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Saturday 31 October 2020

Polecat Prosecution May Proceed

Alleged Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson has become highly dependent on a coterie of unelected advisors since last year’s General Election. And at the top of this particular pyramid sits chief Downing Street polecat Dominic Cummings. Without Dom, Bozo would be in trouble. And if he has any sense, that is a scenario which he would do well to anticipate - because there is a move to prosecute Cummings.


In the early days of the Coronavirus pandemic, and the subsequent national lockdown, it was revealed that while many were obeying the rules, Polecat Dom, wife Mary Wakefield and their young child were flagrantly breaching them. Instead of self-isolating at home in London after contracting Covid-19 symptoms, they had got into their reassuringly expensive SUV and driven 250 miles north to Durham.

Only when the Mirror and Guardian put witness evidence before the public did Cummings come clean. Now it seems he may not have come clean enough: former regional chief prosecutor Nazir Afzal, who lost his brother to Covid-19, has been gathering witness statements and picking apart Cummings’ excuses. As a result, he has complied a significantly-sized dossier of material which is now in the hands of the Police.

As the Guardian has reported, “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 … 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”. And there was more.

Nazir Afzal

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”. Other papers have picked up on the story.

To no surprise, the Mirror is one of them. “The CPS will usually bring a prosecution if the legal criteria for doing so - known as the CPS ‘Full Code Test’ - are satisfied … In the submission, Mr Afzal’s lawyers claim eye-witness accounts and the explanations given by Mr Cummings show he was responsible for six breaches of lockdown regulations … It calls for police to obtain phone and CCTV records and licence plate tracking to more firmly establish the sequence of events around the trip”. Even the Mail is running it.

Their report tells usMr Afzal's dossier is based on new eyewitness claims said to be 'wholly inconsistent' with the account that Mr Cummings gave when he admitted travelling to the North East during the lockdown … Mr Cummings faced fury when it emerged that he drove from London to Durham, and then took a separate 60-mile round trip to a local beauty spot despite having Covid symptoms”. Why are they running it? Simples.

Mail readers had to obey the rules. They, like those buying the Guardian and Mirror, were just as outraged when Cummings was caught breaking them and pleasing himself.

So now it’s over to the cops and CPS. Is it still one rule for us, and another for Polecats?


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5 comments:

Nigel Stapley said...

Nothing will happen. The ruling class will form the SUVs into a circle, and Suella Braverman-thsn-I-am is Attorney General.

AndyC said...

Can you imagine the desperate 'leaning-on' of interested parties by Downing Street that is now happening? If it emerges that pressure is being applied on the CPS, Durham police, witnesses, etc to make this go away, it will be another example of that adage from the Watergate scandal, the cover-up of the crime was worse than the crime itself. A mea culpa right at the start, as unlikely as that would have been from Cummings, followed by a light slap on the wrist, would have put this affair to bed for good. But no, the brain of No. 10 thought, helped by a tory press, that admissions of guilt are for losers, and rules are for the little people. I really hope this does end up with at least a hefty fine at best and jail time as even better best.

Anonymous said...

Sadly, I think the phrase "chinny reckon" applies here.

JennyfromStepney said...

Surely there must be cars in Durham with dash cams?

The toffee (597) said...

Just as well stammers not DPP anymore...after green & green...Sorry, green & fox...D'OH!

Force of habit; I mean after refusing to prosecute both green AND shapps, stammer's be looking for his hat-trick by refusing to charge the mekon.