Why aren't there angry posts about Tim Matthews admitting he made up Dominic Cummings sighting?

[NotEverythingIsBlackandWhite]

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8372911/Boris-puts-Dominic-Cummings-chance-one-witness-admits-sighting-aide.html

Tim Matthews has admitted he made up a sighting of Dominic Cummings at Barnard Castle for a joke. It wasn't a very funny joke. I haven't heard anyone laughing about and why has it taken until now to admit it was a lie?

On what grounds Lang? The police have said his trip north was legal in the circumstances. His trip to the ' outskirts of Barnard Castle' were at a time when you could drive for exercise but your period of exercise should be longer than the car drive. He claims he felt sick so they walked for 15 mins, sat by a river 15 mins and walked back. They stopped en route back and walked/ played in a wood with 4 year old. That all sounds like more time out of car than in car. Most importantly it sounded to me as if DC was very careful to follow social distancing and quarantine rules thus not putting anyone at any risk, so the risk to others now is being caused by irresponsible and inaccurate and sensationalist reporting in news and social media.

Thank you, vdbfamily, I have fact-checked. The story has indeed been distorted... by people trying to defend Cummings

Cumming explicitly claimed in the rose garden:
"Last year I wrote about the possible threat of coronaviruses and the urgent need for planning."
www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/dominic-cummings-statement-speech-transcript-durham-full-text-read-lockdown-a9531856.html

Neither he, nor "sources close to Cummings," nor any of his supporters, have yet been able to show anywhere that he wrote about coronavirus last year. They have only mentioned his blog.

He edited his blog this year to add a mention of coronavirus. He added it between 9 April and 3 May this year (probably on 14 April). He did not add any caveat that the blog had been edited.
[[Coronavirus: Why did Dominic Cummings say he predicted it?
www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52808059]]

So unless he can come up with somewhere else where he "wrote about the possible threat of coronaviruses" last year, then he almost certainly didn't.

What's more, he has clearly read that paper about lab security, because he lifted quotations for his blog. He obviously didn't feel the coronavirus bit was worth highlighting AS HE SPECIFICALLY CHOSE NOT to quote the bit about CV.

Then CV blew up... and suddenly this year he decided CV was worth a mention after all.

So no, Cummings didn't write about the threat of coronaviruses last year.

Isn't today's story the reveal that the (large' cottage Cummings stayed in was built with no planning permission and isn't registered for council tax?

Keep up, OP.

'Exempt from the rules we set for the Little People.'

His trip to the ' outskirts of Barnard Castle' were at a time when you could drive for exercise but your period of exercise should be longer than the car drive.

Except, of course, if you are showing signs of infection when you should not leave your house. He should not have left London knowing he was likely to be infected and with a symptomatic wife.

'm just questioning why, there were lots of angry posts about DC's supposed 2nd visit to Durham, which he denied, yet when it is admitted the source made it up, posters aren't angry at that perso

I suppose because DC and Boris Johnson were lying at the start and were reluctant to admit what was true.

The truth was dragged out of them.

When the allegations about Barnard Castle and the return trip were announced, Downing Street refused to respond to them.

Turns out that Barnard Castle was true but the return trip wasn't.

It would have been better for them to respond with the truth about Barnard Castle rather to have the truth dragged out of them.

The person who lied should be charged with wasting police time.

And Downing Street need to look at their actions in not confirming what was a true story.

It's always the cover up.

And it was such a stupid, unnecessary lie.

He could have stopped at "For years, I have warned of the dangers of pandemics." Or he could have missed off the "Last year" when claiming to have written about coronaviruses.

It was a completely unforced error, and it occurred in a statement that had obviously been very carefully written and appeared very heavily lawyered.

No one would have cared whether he'd written about coronaviruses. We wouldn't have cared overmuch that he'd edited his blog without warning the reader.

But sitting in the Downing Street rose garden speaking on national television attempting deceive us...

WTF?

It's irrelevant OP because of Brexit.

This was and is only about Brexit.
Not for me - I voted leave and still think Cummings should go.

What the Mail has said would be defamatory if untrue.
Not traditionally a barrier to publication for the Heil
One example from a crowded field -
www.carter-ruck.com/news/read/tamil-hunger-striker-wins-77500-against-the-daily-mail-and-the-sun

But two people have been reported in the press today as lying and in fact breaking the rules themselves when putting forward their own accusations

1 person was lying.
1 person went to collect his daughter - and there was nothing wrong with that.

But it does show that if you come forward, then the media will go for you if you discredit someone they support.

If he made something up for a laugh then he's a massive tosser. Happy now?

Changes my opinion about Cummings the liar not one ioata.

Didn't DC wife 'doctor' her spectator article where she doesn't mention the trip up North, just that they were all ill in London?

If he made something up for a laugh then he's a massive tosser. Happy now?

Changes my opinion about Cummings the liar not one ioata.
^this

"Isn't today's story the reveal that the (large' cottage Cummings stayed in was built with no planning permission and isn't registered for council tax?"

According to the Daily Mail, Johnson will sack Cummings if he's involved in another scanda so, if this latest one's true, he's finished.

@vdbfamily - clearly the press were not camped on DC’s doorstep when he decided to drive his family to Durham, or they would have caught him in the act, not found out weeks later. Obviously they are camped on his doorstep now, because he has refused to resign and thus kept himself firmly in the spotlight.

@Oakmaiden

" Your OP is also VERY inaccurate."
Why?

The report states:
"....while a supposed ‘witness’ who claimed Mr Cummings had made a second trip to the region admitted he made his statement up as a joke.

