The police and crime commissioner for Durham has formally asked the chief constable of the force he oversees to launch an investigation into Dominic Cummings. Steve White asked the force to investigate all the claims about the prime minister’s adviser’s time in the Durham area during the coronavirus lockdown and to establish the facts. Cummings, along with his wife and four-year-old son, travelled 260 miles from their London home to his parents’ farm in Durham in late March. The couple say they feared they might have been incapacitated by coronavirus and thus might have struggled to look after their child. Many view that as a breach of the lockdown rules to stay home and have called for Cummings to resign or be sacked as chief aide to Boris Johnson.
Durham police are understood to have received further information and complaints about Cummings’s time in and around Durham since the revelations in a joint investigation by the Guardian and Daily Mirror were first published on Friday. Officers are reviewing and examining that new information. A spokesman for Durham police said: “We can confirm that, over the last few days, Durham Constabulary has received further information and complaints from members of the public and we are reviewing and examining that information.” Later on Monday, the force issued a statement amending what it had previously said about its contact with the Cummings family. Durham police said on Friday that officers had explained to the family the guidelines around self-isolation and “reiterated the appropriate advice around essential travel”. However, in Monday’s statement, issued moments before Cummings gave a press conference, Durham police said it had only given security advice to Cummings’ father. “Mr Cummings confirmed that his son, his son’s wife and child were present at the property. He told the officer that his son and son’s wife were displaying symptoms of coronavirus and were self-isolating in part of the property,” the statement said. “We can further confirm that our officer gave no specific advice on coronavirus to any members of the family and that Durham Constabulary deemed that no further action was required in that regard.” Durham’s chief constable, Jo Farrell, has received a letter from White asking her to look at all the claims about Cummings’s time in Durham. That includes an alleged sighting of him in Barnard Castle on 30 April, about 30 miles from his parents’ home. The letter will say an inquiry is necessary to maintain public confidence in the force. White, in a statement on Saturday, backed the force’s handling of the matter so far. Since the Guardian and Daily Mirror first reported the story, additional allegations have surfaced. Police and crime commissioners are responsible for holding the forces they oversee to account. Chief constables maintain operational independence. In a statement issued on Monday, White said the Durham force had so far handled the matter appropriately. He said: “It is clear, however, that there is a plethora of additional information circulating in the public domain which deserves appropriate examination. I have today written to the chief constable, asking her to establish the facts concerning any potential breach of the law or regulations in this matter at any juncture. “It is vital that the force can show it has the interests of the people of County Durham and Darlington at its heart, so that the model of policing by consent, independent of government but answerable to the law, is maintained. “It will be for the chief constable to determine the operational response to this request and I am confident that with the resources at its disposal, the force can show proportionality and fairness in what has become a major issue of public interest and trust.”
The sighting in Barnard Castle was witnessed by a man who made a note of a number plate. The witness, Robin Lees, a retired chemistry teacher, has made a complaint to the police. He says he saw Cummings and his family on 12 April, walking in the town before getting into a car. At a Downing Street press conference dominated by questions about Cummings’s movements during the lockdown, the prime minister did not dispute that his adviser had made a trip to the Tees Valley beauty spot.
Police were unaware that Cummings had travelled to his parents’ farm in Durham from his London home until his father informed them. Robert Cummings asked a friend to contact police because he wanted security advice after his son, suffering from Covid-19 symptoms, arrived in the north-east in late March. Months earlier he had got advice on security for his son from Durham police, but had mislaid the contact details. On 31 March, Robert Cummings contacted someone he knew had details of a senior officer in the Durham force. That senior officer arranged for special branch to contact Cummings’s father. During that call the special branch officer gave advice on security, as well as on physical distancing. In a statement issued on Saturday evening, Durham police said they became aware Cummings was in Durham on 31 March andphoned his father the following morning, who confirmed the spin doctor “had travelled with his family from London to the north-east and was self-isolating in part of the property”. Cummings’s father was spoken to again by police earlier this month after they became aware of claims on social media – which are unsubstantiated – and inquiries from a journalist about whether his son had again been seen in the Durham area. Robert Cummings denied the claim and said his son was not present at the family farm. Police accepted his word.
Durham police have issued relatively few fines for lockdown breaches, compared with other forces. If Durham police decide to investigate, they could use automatic number-plate recognition technology to search for sightings of any car associated with Cummings, which would help in establishing his movements in the Durham area, as well as securing CCTV footage.