From Barnard Castle to Beergate: Durham police chief at centre of national row again

‘We could not be influenced by the huge political feeling about him as an individual,’ said Jo Farrell about the decision not to question Cummings. Photograph: Facebook

Her appointment made history as she became Durham police’s first female chief constable.

But for a second time during her three-year tenure, Jo Farrell has found herself at the centre of a national row over a police investigation that could have consequences for the UK’s political landscape.