The Prime Minister’s senior adviser may have breached lockdown regulations when he travelled to Barnard Castle, a police investigation has found.
Dominic Cummings admitted to making the 50-mile round trip on April 12 with his wife and four-year-old son to check his eyesight was okay for travelling back to London.
Mr Cummings has said that he acted “lawfully and reasonably” after coming under fire for making a 260-mile trip from London to his parents’ County Durham farm in March.
He said the reason for returning to the North East was because his wife had developed coronavirus symptoms and they had issues around childcare if they both became unwell.
Detectives have interviewed a key witness and tracked the movements of Mr Cummings' car using automatic number plate recognition software to check where cameras have caught a vehicle.
Durham Constabulary has said it doesn’t consider Mr Cummings locating to Durham an offence but said the trip to Barnard Castle may have been a “minor breach” of the lockdown rules.
In a statement released by the force, it states: “Durham Constabulary have examined the circumstances surrounding the journey to Barnard Castle (including ANPR, witness evidence and a review of Mr Cummings’ press conference on 25 May 2020) and have concluded that there might have been a minor breach of the Regulations that would have warranted police intervention.
“Durham Constabulary view this as minor because there was no apparent breach of social distancing.
"Had a Durham Constabulary police officer stopped Mr Cummings driving to or from Barnard Castle, the officer would have spoken to him, and, having established the facts, likely advised Mr Cummings to return to the address in Durham, providing advice on the dangers of travelling during the pandemic crisis.
“Had this advice been accepted by Mr Cummings, no enforcement action would have been taken.
"In line with Durham Constabulary’s general approach throughout the pandemic, there is no intention to take retrospective action in respect of the Barnard Castle incident since this would amount to treating Mr Cummings differently from other members of the public.
“Durham Constabulary has not taken retrospective action against any other person.
"By way of further context, Durham Constabulary has followed Government guidance on management of alleged breaches of the regulations with the emphasis on the NPCC and College of Policing 4Es: Engage, Explain and Encourage before Enforcement.
It added: “Finally, commentary in the media has suggested that Mr Cummings was in Durham on 19 April 2020.
"Mr Cummings denies this and Durham Constabulary have seen insufficient evidence to support this allegation.
“Therefore Durham Constabulary will take no further action in this matter and has informed Mr Cummings of this decision.”
Acting Durham Police, Crime and Victims’ Commissioner, Steve White said he’s grateful to the Chief Constable for the work that the constabulary has conducted in extremely difficult circumstances and the comprehensive and proportionate consideration of the facts.
He added: “I felt it important that the people of Durham and Darlington could see that the force is, and remains fair in its approach to policing the issues arising out of the Covid-19 crisis and that it will continue to police without fear or favour.”
“I am sure that the communities across the force area will continue to do their very best in preventing the spread of this disease and will continue to support the Force as it works hard to decipher and provide education to the public as it polices the changing advice, regulations and legislation.
“Clarity is paramount if we are to defeat this threat, and clarity has now been provided by the force in relation to the matter concerning Mr Cummings as things stood on the dates in question.”
A Number 10 spokesman said: “The Prime Minister has said he believes Mr Cummings behaved reasonably and legally given all the circumstances and he regards this issue as closed”.
