Jury in historic sex case of former head of police oversight authority is undecided

A jury has retired to deliberate on the verdict in the case against the former head of the police oversight authority, who is accused of raping and sexually assaulting two 14-year-old girls about 40 years ago.

65-year-old Michael Lockwood faces 17 charges – three rapes and 14 sexual assaults against two girls between 1979 and 1986.

He was in his twenties at the time and worked part-time at a leisure centre near Hull in East Yorkshire, where he allegedly met and sexually abused the girls, the Old Bailey heard.

The first plaintiff, now in her 50s, claimed she was repeatedly raped in a pantry and indecently abused in Lockwood’s Ford Capri.

The second plaintiff alleged that Lockwood indecently assaulted her after her 15th birthday in a men’s restroom and a storage room at the recreation center, as well as in the back seat of his mother’s car.

Lockwood admitted to having a romantic relationship with her, but claimed it began later, when she was 16 years old.

Lockwood denies having sex with the first plaintiff.

Lockwood denied taking advantage of anyone or having sex with a 14-year-old girl.

According to the jury, Lockwood resigned from his post as director of the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), the watchdog for complaints about the police in England and Wales, after the first allegations against him emerged.

The defendant, from Epsom in Surrey, denies three counts of rape and six counts of sexual assault in connection with the other plaintiff between October 1985 and March 1986.

Lockwood pleaded not guilty to eight counts of indecent assault on the woman during dates between August 1979 and August 1981.

At 2:18 p.m. on Thursday, Judge Bennathan sent the jury out to begin deliberating on the verdict.

After two hours of deliberation, the presiding judge sent the jury home and asked them to return on Friday at 10:00 a.m.