Nazir Afzal, the North West England prosecutor until 2015, also expressed outrage at new revelations about how Dharma police investigated Cummings’ trips to Dharma and Barnard Castle after their report by Guardian and the Mirror in May 2020. Last month, Durham’s chief of staff, Jo Farrell, admitted that her officers had not interviewed Cummings as part of their three-day investigation into the quarantine of then-chief adviser Boris Johnson. He told the Mirror that the force treated Cummings’s televised press conference in the garden with Downing Street roses as a witness to his behavior. In May 2021, Cummings admitted to lawmakers that he did not tell the whole truth in the rose garden. “I would probably have to explain some things about what were not made public at that time in the rose garden,” he told a joint meeting of two selected committees. Speaking to the Guardian, Afzal said: “The police relied on an account from which the suspect himself subsequently deviated. “This in itself makes it possible that the police investigation was wrong.” Afzal’s lawyers, Hodge Jones & Allen, wrote to the Metropolitan Police and the Durham Police Department urging them to share any “lesson” in handling Cummings’ conduct in light of the more thorough investigation the officers eventually conducted in Partygate. And they asked if the Met was still sticking to its decision not to investigate Cummings, who was leaving London for Durham when he suspected Covid. Afzal said: “If the police had immediately and vigorously investigated those responsible for setting the rules, but apparently breaking the rules, Partygate might not have happened. “In relation to Dominic Cummings, who was then a central player on Downing Street, the Durham police could and should have done so at the time of the violations and when the evidence and allegations were presented. “Such an action would reinforce the message to the Prime Minister and those around him that the Covid regulations, which they created and encouraged others to follow, must be adhered to, both spiritually and literally.” After a three-day investigation in May 2020, Durham police concluded that Cummings’s infamous trip to Barnard Castle was likely tantamount to a “minor” breach of the rules. But the force did not take further action and made no statement about Cummings’ decision to leave London because the investigation was limited to Durham County. She also said there was insufficient evidence that Cummings made a second trip to Durham on April 19, 2020, despite receiving statements from nurse Claire Edwards and her husband, Dave, who claimed to have seen him in Durham that day. . In February 2021, Durham police rejected a 225-page dossier submitted by Afzal’s lawyers, who claimed that Cummings had violated Covid’s rules several times. He also claimed that Cummings distorted the course of justice by narrating his trip to Barnard Castle on April 12 and denying that he made a second blockade trip to Durham around April 19. Last May, Cummings again urged lawmakers to make a “false” claim that he was making a second trip to Durham. But he seemed to admit that they had left London for a second time due to security concerns: “It is true that I moved my family again.” Asked to explain how four people claimed to have seen him in and around Durham’s Houghall Woods on the morning of April 19, Cummings told the Guardian: “I did not return to Durham on [the] 19th. I was in London [the] 19th and with my son at Hampstead Heath, and the phone data proves it “. The Guardian saw a photo taken at 3:31 p.m. that day he appears to be showing Cummings at Hampstead Heath with his family. It was also found that it was possible to drive from Durham to London in less than four hours during the lockdown. Subscribe to the First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every morning at 7 p.m. BST Explaining Durham’s decision not to interview Cummings, Farrell told the Mirror: “I remember thinking, as he spoke, that it would be an account of the circumstances. “In terms of proportionality, there was an extensive and well-documented account of what he had done and where he was. We used this and information about making decisions about it. “ The Met told Afzal’s lawyers that it had no information about the lessons learned from the Cummings case and referred the matter to Durham police. Durham police have not yet responded, but Farrell told the Mirror she was “confident and satisfied that the decisions we made then would stand the test of time.”
