Publication
Trump doubles down on united Ireland remarks
US President Donald Trump has doubled down on his support for a united Ireland, claiming it is “one of the naturals of all time”. It came as a DUP MP who publicly endorsed Mr Trump said his remarks were meaningless. Sammy Wilson said anyone who...
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Encrochat pair jailed over plot to smuggle drugs to NI
Two men who conspired to smuggle kilos of cocaine and other drugs into Northern Ireland using the Encrochat network each face years behind bars after a successful sting by UK and French authorities. Coleraine man Mark Dunford (51) and 43-year-old...
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Mum who filmed teenage son as he rioted avoids jail
A Belfast mother of six who filmed her teenage son rioting has avoided jail. Michelle Greer’s 12-month sentence for cruelty to a child was suspended for three years. Belfast Crown Court heard that in July 2024 rioting broke out in the Broadway...
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‘It could be illegal for parents to stop kids watching Tate video’
The Alliance Party’s Conversion Practices Bill could criminalise parents who stop their children watching Andrew Tate, a barrister has claimed. Alliance deputy leader Eoin Tennyson, who introduced the bill which makes providing conversion therapy an...
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John George’s mother set to sue mum of murder accused
The mother of a murdered Belfast man is suing his alleged killer’s mum, accusing her of causing “severe emotional distress, psychiatric injury, anxiety, grief-related trauma and mental suffering”. Sharon George’s son John was murdered in Alicante,...
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‘I never saw myself as someone who could be mentally ill’
Gary Middleton has opened up for the first time about the mental health battle that forced him to leave Stormont and forge a new life beyond politics. The former DUP man, who served as MLA for Foyle before stepping down earlier this year, said years...
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Orangemen could meet residents in bid to solve deadlock at Drumcree
Talks between the Orange Order and Garvaghy Road residents over the decades-long Drumcree dispute could go ahead for the first time. The Parades Commission has agreed to appoint an independent chair to facilitate mediation aimed at breaking the near...
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Orange Order ramps up pressure on parades body
The Orange Order is set to announce today that it is making a fresh application to march down the Garvaghy Road in Portadown, in a move designed to put pressure on the Parades Commission. It is expected to set the date for September 27, the eve of...
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BBC NI employees’ sickness rates are the highest in UK
BBC Northern Ireland staff missed more than 3,500 days because of sickness — the highest rate in the corporation across the UK. The average employee was absent for over 10 days, which is more than counterparts in England, Scotland and Wales. Across...
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‘Drumcree publicity stunt will be disaster for parades across NI’
Re-opening the Drumcree dispute could be disastrous for parades, a leading loyalist bandsman has warned. Former Londonderry Bands Forum chairman Derek Moore said he believed unionist politicians were using the issue as “a publicity stunt” which...
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Lodges may refuse to notify Parades Commission about marches if members don’t quit
Orangemen and bands may quit notifying the Parades Commission about marches if members of the body don’t resign, it’s been warned. The move is being considered as part of plans to oust the current Parades Commission after a judge quashed its...
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NIO let child abuser evade justice – and joked about his crimes
Former Secretary of State Sir Patrick Mayhew personally vetoed a self-confessed paedophile being brought to justice — and an NIO official then joked about the abuser, it can be revealed. A declassified file discovered by the Belfast Telegraph shows...
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Parades commissioner quits in wake of Drumcree ruling
The head of the Parades Commission was coming under increasing pressure last night after a member of the body quit just hours after the chair said they would see out their term. In Belfast yesterday, Prime Minister Andy Burnham said that “confidence...
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Public confidence in Parades Commission damaged: Bryant
The Secretary of State has given the Parades Commission until tomorrow to provide “written assurances” over how it makes decisions after the body was criticised by a High Court judge. Sir Chris Bryant said trust “has been damaged and needs to be...
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Orange Order hoping to complete Drumcree parade after 29 years
Orangemen are hopeful that a High Court ruling quashing a Parades Commission decision to bar them from part of a flashpoint Portadown route will pave the way for their first march down the Garvaghy Road in almost three decades. The parade was at the...
