Former police watchdog chief, 65, appears in court charged with sex attacks on two girls under 16 when he worked as lifeguard 40 years ago

The former head of Britain's police watchdog appeared in court today via video link charged with indecently assaulting a teenage girl more than 40 years ago.

He was due to enter his pleas to a further eight counts relating to a second girl, aged 14, but the hearing could not go ahead due to issues with the video-link - however the judge at Woolwich Crown Court said they would 'find a date in the next couple of weeks'.

Michael Lockwood, 65, is said to have carried out the offences in Hull, east Yorkshire, between 1979 and 1980.

Lockwood was in his mid-twenties and working as a lifeguard in Hull at the time of the allegations.

He stood down as director general of the Independent Office for Police Conduct In December 2022 when Humberside Police began a criminal investigation.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct is responsible for handling complaints made against police forces in England and Wales.

Last month Lockwood denied six counts of indecent assault and three offences of rape involving a girl under the age of 16 between October 1985 and March 1986.

Lockwood was in his mid-twenties and working as a lifeguard in Hull at the time of the allegations.

Married father-of-two Lockwood took up the £190,000 IOPC post in January 2018, with his five-year contract due to finish at the end of 2022.

He had stepped down as news of the investigation was made public and said in a statement: 'It is with great sadness that I have decided to resign as director general of the IOPC for personal and domestic reasons, and this will be effective from today.'

Lockwood was born in Newcastle in 1959 and went to Hull University between 1978 and 1981 where he completed a degree in Geography and History.

He joined the National Audit Office as a trainee and moved around the country, then began working as working as an auditor for Humberside Council in the 1980s.

Lockwood, of Epsom, Surrey, remains on unconditional bail ahead of a two to three week trial at the Old Bailey on 1 July.