It was dawn on 28 March 2024 when the police pulled up at a house off a country road to arrest one of Northern Ireland's most powerful men.

Their investigation had begun earlier that month when two women entered a police station and told officers they had been abused as children by Jeffrey Donaldson, MP and leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).

He was a politician at the height of his power, a man toasted in Washington DC for his role in restoring power-sharing government in Northern Ireland just days before the police arrived at his door.

Donaldson was arrested, charged and ultimately convicted on 18 charges, including one of rape. On Thursday, his "catastrophic descent into disgrace", as the judge put it, was complete when he was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

The legal story is set to continue - Donaldson intends to appeal against the jury's unanimous verdict, delivered in June.

Meanwhile his wife Eleanor Donaldson, who was arrested alongside him and faced a "trial of the facts" on mental health grounds, was found to have done the acts in relation to five charges, including four of aiding and abetting his offending. She is due to find out any action that will be taken against her in November.

But, for now, Donaldson has been returned to Maghaberry Prison where he will serve out the jail term delivered at Newry Crown Court.

He remained outwardly emotionless in a blue suit and pink tie as Judge Paul Ramsey handed down the sentence and summarised his offending and impact it had on his victims.

Both victims - whose identities are protected by law - gave detailed victim impact statements as part of Donaldson's sentencing.

Victim A - the younger of the two women - said she grew up feeling ashamed and dirty and carried an enormous amount of anger.

She described how she still experienced nightmares and found the impact of the abuse physically debilitating.

The investigation and trial, she said, had been "a living nightmare".

Victim B, who was raped by Donaldson when she was a child, described the affect the abuse had on every relationship she had ever had.

"Every day I pray God will let me die," she said.

She said Donaldson could have avoided going to court but instead he implied that not only did none of the abuse happen, but that she had made it up.

"I wonder what it is like not to be afraid at night," she said, adding that she often woke up shaking after nightmares.

Jeffrey Donaldson's sentencing came two-and-a-half years after he and his wife were arrested.

The drawn-out legal process faced challenges beyond the usual difficulties of prosecuting historical sex offences, not least Donaldson's high-profile and the mental health of Eleanor Donaldson.

Even after conviction, legal issues have persisted - earlier in October a woman was given a three-month prison sentence for breaching the anonymity of one of the victims.

But over the course of a four-week trial, the pre-sentencing hearing in September and his court appearance on Thursday, what emerged was a version of Jeffrey Donaldson much different from the one in display in his four-decade political career.

The evidence from the victims, against both him and Eleanor Donaldson, tore down the respectable exterior he had cultivated, as a hard-working politician, family man and committed Christian.

During the trial, jurors heard police interviews with his victims, with Victim B telling detectives that Donaldson raped her when she was at primary school.

It was one of many incidents of sexual abuse.

Victim A said Donaldson rubbed her breasts under her bra, kissed her with his tongue in her mouth and used a bright light to look at her private parts.

The court also heard how Donaldson's place in society loomed over his victims.

Victim A described having to watch him receive "accolade after accolade" in public life.

A pastor who Victim B confided in during the 1990s told police she asked him not to tell anyone about the abuse as it would "destroy their [Jeffrey Donaldson's] political reputation".

For large parts of the trial, Donaldson seemed like the confident political operator at home in the public eye.

That was the case when he first took the stand to be questioned by his own barrister and then the prosecution.

But, as his time in the witness box dragged on, he struggled to answer challenging questions from prosecutor Rosemary Walsh KC, sometimes talking over her or giving increasingly long and rambling responses.

In his police interviews, it was a similar story.

Donaldson at times seemed confident and appeared shocked at the allegations being put to him.

But, at other times, he drifted off topic and sounded defensive.

Walsh finished her cross-examination by branding him "sinful and deceitful" - painting a picture of a man who had abused young girls before using Christianity, particularly the faith of his victims, to seek forgiveness.

As the jury went out to consider their verdict, Donaldson did his best to keep his composure and his demeanour did not change.

But after 10 hours of deliberations, the jurors returned to ask a question about Eleanor Donaldson's charges - a question that made it clear they had decided to convict her husband on at least one charge.

Donaldson lifted his thumb to his mouth and chewed his nail - it was clear he knew his lies had caught up with him.

Less than an hour later he was convicted on all 18 counts and the judge ordered him to be taken straight to HMP Maghaberry - a prison in his former parliamentary constituency - to await sentencing.

His successor as DUP leader, Gavin Robinson, described his crimes as "evil" and "heinous".

The party later commissioned an independent review of his time as a member.

Several other organisations have done likewise: Donaldson's former party the Ulster Unionists (UUP); the Northern Ireland Civil Service, which found "no relevant information" when looking into his conduct while a Stormont junior minister; and the Northern Ireland Assembly, which likewise found "no relevant information".

In in the days after his conviction, details were revealed of a double life away from the public eye, including an occasion he was seen visiting a London sauna marketed as a meeting place for gay men in 2007, about the same time he had described homosexuality as "sinful".

On Thursday, the judge focused on the fact Donaldson had "doubled-down in his denials".

"There has not been, and doubtless will not be, one word of regret, apology or shame from this man to at least provide his victims with some crumb of comfort," he added.

While Donaldson intends to appeal, Thursday marks the end of a legal chapter that began in March 2024 with his victims' arrival at a police station.

The full story, for the victims, began four decades ago, when Donaldson took the decision to begin sexually abusing a young girl.

After many years hiding behind a façade of respectability, he was unable to survive the testimony of two women who broke their silence.