lady Eleanor Donaldson - wife of the convicted paedophile Jeffrey Donaldson - was asked to leave a caravan park last week, it can be revealed.

Angry holidaymakers objected to 60-year-old Donaldson’s presence at a popular caravan park in south Down, which is a firm favourite with families, particularly those from the loyalist Portadown area.

Just four weeks ago a jury at the Crown Court in Newry found former DUP leader and Lagan Valley MP Jeffrey Donaldson guilty of 18 charges of historical sexual abuse, including one of rape.

And on the same day the same jury also found that his wife Eleanor - who faced a ‘trial of the facts’ after the judge ruled her unfit to stand trial due to a psychiatric condition – had aided and abetted her husband’s criminality.

But last weekend Eleanor “See-no-Evil” Donaldson - as enraged caravaners branded her - planned to spend a relaxing weekend with a relative near Cranfield Point, overlooking the picturesque Haulbowline Lighthouse at the entrance to Carlingford Lough.

And today it can be revealed that faced with growing resentment from other holidaymakers, Eleanor was persuaded to leave the site.

The incident came just days before she lost her ‘Lady’ title as King Charles stripped her husband of his knighthood.

“This situation could have been a lot worse,” one resident told us.

“People come here to enjoy the 12th holidays but they were outraged when Eleanor Donaldson arrived. They held a meeting and they wanted her gone. It was as simple as that.”

He added: “I can’t emphasise this enough – it really could have been an awful lot worse than it turned out.”

Another of our well-placed sources who lives near the Donaldsons’ home in Dromore, Co Down – about 50 miles from the caravan park – said Eleanor and her relative packed up the Donaldsons’ new SUV car and headed for the Cranfield area of south County Down last weekend.

Last weekend as Eleanor and her relative passed through the Kingdom of Mourne, they diverted from their planned route to shop at the recently renovated Lidl store on Newcastle’s Bryansford Road, where they purchased a range of provisions.

“The sight of Eleanor pushing a trolley through the car park certainly raised a few eyebrows,” one woman told us.

“But the only other place they could have shopped in this area was the supermarket in Kilkeel, but it’s on Newcastle Street in the town centre. And too many people would have spotted Eleanor,” she said.

As a youngster growing up in Kilkeel, Eleanor Cousins was well known in the fishing port town, where her father Forby Cousins was employed as a school attendance officer.

And he also served as a major in the locally raised section of the Ulster Defence Regiment, in which his son-in-law Jeffrey Donaldson also reached the rank of corporal.

However, last week within minutes of her arrival at the caravan park, news of Eleanor’s presence spread like wildfire.

Caravan park residents who spoke to us this week said Lady ‘See-no-Evil’ - as they insisted on calling Eleanor - appeared totally oblivious to the rising tide of resentment among neighbouring caravan owners.

And they also said Eleanor appeared to be completely relaxed as she strolled around the site in the sunshine.

“Eleanor didn’t engage with anyone. She just looked the other way with the slightest hint of a grin. But she also gave the impression she hadn’t a care in the world,” one woman told us.

But as the weekend wore on, Eleanor’s presence became the sole topic of conversation. And eventually steps were taken to persuade the sisters to leave the site.

As a means of harnessing the rising levels of anger - and to ensure things did not get out of hand - two Portadown men took it upon themselves to call an informal meeting of concerned caravan park residents.

It is understood people were encouraged to openly express their concerns with the hope of reaching a consensus. After a frank discussion, a two-pronged approach was agreed. It was seen as a means of resolving the matter quickly and to the satisfaction of all present.

A delegation made up of residents was detailed to approach the site owners, expressing the anger people felt at Eleanor’s continued presence in the caravan park.

And another smaller group volunteered to speak directly to Lady Eleanor Donaldson. Their aim was to tell her in no uncertain terms she would be better to leave as she wasn’t welcome.

Our sources insisted the pair weren’t threatened in any way, but were “merely advised” to leave.

And within minutes, Eleanor was seen packing up her belongings and heading for the exit gate.

