Former IOPC head Michael Lockwood acquitted of 1980s rape charges involving two girls
Lockwood resigned as director of watchdog in 2022 after being accused of assaulting 14-year-olds
A former chief of the England and Wales police watchdog has been cleared of raping and molesting two 14-year-old girls 40 years ago.
Michael Lockwood, 65, resigned from his job as director general of the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) in December 2022 after allegations first emerged.
It was claimed he had repeatedly raped and indecently assaulted a girl in a storeroom at a leisure centre near Hull where he worked as a lifeguard in the 1980s.
After publicity about the claims, a second woman told police Lockwood had indecently assaulted her in a male toilet and storeroom at the centre.
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 had a relationship with the second girl, but said nothing sexual had happened until she turned 16.
A jury at the Old Bailey in London deliberated for nearly 10 hours to find Lockwood, of Epsom in Surrey, not guilty of 17 charges relating to both women, who are now in their 50s.
He was cleared of three rapes and six indecent assaults on the first complainant and eight indecent assaults on the second.
Lockwood appeared emotional in the dock and thanked the jury before they left court.
The court had heard Lockwood allegedly met the schoolgirls when he worked part-time as a lifeguard and was either studying at the University of Hull or working as an auditor for Humberside county council.
The first complainant said she had naively thought she was in a “proper relationship” when he first kissed her, jurors heard. It was claimed he indecently assaulted her as he dropped her at home in his Ford Capri, and that he repeatedly raped her in the storeroom at the leisure centre.
Giving evidence, she said: “It was only when I had children that I started to realise it probably was not my fault. The awareness was growing that it was abuse and it was not a consensual relationship.”
She said she felt compelled to report Lockwood years later, but that she took “no joy” from the impact it had on him. She told jurors: “I was feeling emotionally vulnerable. I knew at some point I would need to deal with this. I knew it would be opening a can of worms.
“I could not get closure without reporting and it was something I had to do. What happened back then were his choices, they were not mine.”
It was alleged the second complainant’s relationship with Lockwood overlapped his engagement to his university girlfriend and the alleged offences against the first woman, although the defendant denied it.
It was claimed Lockwood would pull her into a male toilet cubicle at the centre, where he kissed and sexually touched her, later using the storeroom. Jurors heard it was “common knowledge” among fellow lifeguards, who sang a nursery rhyme about them being “locked in the lavatory” together.
But giving evidence, Lockwood said he was “absolutely shocked” when confronted with the allegations.
He said he did not recognise the name of the first complainant and was “particularly upset” by the second woman’s claims because she was an ex-girlfriend. He told jurors: “It was somebody I loved. It was a longstanding relationship.”
On their age gap, he said: “I thought at the time she acted maturely in a grown-up way. I was quite immature at that age.”
The defendant, who is married with two children, denied having any sexual activity with the first complainant and said he would never have had sex with a 14-year-old or taken advantage of anyone.
Lockwood was the first person to lead the IOPC after it replaced the Independent Police Complaints Commission in 2018. His public profile was heightened after the murder of Sarah Everard by a Metropolitan police officer and riots after the fatal police shooting of Chris Kaba in London.
Previously, Lockwood had taken over responsibility for Grenfell Tower after the fatal fire in 2017. After the sexual assault allegations emerged, he resigned his role as a co-chair of the Grenfell Memorial Trust.
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