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Ex-council chief asked PA to delete email sent to Foster, court hears
A former council chief in Ballymena asked her personal assistant to delete an email she sent to then first minister Arlene Foster about supposed loyalist threats to port workers enforcing the Irish Sea border, a court has heard. Mid and East Antrim...
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DUP man ‘prepared to take up weapons’ against NI peace deal
A DUP member of the body that preceded the Assembly set out his explicit support for violence just weeks before the Good Friday Agreement was signed, a declassified file has revealed. The NI Forum member told an NIO official in February 1998 that...
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‘Muddy’ links between cops and terror gangs revealed in riot report
An Executive Office-sponsored report into last year’s Ballymena riots has highlighted the “muddy relationship between police and paramilitaries”. The report from the Ending the Harm campaign examines the causes, context and formation of the disorder,...
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‘Mum cried every night over my sister’s unsolved murder’
Murdered Marian Beattie’s mother “cried herself to sleep every night” without ever seeing her daughter’s killer brought to justice, the teenager’s brother has said. Marian was 18 when she was killed on March 31, 1973. No one has ever been charged with...
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Butler is the frontrunner as UUP seek to replace Nesbitt
Lagan Valley MLA Robbie Butler is the frontrunner to become the new health minister today, sources have indicated. Ulster Unionist leader John Burrows said he would name Mike Nesbitt’s ministerial successor today, following his shock resignation on...
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Nesbitt resigns as health minister after clashing with Burrows over hospital plan
Mike Nesbitt has dramatically quit as health minister — with a dig at UUP leader Jon Burrows. He resigned following a clash with Mr Burrows over retaining emergency general surgery (EGS) at the Causeway Hospital in Coleraine. The Northern Trust had...
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DUP MP Shannon charged with assaulting a woman
DUP MP Jim Shannon is to appear in court in two weeks charged with assaulting a woman. The Strangford politician faces a single charge of common assault alleged to have happened on October 1, 2023. It is understood the woman is known to Mr...
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Stormont spends nearly £30k on media training for staff
Stormont departments have racked up a bill of almost £30,000 on media training for staff in recent years, it can be revealed. The total between 2021 and 2025 came out at £28,421. Topping the table is the Executive Office, headed by First Minister...
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QUB takes down AI image used for autism course ad
Queen’s University has withdrawn an Ai-generated image used to advertise one of its autism courses after admitting it was “mistakenly published”. The image, which depicted two people, appeared in an Instagram advert. A stock picture of a family of...
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Motorbike stolen from hit-and-run scene as police ‘fail to respond’
A motorbike involved in a hit-and-run was stolen from the scene in north Belfast by a masked man after reports that police had been pulled out of the area. The crash between a car and the motorbike happened in Ardoyne shortly before midnight on...
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Fears for Translink future as it faces £47m black hole
There are fears for Translink’s future as a “going concern” after documents showed the public transport operator is facing a £46.6m loss for 2026/27. The bus and train operator’s dire financial situation prompted board meeting discussions over...
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Death driver is targeted in gun attack after brawl
A gun attack at the Lisburn home of a man awaiting sentencing for a fatal hit-and-run has been linked to a brawl in Belfast. Shots were fired through the windows of Martin Olali junior’s home in the Breton Court area shortly before 1.30am on Tuesday....
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Online trolls caused me to have a stroke: DUP founder
DUP founding member Wallace Thompson has blamed merciless online trolls for a debilitating stroke that has led to weakness on his left side. The Ballymoney-born evangelist who was once one of the late Ian Paisley’s most devoted followers said his...
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Call for permanent car-free zone after success of Fleadh
The massive success of this year’s Fleadh Cheoil na héireann has shown how Belfast’s city centre can work well as a carfree zone, it’s been claimed. The Alliance Party has written to the city council, Stormont departments and Translink, urging them to...
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Over 100 £1m homes put up for sale in just six months
The number of luxury homes on the market and priced at £1m or above in Northern Ireland is on the rise. Estate agents say there is a willingness to fork out big money for the best homes. According to new data from website Proper typal, there were 110...
