An ‘ordinary citizen’ who launched a legal challenge over Dominic Cummings’ lockdown trips to Durham is appealing after the case was rejected by the High Court.
Martin Redston is seeking a judicial review over the decision not to investigate possible Covid-19 breaches by the prime minister’s top aide during the nation’s first lockdown.
Mr Redston said he is pressing on with the backing of a crowdfunding campaign after his case against the Director of Public Prosecutions, Max Hill QC, was rejected.
Although Durham Constabulary has investigated the matter, Mr Redston, an engineer, argues that possible breaches of the rules should also have been investigated by the Met Police.
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He told Metro.co.uk: ‘The fundamental point is that this is a matter of human rights because we had all given them up or had them abrogated, in some cases by not going to the pub, while in others it was in tragic and difficult circumstances.
‘People played by the rules and didn’t go and see loved ones who were dying.
‘Yet here is a central person in Government breaking the lockdown despite his boss saying beforehand to stay at home, who has driven up the M1, possibly stopping for a coffee along the way.’
Mr Cummings caused a national outcry after he drove 260 miles from London to his parents’ farm in Durham on March 27 after his wife displayed coronavirus symptoms.
Two weeks later, he visited Barnard Castle, 30 miles away, for what he has said was an eyesight test to check if his vision was good enough to drive home.
The chief adviser has maintained that he behaved reasonably and lawfully, making the trip because he feared the couple would need childcare for their four-year-old son if he also fell ill.
Boris Johnson received significant backlash from the public and his own party for choosing to stand by his top adviser, insisting that he acted ‘responsibly’ and ‘with integrity’.
Mr Redston, from Willesden Green, north London, said he did not consider himself a campaigner or an activist but an ‘ordinary citizen and a member of the community’.
He added: ‘There is an enormous amount of paperwork, but the appeal was finished yesterday and we are putting in the appeal today, within the seven-day judicial timescale.’
Michael Mansfield QC, acting for Mr Redston, said at a High Court hearing on November 3 that Mr Cummings had appeared to ‘evade any genuine scrutiny for his actions due to government associations’ and that this was ‘undermining of respect for the rule of law’.
The human rights barrister argued that the ‘Cummings effect’ had reduced public faith in the Covid-19 restrictions, while the ‘Cummings defence’ was being used by people to justify breaking the law.
He alleged that the prime minister’s top aide had committed ‘at least once offence’ which was investigated by police in Durham but a ‘potential offence’ related to the start of his journey in London had not been scrutinised.
Mr Redston is funding his legal challenge with a crowdfunding campaign, which has so far raised more than £44,700.
The Crown Prosecution Service has said the case is ‘a matter for the police’ but the Met Police responded saying it does not conduct ‘retrospective’ investigations of alleged Covid-19 breaches.
Durham Constabulary stated in May that it was taking no further action as no offence had been committed other than a possible ‘minor’ breach of regulations that would only have resulted in him receiving words of advice from an officer.
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