THREE months before Jeffrey Donaldson was arrested on charges of child sexual abuse, I asked him if he would take a friend’s child on work experience.

He agreed immediately. He was never alone with them and was probably in Westminster for most of it, but in light of what followed, I will never ask another politician for such a favour again.

Trust is ruptured. When someone seemingly infallible — a man at the peak of political power — falls so publicly, disbelief is inevitable.

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The real question is why Donaldson, knowing what he had done, sought such public roles and prominence.

I have reflected on this endlessly, berated myself for not seeing it, and shuddered at the brief contact (never alone) that my own child had with him.

The real question is why Donaldson, knowing what he had done, sought such public roles and prominence. I have reflected on this endlessly, berated myself for not seeing it, and shuddered at the brief contact (never alone) that my own child had with him

Imagine how much darker the pain is for his victims. To find the guts to speak up against a person so powerful, in a place so small, demands not just courage but nerves of steel.

I’ve known my fair share of child abusers. Perhaps because of that, I believed I should have spotted the signs with Jeffrey. I did not.

Over the years, Donaldson met Mandela, Presidents Bush and Clinton, Queen Elizabeth and........

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