The scientist that caused panic on both sides of the Atlantic and convinced Prime Minister Boris Johnson to start locking down the UK has been forced to resign from his role after he breached his own restrictions to romp with his married lover.
Professor Neil Ferguson, 51, arraigned for, Antonia Staats, married with two children, 38 to travel across London to have “visit” at his home despite the strict lockdown in the city.
The Dailymail reports:
Prof Ferguson, an Imperial College epidemiologist and a member of the SAGE committee that advises the government on tackling the pandemic, leads a team which produced the research that led to lockdown, with their findings suggesting 500,000 Britons could die without strict restrictions being put in place.
However, despite his repeated demands that the public follow lockdown measures, he himself met with his lover on at least two occasions.
The first of Ms Staat’s visits to Prof Ferguson was on Monday March 30, a week into coronavirus lockdown.
It coincided with a public warning by Prof Ferguson that the lockdown measures would have to remain until at least June.
Ms Staats, who is a left-wing campaigner, made a second visit to Prof Ferguson on April 8, despite telling friends that she suspected her own husband, an academic in his 30s, had symptoms of coronavirus.
Ferguson had Staats visit him just after he had tested positive for the coronavirus and had finished two weeks of self-isolation. Just a few weeks after his second visit Ferguson declared that deaths in the UK would reach 100,000. The whole time he was telling the people of England to stay inside, he was trucking his mistress to his house.
Once the news went public Professor Ferguson resigned, “I accept I made an error of judgment and took the wrong course of action. I have therefore stepped back from my involvement in Sage [the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies].
“I acted in the belief that I was immune, having tested positive for coronavirus, and completely isolated myself for almost two weeks after developing symptoms.”
“I deeply regret any undermining of the clear messages around the continued need for social distancing to control this devastating epidemic. The Government guidance is unequivocal, and is there to protect all of us.”
