1/ Durham Police official statement about #cummings : "Durham Constabulary have examined the circumstances surrounding the journey to Barnard Castle ... and have concluded that there might have been a minor breach of the Regulations that would have warranted police intervention.
2/ "Durham Constabulary view this as minor because there was no apparent breach of social distancing.
3/ "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 ...
4/ ... ", 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.
5/ "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."
/6 The section of the statement in Tweets 1-5 relate to the journey to Barnard Castle. Durham Police also talk about Mr Cumming's initial journey to Durham from London on March 27 ...
/7 "Durham Constabulary does not consider that by locating himself at his father’s premises, Mr Cummings committed an offence contrary to regulation 6 of the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) Regulations 2020.
/8 " (We are concerned here with breaches of the Regulations, not the general Government guidance to “stay at home”.)"
/9 Durham Police also say "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."
/10 to sum up - going to Durham apparently didn't constitute an offence (police stress they only care about offences, not ignoring general guidance) but visit to Barnard Castle "might have been a minor breach of the Regulations that would have warranted police intervention"