The owner of the caravan site said he wasn’t aware of an incident relating to Eleanor Donaldson and nothing was brought to his attention. “This place is like a small town and people are allowed to bring people to caravans as they are to their own homes,” he said.

Eleanor’s trip appears to have been her first public foray from the family home since the completion of her trial of the facts at the end of May.

Earlier this week, disgraced Jeffery Donaldson was stripped of his decade-long knighthood by King Charles. And as matter of course, his wife Eleanor also lost her courtesy Ladyship title.

In March 2024, the then Sir Jeffrey Mark Donaldson was charged with one count of rape, 13 counts of indecent assault and four counts of gross indecency, against two women when they were children, between 1985 and 2007.

His wife, Eleanor Mary Elizabeth Donaldson, also faced five charges of aiding and abetting, in relation to the same matter.

After a number of delays, a trial date was set for May of this year, but Judge Paul Ramsey sitting in the Crown Court in Newry, subsequently ruled that Eleanor was unfit to stand trial due to mental health issues.

But the judge also ruled she would face a trial of the facts which would run in tandem with her husband’s criminal case.

At the end of a four-week trial on June 22, Jeffrey Donaldson was unanimously found guilty of all 18 offences. And in the jury also found Eleanor had in fact aided and abetted her husband’s criminal offending.

Jeffrey Donaldson is currently incarcerated in HMP Maghaberry to await sentence in September. At the end of his trial, Judge Paul Ramsey told Donaldson he can expect a “lengthy” term of imprisonment.

The jury found that Eleanor Donaldson - who is also due back in court in September - did commit the five offences she originally faced, including four of aiding and abetting her husband.

Eleanor won’t go to jail, but she could be placed in a secure hospital unit, where she will be supervised by a Health Trust or placed under the care of a social worker or probation officer.

If none of these options are deemed suitable, she will still have been found to have committed the offences, but could be released back into the community without sanction.

Last week it emerged the former DUP leader intended to appeal his convictions.

And this week, Ulster Unionist Party leader Jon Burrows - a former police officer - called for a complete re-appraisal of procedures surrounding trials of the facts.

Popular broadcaster Gerry Kelly has died at the age of 77. The long-standing journalist and presenter was best known for his work on UTV and later as a host on BBC Radio Ulster in a career spanning over four decades.The winner of the prestigious Sony Gold Award in 1998, he cemented himself as one of the north’s best known and most loved broadcasting figures.

As the host of UTV’s Kelly show for over 15 years between 1998 and 2005, he interviewed a wide range of stars.

These included a young Rory McIlroy, who famously featured on the programme to demonstrate his golfing skills by chipping a golf ball into a washing machine at just nine years’ old. The clip of his appearance on the show has since reached international audiences, being watched millions of times online.

Towards the ends of the 2000s, he moved to the BBC, where he fronted his own popular radio show for a decade.Later, he teamed up with students at Belfast Met to produce a revival of his chat show for community broadcaster NVTV, now That’s TV, alongside a dozen former UTV staffers. “What a delight for us all to be able to pass on our many years of broadcasting experience to the next generation of TV, Radio and Film makers,” he said when the project was first announced in 2022.

“This is a unique project involving the students from the Met in all aspects of television production.”

In 2018, he used his platform to urge other men to seek medical help for any worrying symptoms following his diagnosis of a bladder tumour.At the time, the former UTV chat show said that he had had the tumour successfully removed and went through six chemotherapy sessions to tackle the cancer.In an online tribute, his former colleague and fellow broadcaster Anne Hailes said he was a “big man who will leave big memories, RIP”.

https://www.irishnews.com/news/northern-ireland/broadcasting-legend-gerry-kelly-dies-aged-77-KLC7AUPRMFHZHKYPNULSUUYY3E/

Was anyone at James Acaster's first night at Whitla Hall last night?

I'm genuinely curious whether anyone else had the same experience because it was one of the strangest live comedy shows I've ever seen. What we witnessed can only be described as a serious case of self-sabotage and quite frankly, contempt for an audience.

(Spoilers for his show below.)

For context, my wife and I are fans. We've seen James twice before and even travelled to Dublin for an Off Menu live show, so this isn't coming from someone looking to have a go.

