Michael Lockwood
In July 2024, Michael Lockwood, first director of the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), was found not guilty of 17 historical counts of rape and sexual abuse. Michael, 65, of Epsom, Surrey, was accused regarding the period he worked at a leisure centre near Hull when he was in his 20s. It was alleged Michael ‘repeatedly raped and indecently assaulted’ a girl in a storeroom at the leisure centre where he worked as a lifeguard in the 1980s.
One of the complainants was Michael’s ex girlfriend, which he found particularly distressing. He said he did not recognise the name of the first complainant and was “particularly upset” by the second woman’s claims because she was an ex-girlfriend. He told the court: “It was somebody I loved. It was a longstanding relationship." He appeared emotional in the dock and thanked the jury before they left court.
Michael was the first person to lead the IOPC after it replaced the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) in 2018. The IOPC exists to increase public confidence in the police complaints system in England and Wales. It investigates complaints and allegations of misconduct against the police, and handles appeals. The irony of these allegations, which can now factually be defined as false - as Michael claimed when they were made - befalling a person in such a position is clear.
The first complainant said she thought she was in a “proper relationship” when he first kissed her, jurors heard. Giving evidence, she said: "It was only when I had children that I started to realise it probably was not my fault. The awareness was growing that it was abuse and it was not a consensual relationship.” Where did this new awareness come from? Was that realisation disclosed in court? She said she felt compelled to report Michael years later, but in a moving touch of magnanimity added that she took “no joy” from the impact it had on him.
Det. Supt Craig Nicholson, from Humberside Police, said: “I would like to offer my assurance that we take all reports of sexual offences incredibly seriously and we will always thoroughly investigate." Nicholson, however, is not reported to have made any comment on the fact that the allegations against Michael had turned out to be false, to what ratio his force or the CPS decided to charge, or why.
Following publicity about the claims, a second woman told police that Michael had indecently assaulted her in a restroom and storeroom at the centre. It was claimed Michael would pull her into a male toilet cubicle at the centre, where he kissed and sexually touched her. Michael denied any sexual activity with the first complainant, and alleged she must have mistaken him for another lifeguard after seeing him on the news.
He accepted having a relationship with the second complainant, but said nothing sexual happened until she had turned 16. This was the allegation that particularly hurt, he said, since it had been a significant relationship. Michael resigned from his job as director general of the IOPC in December 2022 after the allegations were first levelled against him. The question of what other cases the IOPC were dealing with at the time, or any reasoning behind the charges beyond ‘believe the complainant’, have not been forthcoming.
The first complainant said “I could not get closure without reporting and it was something I had to do. What happened back then were his choices, they were not mine.” Michael, who is married with two children, denied having any sexual activity with the first complainant and said he would never have had sex with a 14-year-old, or taken advantage of anyone.
Michael may have been found not guilty in an era of “believe the complainant”, but due to the degree of media demonisation at the time of his arrest and resignation, his life will now never be the same. In the spirit of renewal the new Labour government might look at police and CPS charging procedures in future, including analysing the possibility of charging colluding complainants and authorities, if that is what is suspected to have happened.
This is the kind of dynamic action required to right the ship of a justice industry absolutely broken by the twin rocks of gender politics and manipulated, life-destroying allegations - as those endured by Michael Lockwood.
By False Allegations Writing Collective
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