Disgraced former DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson has been stripped of his knighthood. It comes after Donaldson was convicted of historical child sex abuse offences at Newry Crown Court in June. A prison van carrying former DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson leaves Newry Crown Court, where he was found guilty of 18 historical sex offences (Liam McBurney/PA)He signed a letter asking to resign from both. On Thursday a notice was published in the Gazette that the King “directed the cancellation and annulment” of the knighthood conferred upon Donaldson in 2016. He was convicted of 18 sex offences, including one count of rape, relating to the abuse of two women when they were children between 1985 and 2008.