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Children aged five taken to A&E in mental health crisis
Children as young as five have attended hospital emergency departments for mental health issues. New data shows the extent of the crisis in Northern Ireland, with more than 40 cases of children aged nine and under being brought to A&E in 2025. One...
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Man accused of stabbing murder bid ‘could kill behind bars’ jail staff fear
A man accused of a brutal knife attack could kill someone if he is not moved to a secure mental health facility, staff at Maghaberry Prison fear. Hadi Alodid is being held on remand at the prison, charged with attempted murder following a violent...
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I’ll stand for SDLP if I return to politics, says woman who quit UUP
A former Ulster Unionist councillor who quit the party has expressed an interest in joining the SDLP — and running as a future party election candidate. Linzi Mclaren (right) left the UUP last November citing a series of failures on issues such as the...
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Neo-Nazi thug is disowned by anti-immigration group
A self-styled neo-nazi has been booted out of an anti-immigration group led by a convicted loyalist rioter. Our Northern Ireland Voice (ONIV), which has hosted anti-immigration protests in Coleraine and Portrush in recent months, has cut its ties with...
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Warning as record number of drivers caught speeding
More people are being caught speeding than ever before in Northern Ireland, amid one of the worst periods for fatal road crashes. Police are catching an average of 240 speeding motorists every day, new data shows. The news follows a plea from the PSNI...
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‘We went to England and confronted the MI5 tout who set up our loved ones to be murdered’
Two south Armagh families have confronted the informer they believe set up their loved ones for murder. They travelled to the south of England to meet the man they say was recruited by Captain Robert Nairac. The informer fled Northern Ireland shortly...
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Murder trial over US road crash that killed NI student
A man is to face a murder charge in the United States over a horror road crash that killed four students, including a Northern Ireland-born woman. Asha Weir (21) died after a car struck her and fellow students Deslyn Williams (21), Niamh Rolston (20)...
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EX-PSNI man quits as chief constable hours before hearing on misconduct
A former senior PSNI officer has dramatically resigned as chief constable of an English police force just hours before a hearing in which he faced allegations of serious misconduct. Chris Noble (right) made the decision on the eve of a public...
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‘At 19, I was advised by health care professionals to get pregnant in order to alleviate the symptoms...’
A west Belfast woman who was told her debilitating symptoms of endometriosis were just an excuse to get time off school has opened her own clinic to support others suffering from the condition. Clíodhna Hughes (27) suffered for 10 years before she got...
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Four in 10 SF voters believe party is failing on Casement
Four in 10 Sinn Féin voters believe the reported significant downscaling of Casement Park’s redevelopment is a major political failure for the party. In a new Lucidtalk poll for the Belfast Telegraph, two-thirds of all voters say the revision of the...
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DUP drops to five-year low in wake of Donaldson scandal as SF support is also on slide
The DUP has seen its support drop in the wake of the Jeffrey Donaldson sex abuse scandal, plummeting to its lowest level in five years, a new poll shows. It has fallen three points to 15pc, with the UUP now the most popular unionist party in Northern...
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Four in 10 DUP voters believe party hasn’t told full truth on Donaldson
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...
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NI hotel offered luxury stay as prize at hard-right dinner
A top hotel offered a prize worth well over £1,000 to a hard-right gathering which included conspiracy theorists and a ‘pro-infection’ anti-vaccine speaker. The Galgorm Resort near Ballymena put up a luxury stay for attendees at CPAC GB, an...
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Orangemen and DUP want Dublin cash to help pay for King William Trail
A top Orangeman and two senior DUP politicians have discussed accessing Irish Government funding for a new ‘William of Orange Trail’. DUP leader Gavin Robinson and Orange Order Grand Secretary Mervyn Gibson met with DUP Communities Minister Gordon...
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Staff ’s fury after jail is locked down to allow for Donaldson legal visits
Officers in Maghaberry Prison have complained at what they say is the ongoing special treatment for Jeffrey Donaldson. Sources at the jail say the disgraced former DUP leader has been receiving “dog’s abuse” from fellow inmates since being remanded in...
