Ex-police watchdog chief cleared of historic sex offences

Michael Lockwood, 65, stood down as head of the Independent Office for Police Conduct after allegations emerged

Former IOPC director Michael Lockwood has been cleared (Jonathan Brady/PA) (PA Wire)

The former head of the police watchdog has been found not guilty of raping a girl aged 14 and sexually abusing another while he was working as a lifeguard at a leisure centre.

Michael Lockwood, 65, was cleared of 17 counts – for three rapes and 14 indecent assaults – relating to two girls between 1979 and 1986.

Jurors at London’s Old Bailey found Lockwood, who enjoyed a “distinguished” career in local government before becoming director general of the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), innocent of the historic attacks.

Lockwood was in his 20s and worked part-time at a leisure centre near Hull in East Yorkshire when it was alleged he met and sexually abused the girls.

Former Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) director general Michael Lockwood (Yui Mok/PA) (PA Archive)

It was claimed he had repeatedly raped and indecently assaulted a girl in a storeroom at the leisure centre.

Following publicity about the claims, a second woman told police he had indecently assaulted her in a male toilet and storeroom at the centre.

Mr Lockwood denied any sexual activity with the first complainant and it was alleged she must have mistaken him for another lifeguard after seeing him on the news. He accepted having a relationship with the second girl, but said nothing sexual happened until she had turned 16.

Lockwood, of Epsom, Surrey, had denied three counts of rape and six counts of indecent assault relating to the first complainant between October 1985 and March 1986. He also pleaded not guilty to eight indecent assaults on a second complainant on dates between August 1979 and August 1981.

Mr Lockwood appeared emotional in the dock and thanked the jury before they left court.

Mr Lockwood was the first person to lead the IOPC after it replaced the Police Complaints Commission in 2018. In recent years, his public profile was heightened after the murder of Sarah Everard by a Metropolitan Police officer and riots in the wake of the fatal police shooting of Chris Kaba in London.

Previously, Mr Lockwood took over responsibility for the Grenfell Tower after the fatal fire in 2017.

After the sex allegations emerged, he resigned his role as co-chairman of the Grenfell Memorial Trust.