The jury in Jeffrey Donaldson’s trial for alleged sex offences has been sworn in, launching one of the most high-profile trials in recent Northern Irish history.

The former MP and Democratic Unionist party leader entered Newry crown court on Tuesday amid a heavy police and media presence for a trial that is expected to last about four weeks.

Donaldson, 63, is accused of rape, gross indecency and other sexual offences spanning 21 years. His wife, Eleanor Donaldson, 60, is charged with aiding and abetting rape and indecent assault and will face a trial of facts. They deny the charges.

Wearing a blue suit with white shirt and green tie, Donaldson sat in the dock with his arms crossed and was flanked by two court staff. Asked by the trial judge, Paul Ramsey, if he was ready, Donaldson replied “yes”.

The judge told potential jurors that Donaldson was well known in public life and was entitled to the same fair trial as anyone else. After being sworn in, the jury was told the prosecution would begin its opening address on Wednesday.

Donaldson is charged with 18 offences involving two alleged victims. The rape charge alleges he had unlawful sexual intercourse with the alleged victim without her consent on a date unknown between 1985 and 1991. Nine allegations of indecent assault span 1985 to 2006. He is also charged with committing an act of gross indecency towards a child between 2005 and 2006.

His wife faces five charges relating to aiding and abetting his alleged offending. Eleanor Donaldson was last week judged unfit to stand trial on mental health grounds and will instead face a trial of facts, which tests the evidence but cannot result in a criminal conviction. Lawyers will represent her but she will play no part in the proceedings. The two sets of proceedings will unfold simultaneously, with different legal teams representing the husband and wife.

Donaldson, a former MP for Lagan Valley in County Down, was a dominant figure in unionism and a key player at Westminster who helped to broker the post-Brexit Windsor framework on Northern Ireland’s trading arrangements.

Police arrested him and his wife at their home and questioned them in March 2024. He resigned as an MP and DUP leader and was suspended from the party. The case threw the DUP and the Stormont executive into disarray.

Northern Ireland’s attorney general, Brenda King, has warned the public against making social media posts that could infringe victims’ right to anonymity or have an impact on jury members.

The DUP replaced Donaldson with Gavin Robinson, an MP for East Belfast, who continued the party’s work on the Windsor framework, which Donaldson had negotiated with Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government weeks before his arrest.

Donaldson was born into a Presbyterian family in the fishing village of Kilkeel, became a full-time political activist at 18 and married Eleanor in 1987. He served apprenticeships with Enoch Powell and James Molyneaux of the Ulster Unionist party before defecting to the DUP in 2003. He was knighted for political services in 2016 and became DUP leader in 2021.