“The case related to an infamous incident, at the time of the first national lockdown in March and April 2020, when the Prime Minister’s Chief Adviser, Mr Dominic Cummings, drove with his family to County Durham and, whilst there, went on a day trip to Barnard Castle. An application for judicial review of the DPP’s failure to make use of an alleged power to refer the case to the police, prompted the Divisional Court to analyse the position of the Crown Prosecution Service as an independent public prosecution body and its relationship with the police. The Court also considered the duty of public bodies to act independently and transparently and the requirement placed on them by section 6 of the Human Rights Act 1998 not to act incompatibly with Convention rights.”
ADDED Monday 11th January 2021
