A man has told Sky News he saw someone who “looked like” Dominic Cummings on a family walk 25 miles outside of Durham during lockdown.

Retired chemistry teacher Robin Lees wrote down what he described as a “distinctive” number plate.

Boris Johnson’s top adviser had already admitted that he drove 260 miles from London to Durham with his wife and young son in late March to self-isolate at a family property.

The government defended Mr Cummings by saying the trip was necessary because both he and his wife had coronavirus symptoms and they needed family to help with childcare for their four-year-old son.

But in new allegations published on Saturday night, he was reportedly spotted in Houghall Woods near his parents’ Durham home on 19 April.

A week earlier, he was allegedly seen on a walk with his family in Barnard Castle, 25 miles away from the city.

However no photographic evidence has been published, and the reports are based on the testimonies of two eyewitnesses.

One of them, Mr Lees, told Sky News he spotted Mr Cummings and his family walking by the River Tees near Barnard Castle.

“I saw somebody that looked like him on the 12 April and it just looked strange, as at that time there were not that many people out,” he said.

Mr Lees says he has a “photographic memory”.

During an interview on Sophy Ridge On Sunday, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said claims that Mr Cummings broke the lockdown twice are “completely untrue”, adding that the PM’s most senior adviser had stayed put in the capital after returning on 14 April.

He told Sophy Ridge: “I certainly know that the first one you mention, of travelling back up (to Durham), I know that is not true.”

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