'Dominic Cummings should be ashamed - I missed my brother's funeral in lockdown'

A grieving woman who couldn't attend her brother's funeral due to the coronavirus lockdown law has hit out at Dominic Cummings for breaking rules aimed at saving lives.

Government guidelines that Mr Cummings helped to create meant Diane Nowell couldn't visit or grieve with her heartbroken parents after her brother, aged in his early 60s, died in hospital in early May.

His final days were spent on a coronavirus-free ward and his family was told only one relative could be with him and they would have to then self-isolate for 14 days due to measures intended to curb the spread of Covid-19.

In a blistering takedown in the Guardian, Ms Nowell reflected on not being able to comfort her parents, in their 80s, as they shielding at home, writing: "The apparent insouciance with which he travelled the length of the country for reasons most people would judge less pressing than the death of an immediate family member.

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"How can the government say it was OK for him to do that, while having asked so much of the rest of us? How are we to think now of the sacrifices we made? Were they in vain – or were we just not important enough to be permitted to bend the rules?"

Boris Johnson has refused to sack his chief adviser and Mr Cummings has refused to resign amid public fury and calls for him to go.

Mr Cummings, 48, travelled from London to his parents' home in Durham with his wife, journalist Mary Wakefield, and four-year-old son in late March.

It came after Ms Wakefield developed Covid-19 symptoms. Downing Street said Mr Cummings developed symptoms on March 28 or 29.

Durham police visited his parents' Durham home on March 31 after learning that an "individual" was there after making the trip from London despite the lockdown guidelines that warned against long-distance journeys.

The Government was urging families to isolate at home if any member developed symptoms and telling Britons not to have any contact with elderly relatives or anyone from outside their household.

Mr Cummings denies any wrongdoing and it is claimed he feared he and his wife wanted to be closer to his family because they feared they would be left unable to care for their son.

There are new claims that he made a second trip to the North East in April, having already returned to London following his recovery from Covid-19 symptoms.

Durham police have now been asked to formally investigate the Prime Minister's top adviser.

Mr Cummings' actions have shown that the rules are "optional" for some of us, Ms Nowell wrote, adding: "The Dominic Cummingses among us don’t have to play by the same rules, accept the same privations, make the same provisions. They can flout the rules because they make the rules. It’s the kind of exceptionalism that could be the death of us."

Ms Nowell, a writer, told how her brother didn't get the funeral he deserved and her family couldn't grieve properly due to the Government's lockdown measures.

By not attending, it feels like "none of this has happened", she wrote.

She hoped to deliver a eulogy in person but her parents asked her not to travel because it wasn't worth the risk of spreading or contracting the virus.

Her parents didn't attend the funeral and remained in self-isolation at home because they feared it would put them at risk.

Only a "handful" of mourners, including another brother, were present, she added, and they followed social distancing rules and sat apart from each other.

In her opinion column, Ms Nowell paid tribute to Britons who are making big sacrifices to protect others, including healthcare staff who are apart from their families due to the risks that come with working on the frontline of the crisis.

Durham Police has been asked to "establish the facts concerning any potential breach of the law" surrounding Mr Cummings' visit to the county.

In a statement, the force's acting police, crime and victims' commissioner Steve White said: "I am confident that thus far, Durham police has responded proportionately and appropriately to the issues raised concerning Mr Cummings and his visit to the County at the end of March.

"It is clear however that there is a plethora of additional information circulating in the public domain which deserves appropriate examination.

"I have today written to the Chief Constable, asking her to establish the facts concerning any potential breach of the law or regulations in this matter at any juncture.

"It is vital that the force can show it has the interests of the people of County Durham and Darlington at its heart, so that the model of policing by consent, independent of government but answerable to the law, is maintained.

"It will be for the Chief Constable to determine the operational response to this request and I am confident that with the resources at its disposal, the force can show proportionality and fairness in what has become a major issue of public interest and trust."