Teacher who called police on Cummings drove 250 miles to get his daughter
A RETIRED teacher who reported Dominic Cummings to the police for allegedly breaking lockdown rules has admitted driving 250 miles to collect his daughter during the coronavirus crisis.
Robin Lees drove from his home in Barnard Castle, County Durham, to pick up his student daughter, Elizabeth, who had been self-isolating at her boyfriend’s home in Ascot, Berkshire, after returning from an extended study trip to Canada.
It is understood that Elizabeth, a geography undergraduate at University College London, returned to the UK at the end of March.
Police officers from Durham Constabulary took a statement from Mr Lees on Bank Holiday Monday after he reported seeing Mr Cummings and his wife strolling by the banks of the River Tees in Barnard Castle on April 12.
Mr Cummings, who said his vision had been adversely affected after he fell ill with a suspected case of Covid-19, admitted making the trip with his wife Mary to test his eyesight prior to driving back to London.
But The Mail on Sunday can reveal that just days before speaking to the police, Mr Lees broke lockdown regulations himself by making a 526-mile round-trip to collect his daughter and bring her back to the family home.
Measures announced by Boris Johnson on May 11 included an easing of travel restrictions to allow people to drive as far as they wanted. But this was only if they were going to an outdoors location and as long as the social distancing protocol was observed.
There wasn’t any change in the guidelines for allowing relatives who are not normally resident in the family home to move in.
Last night 71-year-old Mr Lees, who taught chemistry prior to his retirement, vigorously denied that he had been in breach of any rules.
Asked if he had driven to Ascot, he replied: ‘I did, but that was after the regulations changed. My daughter self-isolated in London for seven or eight weeks. I waited until we were told we could drive anywhere in the country.
‘My daughter came back from Canada and isolated in London. She never came home for seven weeks. I didn’t break any lockdown rules. I went and collected her after we were told we could.’
He added: ‘I tell the truth and I do not like this intrusion into my family and this is absolutely nothing to do with them. I did not break any lockdown rules.’
Mr Lees refused to say exactly when he made the journey to collect his daughter, but insisted that it was after May 11. Elizabeth was seen outside the house last Thursday morning. He said: ‘I do object to my family being involved. This is nothing to do with my family, right? I have had a lot of stuff on Twitter.
‘I gave my name for something I saw which has been lied about. Total lies, follow that up. Nothing to do with me. I have kept to the rules throughout, I have walked once a day.’ When asked what lies he was referring to, Mr Lees said: ‘That he came here to test his eyesight, everybody knows that.’
The Government’s Covid-19 recovery strategy, which came into force on May 13, does allow travel for outdoor exercise. It states that ‘people may drive to outdoor open spaces irrespective of distance, so long as they respect social distancing guidance while they are there’.
However, with regard to social and family contact, the 61-page document says ‘the Government has asked Sage to examine whether, when and how it can safely change the regulations to allow people to expand the household group to include one other household in the same exclusive group’.
It adds in a later section: ‘Over the coming weeks, the Government will engage on the nature and timing of the measures in this step, in order to consider the widest possible array of views on how best to balance the health, economic and social effects.’