London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Saturday, Aug 30, 2025

Met fails in second bid to sack senior officer over child abuse video

Met fails in second bid to sack senior officer over child abuse video

Judge upholds ruling that superintendent was unfairly dismissed over unsolicited WhatsApp message as supporters say force must accept it ‘got it wrong’

The high court has thrown out the Metropolitan police’s latest attempt to sack a decorated senior black officer, with a judge branding one of its arguments “hopeless”.

The ruling was a victory for Supt Robyn Williams, who the Met dismissed and then had to reinstate when a tribunal ruled the force’s leaders had been wrong to take her job away.

Williams was dismissed in 2020 for gross misconduct, after a criminal conviction for possessing child abuse images sent to her unsolicited on a WhatsApp chat group.

That conviction led to her dismissal from the Met at a disciplinary hearing chaired by a senior Met officer, despite pleas from many in policing that Williams was a role model who should keep her job.

In June 2021, the police appeals tribunal (PAT) overturned the Met decision, saying the force had acted unfairly in dismissing her. The tribunal said a final written warning would have been a fairer outcome because this was an exceptional case.

Despite that, the Met went to the high court to insist it was correct in its decision to sack Williams, and in a judgment made public on Tuesday Britain’s biggest force lost yet another high court case – having spent tens of thousands of pounds of public money.

Mrs Justice Heather Williams dismissed the Met’s arguments. Of one claim that the officer’s conviction meant she must have been dishonest, the high court judge was withering: “The complaint that the PAT failed to treat Supt Williams’ dishonesty in advancing an untruthful defence as an aggravating factor is hopeless. The PAT said in terms in its para 39 that it took this into account as an aggravating factor.”

Supt Williams, 57, won praise for her work after the 2017 Grenfell fire, when relations between the traumatised community and the authorities were fraught. She has campaigned for more women in policing and won the Queen’s police medal during her 37-year career.

In her ruling, Mrs Justice Williams wrote: “The PAT reached the conclusion that it did, because of the unique circumstances of the conviction, the officer’s stellar career, the substantial impact she had had on enhancing the reputation of the MPS as a whole and its assessment that her dismissal would reduce confidence in the police in some of the communities in which the MPS had struggled to gain trust. This was a permissible conclusion for it to reach.”

The Met said: “We will now take time to carefully consider the judgments and any next steps.”

Janet Hills, former chair of the Metropolitan Black Police Association, said the force must now stop its pursuit of Williams and doing so was a litmus test of whether it could reform.

“There has to come a time when an organisation such as the Met has to take stock and reflect,” said Hills.

“The Met need to accept they got it wrong and address this with Williams and her family. If the new commissioner is serious about building bridges with the black community then this is where he needs to start.”

The case began in February 2018 after Williams received a WhatsApp message from her sister containing a video of a young girl being abused. The sister was outraged and wanted the culprit hunted down by police.

Williams never played the video, but a jury convicted her after the prosecution said she failed to report it because she feared doing so would get her sister into trouble.

Her sister sent the abuse video to a WhatsApp group of 17 people, one of whom reported it to police. Williams was the only one of the 17 to be put on trial.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Corporate America Cuts Middle Management as Bosses Take On Triple the Workload
Parents Sue OpenAI After Teen’s Death, Alleging ChatGPT Encouraged Suicide
Amazon Faces Lawsuit Over 'Buy' Label on Digital Streaming Content
Federal Reserve Independence Questioned Amid Trump’s Push to Reshape Central Bank
British Politics Faces Tumultuous Autumn After Summer of Rebellions and Rising Farage Momentum
US Appeals Court Rules Against Most Trump-Era Tariffs
UK Sought Broad Access to Apple Users’ Data, Court Filing Reveals
UK Bank Shares Dive Over Potential Tax on Sector
Germany’s Auto Industry Sheds 51,500 Jobs in First Half of 2025 Amid Deepening Crisis
Bruce Willis Relocated Due to Advanced Dementia
French and Korean Nuclear Majors Clash As EU Launches Foreign Subsidy Probe
EU Stands Firm on Digital Rules as Trump Warns of Retaliation
Getting Ready for the 3rd Time in Its History, Germany Approves Voluntary Military Service for Teenagers
Argentine President Javier Milei Evacuated After Stones Thrown During Campaign Event
Denmark Confronts U.S. Diplomat Over Covert Trump-Linked Influence in Greenland
Starmer Should Back Away from ECHR, Says Jack Straw
Trump Demands RICO Charges Against George Soros and Son for Funding Violent Protests
Taylor Swift Announces Engagement to NFL Star Travis Kelce
France May Need IMF Bailout, Warns Finance Minister
Chinese AI Chipmaker Cambricon Posts Record Profit as Beijing Pushes Pivot from Nvidia
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
Ukraine Finally Allows Young Men Aged Eighteen to Twenty-Two to Leave the Country
The Porn Remains, Privacy Disappears: How Britain Broke the Internet in Ten Days
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Welcome to The Definition of Insanity: Germany Edition
Just a reminder, this is Michael Jackson's daughter, Paris.
Spotify’s Strange Move: The Feature Nobody Asked For – Returns
Manhunt in Australia: Armed Anti-Government Suspect Kills Police Officers Sent to Arrest Him
China Launches World’s Most Powerful Neutrino Detector
How Beijing-Linked Networks Shape Elections in New York City
Ukrainian Refugee Iryna Zarutska Fled War To US, Stabbed To Death
Elon Musk Sues Apple and OpenAI Over Alleged App Store Monopoly
2 Australian Police Shot Dead In Encounter In Rural Victoria State
Vietnam Evacuates Hundreds of Thousands as Typhoon Kajiki Strikes; China’s Sanya Shuts Down
UK Government Delays Decision on China’s Proposed London Embassy Amid Concerns Over Redacted Plans
A 150-Year Tradition to Be Abolished? Uproar Over the Popular Central Park Attraction
A new faith called Robotheism claims artificial intelligence isn’t just smart but actually God itself
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner Purchases Third Property Amid Housing Tax Reforms Debate
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Italian Facebook Group Sharing Intimate Images Without Consent Shut Down Amid Police Investigation
Dutch Foreign Minister Resigns Amid Deadlock Over Israel Sanctions
Trump and Allies Send Messages of Support to Ukraine on Independence Day Amid Ongoing Conflict
China Reels as Telegram Chat Group Shares Hidden-Camera Footage of Women and Children
Sam Nicoresti becomes first transgender comedian to win Edinburgh Comedy Award
Builders uncover historic human remains in Lancashire house renovation
Australia Wants to Tax Your Empty Bedrooms
MotoGP Cameraman Narrowly Avoids Pedro Acosta Crash at Hungarian Grand Prix
FBI Investigates John Bolton Over Classified Documents in High-Profile Raids
Report reveals OpenAI pitched national ChatGPT Plus subscription to UK ministers
×