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Threat from dissidents ‘a likely factor’ why officers are quitting the PSNI
The level of dissident republican threat and violent assaults are high on the list of reasons some police officers in the north west are quitting the PSNI, it has been claimed. Ten officers have left the Derry City and Strabane (DCS) policing district...
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‘I believe in karma and Madison Allen has it coming her way...’
The widow of a man who died after the car they were in was hit by a BMW driven by Madison Allen (right) has said the the Newtownabbey woman will get what she deserves in court. Deborah and John Darby had been just five weeks into retirement and...
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Donaldson to appeal child sex abuse convictions
Jeffrey Donaldson is appealing his convictions for the rape of a primary school child and a series of other sexual assaults. The former DUP leader’s solicitor, John Mcburney, said in a statement the appeal papers had been lodged at the Royal Courts of...
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22 children convicted of sex offences but none were jailed
Twenty-two children found guilty of serious sexual offences in Northern Ireland — including rape — did not receive an immediate custodial sentence. Of those 22 teenagers, convicted from 2021 to 2025, 10 were aged 17, six were aged 16, and six were...
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Heartache as Ballymena falls silent in tribute to murder-suicide victims
A community united in heartache yesterday, as hundreds of people gathered in Ballymena to call for an end to violence against women and children in the aftermath of what is believed to have been a double murder and suicide. Around 200 people gathered...
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‘Any concerns about further Donaldson crimes will be reported to police, not the DUP’
A review of what the DUP knew about paedophile former leader Jeffrey Donaldson’s activities will report any potential criminal offences that emerge to police first, not the party. Safeguarding expert Jim Gamble is leading the review, which starts...
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Shock as three members of same family are found dead
A murder investigation has been launched following the deaths of three members of the same family, including a child, in Ballymena. Their bodies — believed to be a man, a woman and a girl — were found at a house on the Old Cullybackey Road in the Co...
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Civil service launches probe into Donaldson’s behaviour
The head of the civil service in Northern Ireland has tasked officials with a ‘scoping exercise’ t o find out if any staff were affected by Jeffrey Donaldson’s behaviour during his time as a Stormont junior minister. The former DUP leader was...
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Donaldson signs house to lawyers as £500k bill looms
Jeffrey Donaldson has signed over his half of the family home to his lawyers, it can be revealed, as his legal bills continue to mount. Sources have told the Belfast Telegraph that the former DUP leader and his wife Eleanor face having to pay their...
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Do not dress like you’d be standing on street corners, DUP man tells women
A DUP councillor who implied there was a link betwee n how women dress and an alleged sexual assault in Ballymena last summer stands by what he said. While a party spokesman said Reuben Glover“apologises for any offence caused”, he told the Belfast...
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Donaldson sex shame ‘has not damaged the Orange institution’
The conviction of Jeffrey Donaldson for child sex abuse “hurt” members of the Orange Order “greatly” — but the institution has not been damaged, one of its most senior members has said. The former Lagan Valley MP’S (right) membership of the Order was...
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Sex abuse victim’s horror at stepdad’s release from jail
A Belfast woman whose twisted stepfather sexually abused her from the age of eight has expressed her disgust and shock after he was released just seven years into a 14-year sentence. Newtownabbey man Arthur Ingram was convicted in 2019 of seven rapes,...
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‘Donaldson sexually assaulted me in DUP offices at Westminster’
A woman has alleged that Jeffrey Donaldson sexually assaulted her in a DUP office at Westminster. The woman claimed the former Lagan Valley MP (right) put his hand up her skirt and tried to kiss her during a tour of the building. The woman from...
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‘We are so in love...’ The reformed gangster and his GB News fiancée
Belfast-raised reformed gangster Stephen Gillen is set to host a star-studded wedding in Northern Ireland next year when he weds his fiancée, GB News presenter Nana Akua. The couple spoke exclusively to the Belfast Telegraph while they were touring...
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‘This isn’t over... Lyra said if you’re going to go down, go down fighting’
Lyra Mckee’s sister has vowed her family’s fight for justice will go on after three men were acquitted of the 29-year-old’s murder following a long-running New IRA trial. The family described the grief and frustration as they were forced to relive the...