Tim Matthews said that he doctored the details on an app used by runners to record routes and times to make it seem like he had seen Mr Cummings in Durham six days after he had returned to London."

AND

Second witness admits he made up sighting ‘for comedy’

By Jacinta Taylor

"A key witness who claimed he saw Dominic Cummings on a second lockdown trip to Durham has now said that he made up the story as a joke.

Tim Matthews, a keen runner, admitted that he doctored the details on the Strava app, used by joggers and athletes to record routes and times, to make it look as if he had seen Mr Cummings on the afternoon of April 19 – five days after the Prime Minister’s aide returned to London.

The claim that Mr Cummings made a second trip north, which he denied, was reported from an unnamed source in The Observer newspaper last week.

Runner Tim Matthews, who also made a claim against Dominic Cummings' whereabouts, admitted he made the allegation up as a joke

On Monday, its sister paper, The Guardian gave details of a second witness making the same claim, reporting that: ‘Tim Matthews, a runner, has since come forward to claim he saw Cummings later that day [April 19].

The Guardian also said Mr Matthews ‘tweeted a link to a route from the running app Strava that he had dubbed “Brick Run aka Dominic Cummings Spotting Run”.

Mr Matthews posted a message that read: ‘Here’s my two potential sightings [at] Riverbanks and Houghall Woods – I’ve been banging on about them ever since.’

But speaking to The Mail on Sunday outside his semi-detached home in an affluent Durham suburb, Mr Matthews said of the Strava post: ‘I made that up afterwards, a few days ago in fact. I modified it for a little bit of comedy value.

i undid it later, I’m sorry. A bit of comedy value even if it was really inappropriate.

The Prime Minister's chief aide came under great scrutiny from the country after he was accused of breaking lockdown laws
‘The only thing that I can definitively say is that at some point during the last few months when I was out running, I had occasion to think to myself, “That’s Dominic Cummings”.

‘What I can’t tell you is any sort of timeframe other than in the last few months.’

Mr Matthews, who supports remaining in the European Union according to his comments on his social media accounts, also tweeted under a Guardian article about Mr Cummings on May 23: ‘Ask him whether he was walking along the riverbanks in Durham city on (or around) 02 April – and if so who he was walking with. “Yes” & “My parents” would be a good start. Then ask him why?’

Mr Matthews was one of two witnesses who claimed to have seen Mr Cummings admiring the bluebells in picturesque Houghall Woods on April 19.

It was reported that he was overheard remarking: ‘Aren’t the bluebells lovely?’

Mr Cummings has strenuously denied heading back to Durham following his return to London and the Prime Minister has dismissed reports of a second lockdown-breaking visit to Durham as ‘palpably false’."

@vdbfamily great post few will appreciate it though
They will however justify the lies that stirred up a mob frenzy, which means a 4 year old boy needs police protection and his home is constantly under attack.

Agreed Perking, he warned of danger of pandemics and only linked to the Coronavirus bit so not strict true but not completely fabricated.
As for driving with signs of Covid, we don't know he did do we. His trip to Barnard Castle was after he had quarantined for over 2 weeks and had been advised he was safe to return to work. The trip north, all we know is his wife had felt sick and Boris had just tested positive. Wife had felt better and there is no evidence she or child ever had Covid in all this( child tested negative in hospital) So whilst there was a high likelihood DC would have DC, we have no evidence to say he was symptomatic when he drove north.

Driving his family to Durham stirred up the media frenzy. That was something DC definitely did. The lies were totally unnecessary (as was DC driving to Durham from London, almost certainly taking coronavirus with him).

OK, I'll be angry about the "joke" sighting if you like. Bloody stupid, pointless thing to do. I do think the papers were a bit cautious about it at the time, and I remember a few people on MN hoping the Guardian had some proof but declining to get too excited in case they didn't - and as it turned out, no they didn't, because it wasn't true. I also wonder what was supposed to be amusing about it, because it really, really isn't funny by any stretch of anyone's imagination

What it could have been quite useful for was causing confusion and doubt about the genuine visit. Is this the sort of person who would be on that side? Or is he just very stupid/has a strangely warped sense of humour? Haven't seen much about him on any source I'm prepared to click on.

People I've spoken to in RL don't seem to have paid much attention to the alleged repeat visit anyway, so not too much harm is likely to have been done. If no police time was wasted investigating it then I don't know what they can do about him. It's a sin though, bearing false witness, and it does no good to Mr Matthews's personal credibility from now on forever.

Bottom line: What a twit.

The fact is that Cummings drove from London to Durham when he / his wife declared they were sick and were supposed to be self isolating and not leaving their home. No excuse for his behaviour. The mail are just trying to get him off the hook.

Your OP is also VERY inaccurate

Why?

Cos you said barnham castle and not Durham

"So whilst there was a high likelihood DC would have DC, we have no evidence to say he was symptomatic when he drove north."

The 14 day isolation rule for family members is there for a reason. It doesn't matter if they were symptomatic: they must isolate for 14 days.

Oh, and if his wife felt better when they left and probably didn’t even have coronavirus, then that doesn’t make driving to Durham when you have been told to stay at home any more acceptable!

So let me get this right...

The 2nd trip to Durham (which never happened) was corroborated by:

a) Someone who said they made it up for a laugh
b)And Tim Mathews who doctored his Strava running app

So 2 people falsified this sighting?

That's very unlucky for Cummings, isn't it..

2 people - one doing it for a laugh and one who doctored his running app.

Zen....they did not go out for 2 weeks when they got there. He had been declared fit to return to work before day trip.

vdbfamily - so driving to Durham doesn’t count as going out, then?