BORIS Johnson's most senior aide broke lockdown rules when he drove to a Durham beauty spot, police have confirmed.
Durham constabulary said Dominic Cummings committed a 'minor breach' of the lockdown when he drove 50milles to Barnard Castle town with his wife and child on April 12.
They ruled he did not break the rules, however, by self-isolating on his family farm 260 miles from his London home.
READ MORE: Scotland's lockdown eased: Six things you can and can't do as 'phase 1' begins
Mr Cummings claimed he made the trip to Barnard Castle on Easter Sunday, also his wife's birthday, to 'test his eyesight' after he had fallen ill with coronavirus symptoms.
He had been isolating on his father's farm as he was concerned over childcare for his four-year-old son if he and his wife both became ill.
The force said it did not consider Mr Cummings had breached the regulations when self-isolating at the farm, but the trip to Durham did constitute a “minor breach”.
Its statement said the journey “might have been a minor breach of the regulations that would have warranted police intervention”.
The statement added: “Durham Constabulary view this is as minor because there was no apparent breach of social distancing.”
Despite the latest statement from the police, a Downing Street spokesman made clear the Prime Minister's position on retainign his adviser has not changed.
A Downing Street spokesman said: "The police made it clear they are taking no action against Mr Cummings over his self-isolation and by going to Durham he did not breach regulations.
"The Prime Minister said he believes Mr Cummings behaved reasonably and legally given the circumstances and he regards this issue as closed."
The SNP's Westminster leader Ian Blackford, who has been calling for the aide to be sacked or resign since the saga began on Saturday, reiterated his calls.
He tweeted: " It is now beyond any doubt that Dominic Cummings did break lockdown rules. Boris Johnson has no choice but to remove him from post.
"This is now a matter of the Prime Minister’s own integrity - and his overriding responsibility to protect public health and trust in his government."
READ MORE: John Swinney leaves open possibility of local lockdowns in Scotland
Durham police statement in full:
"On 27 March 2020, Dominic Cummings drove to Durham to self-isolate in a property owned by his father.
"Durham Constabulary does not consider that by locating himself at his father’s premises, Mr Cummings committed an offence contrary to regulation 6 of the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) Regulations 2020. (We are concerned here with breaches of the Regulations, not the general Government guidance to “stay at home”.)
"On 12 April 2020, Mr Cummings drove approximately 26 miles from his father’s property to Barnard Castle with his wife and son. He stated on 25 May 2020 that the purpose of this drive was to test his resilience to drive to London the following day, including whether his eyesight was sufficiently recovered, his period of self-isolation having ended.
"Durham Constabulary have examined the circumstances surrounding the journey to Barnard Castle (including ANPR, witness evidence and a review of Mr Cummings’ press conference on 25 May 2020) and have concluded that there might have been a minor breach of the Regulations that would have warranted police intervention. Durham Constabulary view this as minor because there was no apparent breach of social distancing.
"Had a Durham Constabulary police officer stopped Mr Cummings driving to or from Barnard Castle, the officer would have spoken to him, and, having established the facts, likely advised Mr Cummings to return to the address in Durham, providing advice on the dangers of travelling during the pandemic crisis. Had this advice been accepted by Mr Cummings, no enforcement action would have been taken.
"In line with Durham Constabulary’s general approach throughout the pandemic, there is no intention to take retrospective action in respect of the Barnard Castle incident since this would amount to treating Mr Cummings differently from other members of the public. Durham Constabulary has not taken retrospective action against any other person.
"By way of further context, Durham Constabulary has followed Government guidance on management of alleged breaches of the regulations with the emphasis on the NPCC and College of Policing 4Es: Engage, Explain and Encourage before Enforcement.
"Finally, commentary in the media has suggested that Mr Cummings was in Durham on 19 April 2020. Mr Cummings denies this and Durham Constabulary have seen insufficient evidence to support this allegation.
"Therefore Durham Constabulary will take no further action in this matter and has informed Mr Cummings of this decision."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel