Jeffrey Donaldson, the former leader of Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), has filed an appeal against his conviction on 18 counts of rape and other sexual offences against two children. His legal team lodged documents with the Court of Appeal in Belfast on Friday, with possible grounds including a failed bid during the trial to separate his case from the concurrent proceedings against his wife, Eleanor, who was found to have aided his offending but was not convicted due to being deemed unfit to stand trial on mental health grounds. Donaldson, 63, was found guilty last month by a jury in Newry of offences spanning more than three decades and faces a lengthy custodial sentence at his September sentencing hearing, while the DUP has launched a separate internal review into what party figures knew about his behaviour during his long political career.