Disgraced senior police officer who was found guilty of failing to report child abuse video sent to her phone is cleared of related charges accusing her of failing to disclose bank details and a trip abroad

One of Britain’s top female police officers saw new charges against her dropped following her conviction for possessing an indecent image.

Superintendent Novlett Robyn Williams, 59, made a ‘serious error of judgment’ after she was sent the vile clip by her sister, social worker Jennifer Hodge in 2018.

Hodge had wanted it to be investigated and there was no evidence Williams viewed the video.

But Williams failed to report the clip and was convicted of possessing the child abuse video,  being required to sign the sex offenders’ register for five years following a trial at the Old Bailey in November 2019.

She was also dismissed from the Met but then reinstated on appeal.

However she then resigned earlier this year after suffering with her mental health.

Williams had been facing a further trial for seven counts of failing to comply with the register’s notification requirements – but prosecutor Richard Wright, KC, said they would not be proceeded with.

Judge Richard Marks, KC, the Common Serjeant of London, said the charges, relating to failures to disclose bank card and account details, as well as a 2021 trip abroad, would lie on file.

‘In relation to these allegations she leaves the court with no stain on her character,’ he said.

‘One can well imagine her being completely traumatised by her conviction, given no one could truly describe her as being a sex offender given the true meaning of the expression.

‘I am entirely satisfied the decision the prosecution has reached is absolutely well founded and I endorse the decision wholeheartedly.’

Mr Wright said: ‘Last week the defence served an expert psychiatric report which represented the first comprehensive analysis of all the mental health of the defendant up to the current time.

‘The prosecution has considered that report with great care and after careful consideration the prosecution has concluded in light of that medical report and in particular its assessment of the effect these ongoing proceedings are having on the current health of Ms Williams we have concluded it is no longer in the public interest to pursue this prosecution.’

Williams attended the hearing today wearing a long black coat and spoke to confirm her name without entering the dock.

She was dismissed from the Met after a disciplinary panel found her conviction amounted to gross misconduct in March 2020.

But she was reinstated as a police officer after she appealed against the decision.

The Met Police continued to appeal against this but their attempts were unsuccessful.

But Williams resigned from the force earlier this year.

She continues to pursue discrimination proceedings at a tribunal.

Williams had been on long term sick leave since January 2023 due to mental health issues relating to the ongoing employment appeals, the court heard.

Her defence barrister Rajiv Menon, KC, previously said the decision to prosecute was ‘an example of the Met’s institutional racism.’

The charges had related to failures to disclose bank card and account details, as well as a 2021 trip to Kenya.

Williams won Queen’s Police Medal along with dozens of awards for her service following tragedies including the Grenfell Tower fire.

She was one of 17 people to be sent the video on WhatsApp – which lasted less than a minute – by Hodge, 56, who had received it from her partner, 61-year-old bus driver Dido Massivi.

Prosecutors had claimed Williams knew from the thumbnail of the clip what had been sent to her and she had a duty to delete it and report her sister.

But Williams said the unsolicited ‘disgusting and disturbing’ video involving a five-year-old girl escaped her attention because she was at a dance class when it was sent.

Mr Menon earlier argued the notification requirement charges should not be prosecuted.

He claimed: ‘There is no explanation for why the Met have pursued Miss Williams for six years, other than an ulterior motive.

‘The Met Police is an institution thoroughly plagued by racism and has been thoroughly plagued by racism for several decades.

‘It is a fact that racism is alive and kicking within the Metropolitan Police and it has been for decades.

‘Just very briefly, long before Sir William Macpherson produced his report into the death of Stephen Lawrence, black people had said for years that we are treated differently.

‘We are 30 years on now and there have been umpteen reports, I am not going to stand here and say there has been no improvement, but unfortunately the problem remains serious and endemic.

‘It is not confined to the treatment of ethnic minority members of the public, it extends to members of the Metropolitan Police.

‘There are literally hundreds who have lost their jobs, Ms Williams is not the first and will not be the last, sadly.’

He said that there is an 81% chance of there being disciplinary proceedings for ethnic minority officers.

Williams had been cleared by a jury of corrupt or improper exercise of police powers and privileges by a constable, by failing to report the clip, but convicted of possessing an indecent photograph.

Hodge was convicted of distributing an indecent image while Massivi was convicted of distributing an indecent photograph of a child and possession of extreme pornography.

Judge Marks had told Williams at the time: ‘You have had a stellar career in the police force of 30 years.

‘It is a complete tragedy that you find yourself in this position that you now do.

‘You were in no way responsible for this video being sent nor did you have any control over it being sent.

‘It was in your possession for a relatively short period of time. There is no question of you having had it for reason of sexual gratification.

‘The case concerns one video only. The consequence of the conviction will no doubt be immense in particular with regards to your career and employment.’

Williams, who had been tipped as Scotland Yard’s first black commissioner, was ordered to perform 200 hours unpaid work and sign the sex offenders’ register for five years.

She had previously won a Diamond Jubilee Award and Queen’s Police Medal for tackling gang violence in Nottingham.

Former Home Secretary Jack Straw praised the officer for raising the profile of black officers in the force in 1997.

She was honoured by the Queen for her senior role during the 2011 London riots and again for helping Grenfell victims after the tower inferno claimed 72 lives in 2017.

Williams denied seven counts of failing to comply with notification requirements.