WATCHDOG EYES CUMMINGS
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A WOMAN who says she is convinced she spotted Dominic Cummings on a second lockdown trip to north-east England has called on him to prove otherwise.
Clare Edwards, 59, said she is “100 per cent certain” she saw Boris Johnson’s chief adviser while walking in Houghall Woods near Durham on the morning of Sunday, April 19.
Urging Cummings to release his evidence, she added: “It would be great to see if he could produce anything. I just want the truth to be out there.”
Clare and husband Dave are among three new witnesses who allege they saw Cummings at the beauty spot on April 19 – six days after he returned to London from Durham.
Clare and Dave have complained to the Independent Office for Police Conduct, claiming Durham police did not properly investigate their allegations about Cummings.
Cummings has said accusations that he made a second lockdown trip to the area are “false”.
During his first trip, the Tory adviser drove 260 miles with his wife, who had
Covid-19 symptoms, and son to selfisolate at his parents’ home on March 27 at the height of the lockdown.
During their two-week stay, the family went to Barnard Castle, 30 miles away, on April 12, which he later claimed was to test his eyesight before the drive to London the next day.
A man got in touch with our sister paper the Daily Mirror on April 19, claiming he saw Cummings with a female companion in Houghall Woods at 8.30 that morning.
But in an extraordinary press conference in the No10 garden in May, Cummings denied the claim – and insisted photos and data on his phone would prove it.
A No10 spokesman said yesterday: “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. The Prime Minister has said he believes Cummings behaved reasonably and he considers the matter closed.”
But the latest revelations raise further questions about the PM’s decision to back Cummings after it had been revealed he broke the Government’s rules, prompting public outcry and damaging confidence in lockdown restrictions. Clare and Dave reported their alleged sighting – which they say was at around 11am – to Durham police in May and signed witness statements. Since then the other new witness
– which brings the total number of witnesses to four – claims to have seen Cummings and his wife Mary Wakefield walking between the beauty spot and the family home that morning between 11.15 and 11.30.
Another person then said they think they saw Cummings on Hampstead Heath in London four hours later at 3.30pm.
A test-drive of the route on a quiet Sunday after lockdown took three hours and 35 minutes. Cummings
he was in Durham on April 19 and officers say they have not seen sufficient evidence to support the allegation that he was there.
Durham police said he may have committed a “minor breach” of the rules when he drove to Barnard Castle on April 12 – his wife’s birthday – but no further action would be taken.
Clare, a nurse and care home worker for 35 years, and Tory-voting husband Dave, who works in manufacturing, have put in a Subject Access Request to establish how the force had handled their personal information, which they hoped might reveal how their complaint was followed up. The details, heavily redacted and marked “official-sensitive”, arrived last week but the pair felt it showed their claims were not taken seriously. In their letter of complaint to the IOPC, they told the watchdog: “Given the high-profile nature of this issue it is inconceivable that this matter has not been followed up thoroughly. “We have no personal issue with Mr Cummings or his family, but we do feel that Durham Police’s handling of our complaint is below the standard we would expect.” Durham Constabudenies
UNDER FIRE lary said: “As outlined in our statement of May 28, [we] carried out an investigation into this matter led by a senior detective and found insufficient evidence to support the allegation.”
Clare and Dave, also 59, are the first of the four witnesses to go public with their names. They said they were “shocked and surprised” to see the man they believed to be Cummings among a group of five adults and a child by the side of the path.
Dave said: “He was the dead image of Dominic Cummings. He was standing over a small child on a bike.
“I said to my wife, ‘Did you see Dominic Cummings there?’ If it wasn’t him he’d win the Dominic Cummings lookalike award.”
Clare said: “He had a beanie hat, was wearing glasses, he was tall and angular. I was so convinced. But I thought, ‘No, it can’t possibly be him – he’s in London and we’re in lockdown’.”
The mum of three added: “I am 100 per cent certain it was Dominic Cummings. I just know it was him.”
Her husband said: “I’m not politically motivated, I have nothing against Cummings. But we think what we saw was important given the circumstances of the lockdown.”
The date stuck in their heads because it was the day after their son’s birthday. They also had a timestamped geo-located photo, seen by the Mirror, that Clare took of the woods moments before their alleged sighting of the group.
It was after the couple heard the PM on May 24 dismiss reports of a second
A witness claims he spots Cummings and Wakefield walking through Houghall Woods with his wife at 8.30am
Another witness claims to see Cummings and a woman between Houghall Woods and the family property between 11.15 and 11.30am
Cummings’ parents property trip to Durham as “palpably false” that they decided to contact police.
Asked if they were sure it was Cummings, the person said: “We know his parents do live locally so we have recognised them before in the local area. I would recognise him again.
“At first I could not quite believe that I had seen him. I thought, ‘Why would he be up here?’
“But I posted about it on the day. I was sure about it at the time.”
In the Downing Street garden press conference, Cummings told reporters: “There is a particular report that I
SCENE Clare Edwards in wood where she says she saw Cummings
Clare and Dave Edwards claim they see Cummings among a group of five adults and a child at the side of the path, while in the woods at 11am
3.30pm April 19 Cummings allegedly seen on Hampstead Heath, London
returned there on April 19th. Photos and data on my phone prove this to be false. And local CCTV, if it exists, would also prove that I’m telling the truth that I was in London on that day. I was not in Durham.”
The top aide refused to apologise for his two-week visit to north-east England, saying he and his wife thought they might need childcare for their four-year-old son in case they both fell ill.
Cummings suggested any alleged sighting of him in Houghall Woods was wrong and added he had walked in woodland during his earlier selfisolation but on his parents’ land.
He said he drove back to London on April 13 but did not clarify whether his wife or his child were with him.
Cummings, 48, said: “We returned to London on the evening of Monday 13 April, Easter Monday. I believe that in all circumstances I behaved reasonably and legally, balancing the safety of my family and the extreme situation in No10 and the public interest in effective Government to which I could contribute.”
Later that week, Johnson was challenged by MP Meg Hillier on the Commons liaison committee over whether he had seen the evidence to back up what Cummings said.
The PM claimed “a lot of the allegations turned out to be false”.
After avoiding the question three times, he eventually said he had seen the evidence, but he refused to pass it on to the Cabinet Secretary to investigate. Johnson added that it was “time to move on”.