The former head of the police watchdog has been charged with raping a girl in the 1980s.

The Crown Prosecution Service said Michael Lockwood, 64, who headed the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) until last year, had been charged with nine sexual offences.

They include six counts of indecent assault and three counts of rape against a girl under the age of 16. The offences are alleged to have taken place between October 1985 and March 1986. He is due to appear before magistrates in Hull on 28 June.

He denies the charges.

Lockwood was forced to resign last year, when it emerged he was being investigated for alleged historical offences.

Rosemary Ainslie, the head of the special crime division at the CPS, said: “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.

“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. The Crown Prosecution Service reminds all concerned that criminal proceedings against Mr Lockwood are active and that he has the right to a fair trial.”

Lockwood’s lawyer, , of the solicitors PCB Byrne, said: “Mr Lockwood strenuously denies all of these allegations from nearly 40 years ago. He will strongly defend his position and will continue to cooperate with the proceedings.”

Lockwood was the first director general appointed to lead the IOPC when it replaced the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) in 2018.

Last December, the home secretary, Suella Braverman, said she had requested Lockwood’s resignation because of the investigation. At the time, she said: “I took immediate action upon being made aware that Mr Lockwood was the subject of a police investigation into an historic allegation, and instructed my officials to ask him to resign or face immediate suspension from his role.”

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