Michael Lockwood (public servant)

Michael Frederick Lockwood (born 6 February 1959) is a British former civil servant who has served in local government and as inaugural director general of the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), the policing watchdog for England and Wales. He is currently awaiting trial for historic sex offences allegedly committed in the 1980s, which he denies.

Career
Lockwood was the CEO of Harrow London Borough Council from 2007 until the end of 2013, when the position was eliminated, and again from 2015 after it was reinstituted. In the interim, he was executive director of finance and policy at the Local Government Association. After the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire, he led recovery work and liaised with survivors and victims' families. The Grenfell Tower Memorial Commission chose him as co-chair in early 2020.

He was appointed by the Home Office to head the IOPC from its inception in January 2018. As Director General, Lockwood also chaired the IOPC Board, the majority of which is made up of Non-Executive Directors. The Board advises the Director General and with him sets the strategy for the organisation. In October 2019 Lockwood published an op-ed in The Guardian, defending an investigation his organization had performed into the case of an alleged VIP paedophile ring. He resigned as Director General on 3 December 2022 after he became the subject of a police investigation.

Allegations
In June 2023, Lockwood was charged with "six counts of indecent assault and three offences of rape against a girl under the age of 16". The nine alleged offences relate to a period between October 1985 and March 1986, when Lockwood worked as a part-time lifeguard in Humberside. He denies all the allegations. He appeared before Westminster Magistrates' Court on 28 June 2023, where his lawyer said that he would be pleading not guilty to all the charges. On 18 March 2024, he pleaded not guilty and his trial is scheduled to start in July 2024.

His trial is scheduled to start on 1 July 2024.