Found not guilty of raping a 14-year-old girl and sexually abusing another while serving as a lifeguard at a leisure centre is the former director of the police watchdog, Michael Lockwood.
Clear of 17 counts, including three rapes and 14 indecent assaults, Michael Lockwood, 65, related to two girls between 1979 and 1986.
Michael Lockwood, who had a “distinctive” career in local government before becoming Director General of the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), was cleared of the historic attacks by jurors at London’s Old Bailey.
Michael Lockwood, in his 20s, worked part-time at a leisure centre close to Hull in East Yorkshire when it was claimed he met and sexually mistreated the girls.
It was claimed he had indecently attacked a girl in a leisure centre’s storage on several occasions, including rape.
A second lady told police he had indecently attacked her in a male restroom and storage at the institution following publicised claims.
Mr Michael Lockwood said she may have mistook him for another lifeguard after watching him on the television and denied any sexual interaction with the first woman. He agreed to be in a relationship with the second girl, but mentioned nothing about sex until she reached sixteen.
Between October 1985 and March 1986, Michael Lockwood, of Epsom, Surrey, denied three counts of rape and six counts of indecent assault about the first accuser. On periods between August 1979 and August 1981, he also entered not guilty to eight indecent attacks on a second complainant.
Emotional in the dock, Mr. Michael Lockwood thanked the jurors before they left the court.
Following the IOPC’s replacement by the Police Complaints Commission in 2018, Mr Lockwood was the inaugural leader of the body. Following the murder of Sarah Everard by a Metropolitan Police officer and riots following Chris Kaba’s fatal police shooting in London, his public profile rose recently.
Following the deadly incident in 2017, Mr Michael Lockwood formerly assumed responsibility for the Grenfell Tower.
Michael Lockwood quit co-chairman of the Grenfell Memorial Trust once the sex claims surfaced.
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