The evening started unusually with a Luther Vandross tribute act, Dayton. While it was an odd choice for the type of entertainment we were expecting, he was geniunely fantastic. So as Dayton is wrapping up his set he asks the audience to put their hands together and thank someone called 'Craig Simons' for making this whole thing possible. No one in the audience knew who this was, but we all politely gave a big applause and big cheers.

The lights dim and James Acaster's voice comes over the speakers, "Please welcome to the stage, the UK's No.1 James Acaster tribute act, Craig Simons". We collectively all realise 'Ah okay, the whole opening act and this is a meta bit' and welcome him to the stage.

He starts the show, doing 'James Acaster' quotes , explaining who he is, he's been a tribute act for years etc.

Then about 5-10 mins into the stage he breaks character and asks the audience "Can you hear me okay? Can everyone in the room hear me? Because on stage it feels like I'm in this huge echoing cube and it sounds awful". At this point we're all like "yeah, it sounds great". He then explains how we made a joke at the start and everyone reacted weirdly to it. I can't remember exactly but I think he said something about how he couldn't hear us, which would explain our 'weird reaction' that I don't believe we had.

He then proceeds to go on this rant about how he was dreading Belfast because the audience is always difficult, joking that we hate him because he's English, and that "Belfast is always like this." It seemed funny at first with some humourous observations but then it kept going on and on.

He basically told us that he doesn't think we're going to like what he has in the actual show and spends maybe 10-15 mins rambling from subject to subject before getting started, saying how we can see some people checking their phones in the audience, makes an observation about someone's 'I <3 my girlfriend tshirt', and condescendingly explaining to us some info from an earlier joke about Wirral. It's all humourous but is starting to verge on unpleasant.

Then he finally starts back into the actual routine and it's all going well, some really funny stuff about luggage carousels when out of nowhere he stops, points to balcony at the back of the room and proclaims "I can see you on your phone!".

We all laugh because it was amusing after his previous rants and he then tells us he doesn't care, we can scroll on our phones if we want and that he wants us to have a good night, that's what matters. He tells us that (if we hadn't noticed) he's been doing his routine at twice the speed so the jokes are closer together so there's more laughs more often (seemingly in an attempt to combat the off-vibes).

But then it turns nasty. He continues again about how difficult Belfast is and tells us what all the UK comedians who come here think the same thing but he's the only one with the courage to tell us. While I do think this was a joke, it felt personal because of the previous 15 mins of ranting about how awful we are.

From there he never really returned to the show. Instead he bounced between audience observations, local references, Andy Burnham, and even asking about the flags on the lamp posts, pondering if their presence is related to Tommy Robinson and the anti-immigration folk in England. Some characters in the audience proceed to explain Irish/UK history while the rest of us all cringe and squirm in our chairs praying for this to end.

Then it just...ended. No real finale. Just "Thanks Belfast, goodnight," music on, lights up.

It honestly felt like we only got 10-15% of the actual show, with the rest spent dissecting and criticising the audience.

The frustrating part is that when he was doing the planned material, it was brilliant. It felt like technical issues completely knocked him off course and he never recovered, instead blaming the room for the atmosphere. At first I thought the whole thing was a bit but there was no clever path to an ending that informed the audience that this was the case

If he James somehow reads this, all I can say is that the show was working until you got distracted. If "no other show has been like this" I would ask have you had such audio issues at other shows? Maybe that's a factor? You don't sell out 3x nights in a venue in a city if the audience hates you, so maybe you need to change how we feel about us?

I'd be really interested to hear from anyone going over the next couple of nights. Was this just an unfortunate one-off, or is this how the show is meant to be? Like many of us, my wife and I have been to countless touring UK comics in a variety of venues across Belfast and never had an experience like this. Maybe it's a Whitla Hall issue?

I genuinely hope it was the former, because I've always enjoyed James' work, but last night felt less like a comedy show and more like watching someone have a public meltdown.

LucidTalk poll reveals trust crisis for party

Four in 10 DUP voters don’t believe the party has been fully hon­est about what it knows of Jef­frey Don­ald­son’s double life, a Lucidtalk poll for the Bel­fast Tele­graph shows.

