Former police watchdog boss on trial charged with three rapes and 14 sex assaults on girls

The former boss of the police watchdog allegedly sexually abused two 14-year-old girls between 1979 and 1986, a court has been told.

Michael Lockwood, 65, was the director-general of the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) from 2017 to 2022.

Lockwood is accused of three rapes and 14 indecent assaults on two girls between 1979 and 1986.

The married father-of-two denies all the charges.

The Old Bailey heard from one woman who said she was groomed by him at the age of 14 and went on to become his girlfriend when he worked at a leisure centre near Hull, where he worked as a lifeguard.

She said Lockwood would take her into a toilet cubicle to touch her breasts when she was 14 in 1979 or 1980, with indecent assaults on eight occasions, when she was 14 or 15.

The court was told it was even common knowledge among staff what he did and they sang about them being "locked in the lavatory".

Lockwood even went to her home to help her with schoolwork before she sat exams, she said.

They had sex after she became 16, when he was 22, the court was told.

The court heard that the woman wrote at the time in a school exercise book about Lockwood, saying she disliked how he treated her, that he lied and never went anywhere.

She also said she liked his "personality, bum and hairy chest".

Lockwood worked at the leisure centre while a university student before moving into a career in local government, before he landed his role at the police watchdog in October 2017 after being the chief executive of Harrow Council.

He remained at the leisure centre part time after going into local government, the court heard.

Lockwood is also alleged to have offered another teenage girl lifts in a Ford Capri before she was raped in a storeroom at the leisure while he was aged 26 in the mid 1980s.

He as also a senior auditor at Humberside County Council at the time.

When questioned by police, Lockwood admitted having sex with the first alleged victim, who became his girlfriend, but insisted their relationship did not begin until she was 16.

He denied raping the other girl, saying he has no memory of meeting her, but suggested she may have been obsessed with him.

Lockwood told the court: "I know for certain that I never had sexual intercourse with anyone in the leisure centre.

"I do not recall there being a store cupboard on the ground floor. There may have been, but I would never have jeopardised my career or job by having sexual intercourse with anyone, anywhere at a public place."

The trial continues.