Rape trial against former head of police oversight authority Michael Lockwood begins

The former head of the police complaints authority is on trial. He is accused of sexual offences against two young girls over 30 years ago.

65-year-old Michael Lockwood from Epsom, Surrey, is accused of eight counts of sexual assault against a girl between August 1979 and August 1981.

He is also accused of three counts of rape and six counts of sexual assault of a second girl between October 1985 and March 1986.

The Old Bailey heard that the two 14-year-old girls were allegedly attacked by Mr Lockwood while he was working as a lifeguard at a leisure centre in the Hull area of ​​East Yorkshire.

Jonathan Polnay KC, opening the case for the prosecution, said the defendant was also employed as a senior auditor at Humberside County Council at the time and was 12 years older than one of his alleged victims.

“The imbalance is evident in everything – age, money, experience and, quite frankly, power,” he said.

The court heard that Mr Lockwood was walking with an alleged victim after dark, leaned over and kissed her.

It was also reported that he regularly drove her home from the leisure center, kissing her and “touching her breasts.”

The jury heard that Mr Lockwood wanted to “take things further” and, as an employee, had access to private areas of the leisure centre, such as a chemical storage room.

He took the girl there several times and attacked and raped her, Polnay said.

The court heard that Mr Lockwood did not ask her “at any point” if she wanted this to happen and that, according to the alleged victim’s statement, it “just happened” and she “did not resist”.

Mr Polnay said: “She trusted Mr Lockwood. She was afraid that if anyone found out what had happened she would get into trouble and be banned from the leisure centre.”

Many years later, the alleged victim sought counseling and decided to report the incident to the police, jurors heard.

In a police interview, the defendant denied the allegations and said he could not remember ever knowing the girl.

In another interview, Mr Lockwood speculated that the alleged victim may have been “obsessed” with him and therefore made false allegations.

From 2018 to 2022, Mr Lockwood was Director General of the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), which handles complaints against the police in England and Wales.

Because of his high-profile role, there had been “extensive reporting” that he was facing allegations of a sexual nature, the court said.

A second alleged victim read similar reports in a local newspaper and also contacted the police.

She claimed that at the age of 14, she visited the same leisure centre where she met Michael Lockwood, then 20 years old and a student at the time.

They had been “talking,” and four months after they first met, he opened the door to a men’s room, pulled her in, and kissed her.

This was the first encounter between the two, which subsequently continued in the leisure centre’s storage room, where Mr Lockwood touched her breasts, the court heard.

“She will tell you she thought she loved him,” Mr Polnay said.

After the girl turned 15, Mr Lockwood picked her up in his mother’s car and further indecent assaults occurred, the court heard.

During an interview with police, the defendant admitted to having had a sexual relationship with the girl, but said he believed she was over 16 years old at the time.

The trial, which is expected to last three weeks, will continue.