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Donaldson’s security was removed before his arrest
Jeffrey Donaldson’s police protection was suddenly removed just weeks before his arrest for child abuse, the Belfast Telegraph can reveal. Last week the former DUP leader was found guilty of 18 sex offences against two women when they were children,...
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EX-RUC chief asked to lead DUP’S Donaldson probe
Former RUC Special Branch chief Jim Gamble has been asked to lead the DUP’S internal investigation into the Jeffrey Donaldson scandal. The DUP said it would order an independent review into issues raised since the party’s former leader was convicted...
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Police saw Donaldson gay sauna visit while on Real IRA operation
Jeffrey Donaldson was not under police surveillance when he was seen entering a gay sauna in London, the officer who spotted him has said. Tim Hanley told the Belfast Telegraph that he had actually been working on a major PSNIMI5 sting operation which...
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Pressure on DUP after revelation party figures knew about Donaldson
Gavin Robinson has said “it is clear” there are former and current DUP members who had information about Jeffrey Donaldson’s behaviour they did not share. The DUP leader was speaking after further revelations about Donaldson (right), who was convicted...
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Donaldson is expected to appeal against his rape and child abuse convictions
Convicted child abuser Jeffrey Donaldson is expected to launch an appeal against his convictions, which include rape. The disgraced former DUP leader has 28 days to seek leave to appeal. It is likely to centre around the decision not to run his trial...
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As net closed, Donaldson tried to keep sex abuser law
Jeffrey Donaldson quietly helped thwart efforts to overturn a law which had the potential to help him evade scrutiny of his own crimes, it can be revealed. The law passed by Stormont made it a criminal offence to name sex offence suspects who hadn’t...
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Paisley spoke to ‘victim’ of Donaldson three years before arrest
Ian Paisley said he had spoken to a “victim” of Jeffrey Donaldson and tried to use that information for political ends three years before the former Lagan Valley MP was arrested, it can be revealed. It involves an individual who was not part of the...
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Hypocrite Donaldson prayed for victims of abuse
Jeffrey Donaldson prayed with survivors of sex abuse who sought his aid in their search for justice, it can be revealed. Victims campaigner Marty Adams branded the former MP’S show of fake concern “disgusting and depraved”. “We sat with this man,...
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‘People in DUP knew Donaldson was sex pest’
Two DUP figures were told Jeffrey Donaldson was a sex pest but they continued to support him, it’s been claimed. A party insider has told the Belfast Telegraph that the Lagan Valley MP “made a nuisance of himself” by “chasing a 19-year-old girl when...
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Filthy, vile & depraved
Jeffrey Donaldson has spent his first night in Maghaberry Prison as a convicted child rapist after he was found guilty of 18 sex offences. Jurors at Newry Crown Court unanimously found the former Lagan Valley MP and DUP leader guilty of a single count...
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Budget chaos ‘could reduce NI public spending by £1bn’
Stormont deadlock over the Budget could see public spending in Northern Ireland slashed by almost £1bn — with serious consequences for public services, the SDLP has warned. An SDLP research paper claims the ongoing failure to agree the Budget could...
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Ciara: ‘I won’t take for granted the good things that I have’
Two-time Olympian Ciara Mageean has opened up about the toughest battle of her life following her stage four cancer diagnosis last year. The Co Down athlete spoke to the Belfast Telegraph ahead of this week’s publication of her memoir, My Greatest...
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‘I always ask my late son to forgive me for him having to set foot in Muckamore’
The father of a boy who was a patient in a Co Antrim facility for vulnerable adults has said he has asked his late son “to forgive me for him having to put a foot in Muckamore”. Danny Diamond, whose son Eoin had a number of spells in the facility,...
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BBC NI ready to axe 50 jobs as it seeks to save £500m
Up to 50 jobs at BBC Northern Ireland are under threat after the corporation announced it would be slashing costs in a desperate bid to save £500m over the next three years. Staff have been told that voluntary redundancy will be available, but...
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