Michael Lockwood: Former police chief allegedly raped 14-year-old girl in pantry, court told

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A former head of a police supervisory authority is said to have raped a 14-year-old girl in the storage room of a leisure center and sexually abused her in the back seat of his Ford Capri, a court heard.

Michael Lockwood, 65, denies 17 previous sexual assaults – three rapes and 14 sexual assaults – involving two 14-year-old girls between 1979 and 1986.

Lockwood had a “distinguished” career in local government before becoming director general of the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), the watchdog for complaints about police in England and Wales.

One of the alleged victims, now in his 50s, said Lockwood was in his twenties at the time of the abuse and worked part-time as a lifeguard at a leisure centre near Hull in East Yorkshire.

She claims she was repeatedly raped and indecently assaulted in a chemical locker after being offered a ride in Lockwood’s car.

The Old Bailey heard that police had been looking for a second woman after reading about the initial allegations against Lockwood in the Hull Daily Mail.

She met him in the late 1970s and continued to be with him after her 16th birthday because she believed they were in a “real relationship”, the court heard on Friday.

In a police interview played in court, she said she found Lockwood “wonderful” and “loved” him.

She said he knew her age because he had helped her with maths before she took her GCSEs while he was studying at Hull University.

Now she felt like she had been “cared for.”

She said he must have known her age because of her exams, adding: “I did not lie about my age.”

During her testimony in court, the woman read a list of Lockwood’s “likes” and “dislikes” that she had written in her fourth-grade school notebook.

The list of likes included his “personality,” “butt,” and “hairy chest,” and the dislikes included “never goes anywhere,” “the way he treats me,” and “he lies.”

Under cross-examination, Sarah Elliott KC asked how the woman felt when she first learned that Lockwood had been charged with offences against another girl in the 1980s.

Ms Elliott said: ‘One of the things that must have been going through your mind was whether there was some kind of overlap between the allegations and your relationship with him?

“The thought that there might be someone else must have troubled you at the time when you thought you were in a committed relationship with him?”

The woman, whose identity cannot be disclosed for legal reasons, replied: “I was worried.”

She further said that she learned that Lockwood was engaged to someone after she started dating him.

It is alleged that Lockwood dragged her into a men’s toilet at the leisure centre where he kissed and touched her sexually. Jurors heard that this was common knowledge among fellow lifeguards and they sang about being “locked in the toilet” together.

It is also alleged that Lockwood sexually abused the girl in the back seat of his mother’s car after her 15th birthday.

The court heard that their relationship ended when Lockwood moved to Epsom in Surrey.

In a police interview last year, Lockwood said he was “shocked and dismayed” by the woman’s allegations. While he acknowledged the pair had a sexual relationship, he stressed that at the time he believed she was over 16.

He pleaded not guilty to eight counts of indecent assault against the witness between August 1979 and August 1981.

Lockwood, of Epsom, Surrey, also denies three counts of rape and six counts of sexual assault in relation to the other complainant between October 1985 and March 1986.

The trial continues at the Old Bailey before Judge Bennathan.