THE former leader of Worcestershire County Council who resigned after allegations of inappropriate sexual behaviour towards female staff has been charged with sexual assault.
Dr George Lord, aged 78, has also been charged with eight indecent assaults believed to date back over a number of decades.
Depending on the seriousness of the allegations and which court deals with the case, the charges can carry a sentence of up to 10 years in jail.
After an investigation which has spanned six months, officers decided they had enough evidence to charge Dr Lord after he answered his bail and returned to Worcester police station late last week.
A spokesman for south Worcestershire police said: “On Thursday police charged a 78-year-old man with one sexual assault and eight historic indecent assaults.
“He was released on police bail and is set to appear before Worcester Magistrates Court on Tuesday, June 7.”
It was revealed in December that Dr Lord had been arrested over allegations of sexual offences after officers confirmed in November they were looking into a complaint made by a woman regarding an alleged historic sexual offence.
Dr Lord was released on bail then pending further investigation.
It is not yet known whether any of the charges laid last week are linked to that incident, any further complaints from other individuals, or complaints of inappropriate sexual behaviour made against Dr Lord by five female members of staff at County Hall last year.
Dr Lord resigned as leader of Worcestershire County Council and as a councillor in November following the allegations.
The former Conservative party member, who represented the Alvechurch ward, was elected to the shadow Worcestershire County Council in May 1997.
He was made leader in 2001 and was re-elected every year, with the backing of full council, from that point onwards.
Dr Lord also sat on Bromsgrove District Council on three separate occasions and was chairman of its finance committee in the 1990s, but was latterly vice-chairman of the scrutiny steering board.
Dr Lord first qualified to become a general teacher in 1956.
In his early 30s he became a university lecturer but continued with his education, finishing at the age of 56 and acquiring degrees in philosophy, theology and in the social sciences
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