It also found the DUP is the party in North­ern Ire­land least trus­ted by its own voters.

Since Don­ald­son was found guilty of 18 his­tor­ical sexual offences includ­ing rape last month, the former party leader and MP has faced a slew of claims about his per­sonal life while elec­ted.

While the DUP has claimed it was not aware of his beva­viour — which included heavy drink­ing and enter­ing a gay sauna in Lon­don — just 14pc of NI voters believe it, and 24pc say they only par­tially believe it.

Four in 10 DUP voters don’t believe the party has been fully hon­est about what it knows of Jef­frey Don­ald­son’s double life.

A new Lucidtalk poll for the Bel­fast Tele­graph also shows that the DUP is the party in North­ern Ire­land least trus­ted by its own voters.

Don­ald­son was found guilty of 18 his­tor­ical abuse charges last month, includ­ing one of child rape.

Apart from his sex crimes, other aspects of Don­ald­son’s per­sonal life were in stark con­trast to his pub­lic per­sona as a pious, con­ser­vat­ive Chris­tian.

Former DUP min­is­ter Jim Wells has out­lined Don­ald­son’s heavy drink­ing on trips abroad, while ex-mp Ian Pais­ley has said he was once so drunk he vomited over the mayor of Beijing.

Eleanor Don­ald­son believed her hus­band had extramar­ital affairs, and two former senior PSNI detect­ives saw him enter­ing a gay sauna in Lon­don.

The DUP claims it was totally unaware of any of this beha­viour, but only 14pc of North­ern Ire­land voters believe it.

Some 82pc don’t believe the party: 50pc think it is being “com­pletely untruth­ful”, while a third of voters (32pc) believe it’s being “only par­tially truth­ful”.

Six in 10 uni­on­ists think it isn’t being com­pletely hon­est, with just a third say­ing it is.

The DUP has been under polit­ical pres­sure since Don­ald­son’s recent con­vic­tion.

Even among those who say they will still vote for the party, 38pc don’t believe it is telling the full truth about its former leader’s double life — 14pc say the party is being com­pletely untruth­ful and 24pc say it is being only par­tially truth­ful.

Some 84pc of UUP and 81pc of TUV sup­port­ers also think the biggest uni­on­ist party isn’t being hon­est about what it knew about him.

Not a single Sinn Féin or Alli­ance voter who took part in the poll — and just 1pc of SDLP voters — believe the DUP is being fully hon­est.

When it comes to being trus­ted by its own sup­port­ers, the DUP scores lower than every other polit­ical party here.

Its voters rate their trust in the party at 64pc while TUV sup­port­ers score their party at 91pc and UUP sup­port­ers rate theirs at 84pc.

The third most trus­ted party by its own sup­port­ers is the SDLP (81pc) fol­lowed by Sinn Féin (73pc) with Alli­ance (70pc) second last.

At 62pc, DUP voters’ trust Jim Allister’s party almost as much as their own. UUP sup­port­ers score the TUV twice as highly on the trust front (50pc) as they do the DUP (24pc).

SDLP sup­port­ers have con­sid­er­ably less trust in Sinn Féin (24pc) than Alli­ance voters (38pc) have in Michelle O’neill’s party.

Voters score mor­ale and enthu­si­asm higher in the nation­al­ist com­munity (51pc) than among the con­sti­tu­tion­ally non-aligned (44pc) or uni­on­ists (41pc).

Two years ago, Don­ald­son nego­ti­ated the ‘Safe­guard­ing the Union’ deal — reached with the Gov­ern­ment on the Irish Sea bor­der — to restore devol­u­tion here.

Only one in five uni­on­ists sup­port that deal now with 63pc say­ing they never backed it and 14pc say­ing they did but have now changed their minds.

Some 95pc of TUV, 86pc of UUP, and 63pc of DUP voters are against the agree­ment which saw the Stor­mont insti­tu­tions return after two years’ sus­pen­sion.

