A former chief prosecutor for the north-west has vowed to continue his legal fight, against Dominic Cummings including launching a private prosecution. This appears after the Durham Police rejected Nazir Afzal’s dossier which claimed that Cummings had broken national lockdown rules and driven to the North-East during the pandemic.
Nazir Afzal and his lawyers had compiled a 225-page dossier claimed that statements Cummings gave during a press conference in Downing Street’s rose garden on 25 May 2020 affected the course of justice, as they were made as Durham police’s investigation into his behaviour was already under way. The allegations included claims of multiple breaches of the lockdown rules by Cummings and his wife, Mary Wakefield. But the force has decided to take no further action.
In a brief letter letter to Afzal’s lawyers, Durham’s deputy chief constable, Dave Orford, noted, “We have considered all of the material provided. However, it does not change our decision from that outlined in our press release dated 28 May in respect of Mr Dominic Cummings and we take a similar view in relation to his wife Mary Wakefield.
“We do not consider the relevant tests are made out in relation to any potential offences raised within your submission. Therefore, Durham constabulary will be taking no further action.””
It also believed that there was “insufficient evidence” that Cummings travelled to Durham a second time on 19 April. Afzal’s lawyers claimed the evidence they presented to the force, including new material from fresh witnesses, met the legal test for such a prosecution. Durham police disagreed.
In a statement to The Guardian, Afzal said Durham police’s decision was “hugely disappointing but not surprising. It is not clear from the letter that we received whether the views of the Crown Prosecution Service were sought at all. And you will know that we submitted a 225-page submission including new evidence, especially witness evidence, of an alleged third breach [the alleged trip on 19 April] that Mr Cummings has not previously revealed.”
He further added, “I am considering with my legal team what further avenues to pursue, because millions of you would want me to. We are nothing without the rule of law, and it applies to everybody or to nobody. When I learned that one of the architects of the rules that we all rightly had to comply [with] decided to ride a coach and horse through them, and that his political masters then decided to put a ring of steel around him, I had no choice but to do what I’ve done. All the research tells us that that one act diminished public confidence in that lockdown. Justice takes time and I will carry on because you would want me to.”
