Top policewoman had video of child abuse on her phone
THE career of a top policewoman was in tatters yesterday after she was convicted of possessing child porn.
Novlett Robyn Williams, who is an acting chief superintendent, was sent the ‘disturbing’ clip by her sister.
Jennifer Hodge, who is a social worker, shared the video of a fiveyear-old girl being abused with 17 people on WhatsApp, telling Williams: ‘Sorry had to send this – it’s so sad that this person would put this out, please post this and let’s hope he gets life.’
Williams, 54, did not report the matter to colleagues, who would have investigated her sister.
She was cleared of corrupt or improper exercise of police powers but convicted of possession of an indecent image of a child.
The highly decorated officer, who was once tipped to become
Scotland Yard’s first black commissioner, swayed in the dock as the verdicts were delivered at the Old Bailey.
During her two- week trial, Williams had denied seeing the abuse video, saying she was at a dance class when it was sent to her last February.
But prosecutors said there was no way she could have missed the 54-second clip, pointing out that Williams had messaged her 56year-old sister saying ‘please call’ after the video was sent.
The case came to court because one of the other recipients of the clip reported it to the police.
Richard Wright, prosecuting, told jurors it was a sad case of poor decision-making rather than any sexual interest or ‘sinister purpose’.
Yesterday Hodge, from Brent in north-west London, sobbed as she was found guilty of distributing an indecent image of a child.
Her boyfriend Dido Massivi, a 61year-old bus driver, was convicted of two similar charges and a third of possessing an extreme pornographic image. Massivi had forwarded the video to his partner, who in turn sent it on WhatsApp to Williams and 16 others.
Williams, from south London, will now face a disciplinary hearing that could see her thrown out of the
Metropolitan Police Service. She has enjoyed a stellar career in uniform, winning the Queen’s Police Medal twice and dozens of awards including one for tackling gang violence. Former home secretary Jack Straw praised her for raising the profile of black officers in 1997.
The £80,000-a-year superintendent joined the Met in 2008 after becoming the first black woman to be made sergeant, then inspector, in Nottinghamshire Police.
She was honoured by the Queen for her senior role during the 2011 London riots and for helping Grenfell victims in 2017. Mr Wright QC said: ‘We say the defendant Miss Williams failed to act because she knew that to do so would place her sister and her sister’s partner at risk of arrest and a criminal investigation.
‘These are not bad people. Regrettably however, they have all made very bad judgments and in so doing we say they have broken the law. As an experienced officer of high standing we say she knew full well what was expected of her and moreover that there was an urgent child welfare need to report the video as soon as she saw it.’
All three are due to be sentenced next week.
‘Very bad judgments’