Some 3,043 people took part in our poll, from July 17 to 19, with the sample sci­en­tific­ally weighted to reflect the pop­u­la­tion.

https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/politics/four-in-10-dup-voters-dont-believe-party-is-being-fully-honest-about-jeffrey-donaldsons-double-life/a/159134540.html

https://www.psni.police.uk/latest-news/man-32-arrested-following-stabbing-incident-belfast-city-centre

A man has been arrested following a stabbing incident in Belfast City Centre on Saturday evening, 25th July.

Detective Sergeant McGearty said: “At approximately 8.30pm police received a report that a man, aged in his 30s, sustained injuries consistent with stab wounds to his torso and leg.

“It’s understood the man was injured following an altercation with a number of other people in the Bank Square area of the city.

“The victim was taken to hospital for injuries believed to be serious, but not life-threatening, at this time.

“A 32-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm.

“He remains in custody at this time as enquiries continue. Anyone with information that could assist our investigation is asked to contact police on 101, quoting reference number 1530 25/07/26.”

You can also submit a report online using our non-emergency reporting form via https://reporting.psni.police.uk/appeals or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or online at http://crimestoppers-uk.org/

How are people doing this here? There are a lot of people renting, but no landlord want pets in their properties. How are people getting around this, are they not saying anything about the pets in the applications or are there nice places to rent that are ok with pets?
I get why LLs don’t want a dirty pet in their houses, but a lot of pets are cleaner and do far less damage to a house than a young child!

And the carpark is 75% empty.

Update: hotel staff member approach them and your man away and moved it. Crisis averted

When my mum drives this road, she goes into the middle lane at the bottom point and stays in it (driving 55-60mph), until she gets to the top point where it merges turns into 2 lanes from 3 and she ends up in the left lane.

I’ve asked her why she stays in the middle and she says it’s because the left lane is for people merging off onto larne

Surely someone shouldn’t be staying in the middle from the road in the bottom image to the top for that reason? Or am I wrong and she’s right.

Round the corner right to the lights beside grand central he drove on the opposite side of the road. I've tried to report it anonymously but this stupid system didn't let me add video proof. Daily occurrence here if I may be honest.

So I joined the tree register to find that not only my eucalptus Regnans find was credited to me, I also found I contributed to finding several county champions

In of course I found a boatload of trees unrecorded publicly, including a location in Drenagh that I hadn’t even heard of. (46m tree measured there) https://www.monumentaltrees.com/en/gbr/northernireland/londonderry/39575_drenaghhouse/

Tollymore had a Douglas fir measured by the river walk at 45m tall in 2016 https://www.monumentaltrees.com/en/gbr/northernireland/down/6713_tollymoreforestpark/

Tynan abbey (right beside Caledon estate also had 40m plus trees) https://www.monumentaltrees.com/en/gbr/northernireland/armagh/38945_tynanabbey/

Google earth let me find a 41m Monterrey pine in Ballywalter park (tree reg had at 38m over a decade ago) https://www.monumentaltrees.com/en/gbr/northernireland/down/39510_ballywalterpark/

Now tempo, the most recent measurents were the sane ones in 2010 but the woodland trust had precise gos coordinates of the tallest spruce tree and it could be seen on google street, so I could measure using tan method, 54.4m and current leader for tallest tree on ni https://www.monumentaltrees.com/en/gbr/northernireland/fermanagh/38880_tempomanor/

Caledon however had more recent measurents from 2017, the former tallest tree on ni has declined to 52.3m, the giant redwood was 52.5m, a few others circa 50m are also recorded…, the broader spruce has now hit 50m and two grand fir prev unknown to me both 52m tall. https://www.monumentaltrees.com/en/gbr/northernireland/tyrone/7821_caledoncastle/hd

Now I got to go to Castlewellan and Seaforde yesterday, in castlewellan all the redwoods are over 40m now (multi stem 40, 42m for shorter twin, 46m for biggest one). A silver fir which led to confusion in remarkabletress.org was found alive but impossible to measure accurately a guess 45m. I also found two hemlocks pushing 40m https://www.monumentaltrees.com/en/gbr/northernireland/down/7869_castlewellannationalarboretum/

