Second child sex charge for former police watchdog
THE former head of Britain’s police watchdog has been charged with sexually abusing a second child.
Michael Lockwood, who has already denied raping a 14year- old girl, has now been accused of indecent assault by a new victim who claims she was attacked while he was a student 40 years ago.
It brings the total number of charges he faces to 17 historic sexual offences relating to two children under 16.
In 2018, Lockwood, now 65, was appointed by the home secretary as the first head of the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), which investigates serious complaints and allegations of misconduct.
But he was forced to stand down in December 2022 after it emerged that police were investigating historical allegations of sexual abuse against him, dating to when he was a part-time lifeguard and fitness coach at a Hull sports centre.
The married father-of-two was later charged with raping a 14year- old girl between October 1985 and March 1986 in a storeroom at the leisure centre where he worked. Last week he appeared at the Old Bailey to deny nine offences.
Yesterday it was revealed that he has now been charged with eight counts of indecent assault between 1979 and 1981, when he was a geography and history undergraduate at Hull University and the alleged victim was under 16. The first hearing took place at Hull Magistrates’ Court on March 13 and the case has been sent to the Old Bailey, where he is expected to enter pleas next month.
Humberside Police spent a year probing the original allegations, which were shrouded
‘Forced to stand down’
in secrecy until he was charged with three rape offences and six counts of indecent assault on a girl under 16.
Now it has emerged that the force had quietly been probing the abuse allegations reported by the second complainant.
The IOPC is due to publish a review into ‘whether appropriate steps were taken’ before Lockwood resigned from the £190,000-a-year police watchdog role.