UK ex-police watchdog chief charged with raping teenage girl

British prosecutors have authorised sexual offence charges against Michael Lockwood, the former director general of the Independent Office for Police Conduct, according to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

The charges authorised on Friday against Lockwood are six counts of indecent assault and three offences of rape against a girl under the age of 16, the CPS said.The crimes were allegedly committed between October 1985 and March 1986.

The 64-year-old resigned from his role at the IOPC in December last year after it emerged he was the subject of a police probe.

“After carefully considering all of the evidence provided to us by Humberside Police, we have authorised charges against Michael Lockwood, 64, for nine offences under the Sexual Offences Act 1956,” said Rosemary Ainslie, head of the Special Crime Division at the CPS.

“Mr Lockwood has been charged with six counts of indecent assault and three offences of rape against a girl under the age of 16, alleged to have been committed during the 1980s,” she added.
Police officers are being accused of rape at a rate of one a week in the UK, according to the report published on Thursday by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ) and Channel 5 broadcaster.

Over the past five years, more than 300 British officers have been reported for rape and 500 for sexual assault, the report said.

Only 10 of those accused of sexual assault have been convicted. The vast majority – 350 – are still working for the police, it added.