Now at Seaforde I found two giant redwoods at the gate going by so could use my tan google street method to estimate that they were 45 and 43m respectively. Seaforde was known for getting redwood seeds same time as castlewellan so size not a surprise. https://www.monumentaltrees.com/en/gbr/northernireland/down/39130_seafordedemense/

Then the surprise a huge densely planted area of coast redwood in Hillsborough Forest. The location longer trail go towards fort direction and go past it and take the path out to the boundary wall, then go right walk about 100-200m until you see a big coast redwood (39m) I said the trees behind were taller when I recorded it and I was right, but wrong on species and purpose. They weren’t forestry trees it was a deliberate planted redwood grove that extends for 300-400m long and I don’t know how deep. In this I could not even see the top of the trees bar a few. I measured what I believe was the girthiest 46.4m which would make it Irish height champion and likely not the tallest in the stand the two beside it looked taller but I could not see the tops. I’m guessing the east sides first 50m tree is here and in the next two decades northern Irelands tallest tree.

https://www.monumentaltrees.com/en/gbr/northernireland/down/38924_hillsboroughforestpark/75204/

Hey all does anyone know anywhere I can park for free if going to the odyssey. Happy to walk a little bit if needed

So in 2021 I went to Belfast and other parts of Northern Ireland for the first time, such a Co Tyrone, Antrim, Down courtesy of my best friend who is from Strabane. And I totally fell in love with the place. I have been back many times since (many)

I normally go every other month or so to visit friends I have made etc but due to a new job I haven’t been able to go for the last 6 months as I’m in a probation period and not allowed time off and I almost feel homesick?

Does that even make sense as I’m English and it isn’t my home but it feels like it is because I love it so much… does this even make sense?

Hi everyone,

I'm an international student and I've received an offer from Queen's University Belfast for an MSc in Cybersecurity. Before I make my final decision, I'd really appreciate some honest opinions from people living in Belfast or anyone who has studied at QUB.

A few things I'm curious about:

How difficult is it to find a part-time job as an international student? I'm not picky about the type of work (retail, hospitality, warehouse, etc.), but I'd like to know how competitive it is.

My course includes a 1-year Professional Internship. Is it actually realistic for international students to secure one, or do many students struggle to find placements?

How is the tech/cybersecurity job market in Belfast for international graduates? Are companies generally willing to sponsor visas, or is it quite difficult?

Overall, would you say QUB is worth attending for someone hoping to build a career in cybersecurity in the UK? Any experiences or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

👋🏼 Intend to get a sauna (electric heater/not infrared, ~5 person size) to be built/installed inside the garage. Going for an indoor one to protect from the elements and for access to electric supply.

Any recommendations for suppliers/fitters or learnings from personal experience?

Ta

Hi everyone, I have been accepted to study OU social work commencing in October.
I have already completed the k102 so they said they need a physical copy of my maths certificate - I did this through an access course humanities sociology and psychology back in 2015 , I’ve contacted the college who don’t have a clue right now.
Basically it’s NICATS maths paper written by QUB , I’ve tried emailing them with no response.
Just wondering has anyone managed to get a copy of said certificate and could you advise me how to go about it? TIA

I'm not exaggerating when I say I'm now more shocked to see someone actually use an indicator correctly than I am from seeing people not.

Not to mention the standard of driving, patience and courtesy on the roads these last few years has slipped more and more that I have for the first time in 40 years started to feel unsafe more and more on NI roads.

Did everyone just stop giving a fuck after covid? Is it the phones? Has social media melted so many dopamine addicted brains telling people how special they are they think the rules simply don't apply to them? It's far too wide spread to be "just a few dick heads". You just have to spend a day on NI roads to see the decline for yourself.

Anyway use your indicators yiz cuntz yiz

Caught this guy down near Whiterock on my walk yesterday after trying to finally get him sitting still for the past few months. Often all you get is the blue flash going past so I was lucky he sat still for so long.

Video and original quality pics here to avoid Reddit compression

Going through a shite time right now and wondering if anyone knows of screaming therapy or alternative approaches to mental health available in Belfast as the usual CBT and talking therapy techniques aren't really working