Dossier alleges Cummings may have perverted
course of justice in account of lockdown trip
Former prosecutor sends file to police and CPS
accusing PM’s aide of multiple alleged offences
Matthew
Weaver
Fri 30 Oct
2020 18.30 GMTLast modified on Fri 30 Oct 2020 19.06 GMT
Ex-prosecutor’s
lawyers say Dominic Cummings’ statement in May is inconsistent with accounts
given by witnesses.
Police and
the Crown Prosecution Service have been handed a 225-page dossier urging them
to investigate Dominic Cummings for allegedly perverting the course of justice,
in relation to a statement about his journeys to the north-east of England at
the height of the pandemic.
The former
regional chief prosecutor Nazir Afzal said Cummings’ claims during a press
conference in Downing Street’s rose garden on 25 May affected the course of
justice as they were made as Durham police’s investigation into his behaviour
was already under way.
Afzal’s
lawyers gave extensive details of the allegation in the dossier sent on Friday
to Durham police, the Metropolitan police and Max Hill, the director of public
prosecutions, and his staff at the CPS.
They
claimed the legal test for such a prosecution had been met. The dossier also
accuses Cummings and his wife, Mary Wakefield, of multiple alleged offences
under the coronavirus regulations for leaving their primary home in London and
their second home in Durham without, it says, a reasonable excuse.
The most
serious allegation in the documents is the claim that Cummings perverted the
course of justice in his account of his journey to Barnard Castle on 12 April
and his denial of a claim that he made a second lockdown trip to Durham. If
such a charge were proven, Cummings could face a prison sentence.
In a
statement, Afzal’s lawyers said: “The alleged offence of perverting the course
of justice arises from Mr Cummings’ statement in the rose garden … Mr Cummings
made public assertions about his conduct at Barnard Castle on 12 April and his
actions on the weekend of 17-19 April that appear to be wholly inconsistent
with accounts of his conduct at that time obtained from eyewitnesses.”
Cummings
admitted in his statement that he had travelled to Durham and Barnard Castle,
as revealed by the Guardian and the Daily Mirror. He said he had acted legally
and travelled to Durham to self-isolate after his wife became sick with
suspected Covid, and a day before he also fell ill.
He claimed
he had phone data to prove he was not in Durham on 19 April as one Guardian
source had claimed. When three other people made similar claims, Downing Street
said it considered the matter closed and refused to release the evidence that
Cummings said proved he was in London.
Two of the
people, Dave and Clare Edwards, gave statements to Durham police officers on 25
May as the prime minister’s chief aide was giving his press conference,
claiming that they saw a man whom they believed to be Cummings on 19 April in
Durham’s Houghall woods.
The
submissions from Afzal’s lawyers said Cummings’ account appeared to have
influenced a three-day investigation by Durham police into his lockdown
journeys.
The force
made no finding on his decision to leave London because its investigation was
confined to County Durham. It concluded that the journey to Barnard Castle on
Wakefield’s birthday amounted to a “minor” breach of the rules “because there
was no apparent breach of social distancing”, and it found there was
“insufficient evidence” that he made a second trip.
Afzal’s
lawyers said new statements from witnesses called these conclusions into
question.
At least
three people have reported seeing Cummings in Barnard Castle, including Robin
Lees, a retired chemistry teacher, who alerted the Guardian and the police to
seeing Cummings and his family getting into a car on a road on the southern
side of the Tees on 12 April.
Cummings
said he stayed by the Tees for 10 to 15 minutes and strayed no more than 15
metres from his car. But Rosalind Evans, a retired council worker, told the
Guardian and the police that she saw someone she believed to be Cummings in the
town centre on 12 April.
A third
person, Alan Gowland, told the Sunday Times and later the Guardian that he saw
someone he believed to be Cummings on a path by a weir on the other side of the
Tees from Lees’ sighting.
Afzal’s
dossier includes eight annexes of new statements from witnesses in Barnard
Castle and Durham. The Met and the CPS have previously refused Afzal’s request
to investigate the allegations against Cummings.
Afzal,
whose brother Umar died from coronavirus when he was self-isolating at home on
8 April when Cummings was in Durham, said he wanted to get to the truth.
“The
picture painted by the witnesses that have come forward appears clear and
coherent and is inconsistent in important parts with the version given by Mr
Cummings,” he said. “I believe the CPS’s public interest test is also met,
given the impact that this has had on general compliance with Covid
regulations.”
A No 10
spokesperson said: “The prime minister has said he believes Mr Cummings behaved
reasonably and he considers the matter closed. Durham Constabulary have made
clear they are not taking any further action against Mr Cummings and that by
locating himself at his father’s premises he did not breach the regulations.”
Cummings
and Wakefield have been approached for comment.
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