A police force have decided they will not take any further action on Dominic Cummings’ infamous lockdown trip to the North East at the height of the pandemic.
Former North west chief prosecutor Nazir Afzal had presented a 255-page dossier to detectives in the county, hoping it would help persuade the police to look into the case again.
The dossier had accused Mr Cummings and his wife of alleged offences under covid regulations for leaving their ‘primary home’ in London and their ‘second home’ in the North East.
At the time of the row Durham Police said Mr Cummings may have breached locked down rules by travelling to Barnard Castle on April 12.
At the time Cummings faced accusations of ‘double standards’, with the country told to stay at home. Regardless but he told a press conference in the Number 10 Rose Garden: ‘I don’t regret what I did… I think what I did was reasonable in the circumstances.’
However, deputy chief constable Dave Orford has now written to Mr Afzal’s lawyers to inform them that they will not be taking any further action agaisjt Johnson’s ex-key aide, The Mirror reports.
Deputy chief constable Dave Orford’s reply states: “Durham Constabulary has considered your submissions and the allegations raised that are relevant to the force’s area of responsibility.
“We have considered all of the material provided. However, it does not change our decision from that outlined in our press release dated 28th May in respect of Mr Dominic Cummings, and we take a similar view in respect of his wife Mary Wakefield.
“We do not consider the relevant tests are made out in relation to any potential offences raised within your submission. Therefore, Durham Constabulary will be taking no further action.”
Dominic Cummings’ Brexit apprentice
Boris Johnson has shaken up his team aimed at keeping the Union together, replacing a former Scottish MP with a veteran of the Vote Leave Brexit campaign.
Number 10 said the Prime Minister believes himself to be the “voice of the majority” in Scotland who rejected independence and Downing Street’s Union unit will support him in his efforts to keep the UK together.
But in a sign of his concerns just three months before Holyrood elections where calls for a second independence referendum will be the dominant issue, former Scottish MP Luke Graham has been replaced at the head of the No 10 Union unit by Oliver Lewis.
The SNP’s deputy Westminster leader Kirsten Oswald said: “The Vote Leave takeover of Boris Johnson’s taxpayer-funded anti-independence campaign has spectacularly backfired – and will drive up support for independence even further.
“By installing Dominic Cummings’ Brexit apprentice as head of the so-called ‘Union unit’, the Prime Minister is demonstrating, yet again, that he is completely clueless about Scotland.”
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