Supt Robyn Williams rejects accusation she was trying to protect members of her family

A senior police officer has repeatedly denied in court that she failed to report a child abuse video because she wanted to protect members of her family.

Supt Robyn Williams is accused of failing in her duty after her sister sent the indecent image to her calling for action to be taken against those behind the “disgusting” video.

Williams, 54, took to the stand at the Old Bailey on Monday to deny charges of possessing an indecent image of a five-year-old girl being sexually abused, and failing in her duty to report it to police.

The jury had heard that Williams’s sister, Jennifer Hodge, was first sent the video by her partner and then passed it on to 17 people, including Williams, via WhatsApp on 3 February 2018.

The prosecution has said the defendant would have known the clip was about child abuse from a thumbnail image displayed when she accessed her WhatsApp account.

But Williams, who at the time was the borough commander for Sutton in south London, told the jury she never saw the image of a man sexually assaulting a girl, and would have taken immediate taken action if she had.

“If I’d seen anything remotely like that, I would have simply, simply – I am on speed dial to my chief inspector – I would have called my lead for safeguarding and asked what was the best possible way to get this evidence into the chain of action, so we could safeguard and best protect this child. Simple phone call, no discussion.”

The jury heard Williams was a founder member of the National Black Police Association, helped set up a gay police association and campaigned for more women in policing. She has received the Queen’s police medal and was commended for her work after the Grenfell Tower fire.

The image was sent to Williams at 10.58am on 3 February last year, while she was attending gym classes on a day off. Her barrister, Anesta Weekes QC, asked her about the crown’s case that she must have seen the image soon after it was sent to her on that Saturday morning.

Williams said: “That’s not the case. I did not see anything ... I really did not see anything.”

The crown alleges that Williams and her sister must have discussed the video when they met the following day.

But that meeting at a gym was more like a spa day, Williams told the jury, saying it was wholly innocent and a regular meeting she had with her sister. Williams said: “There is no need for me to arrange to meet my sister at a gym to have a conversation. It’s just what we normally do.”

She told the jury she sometimes did not look at or open messages sent to her on WhatsApp and that she would act to report or stop a crime even if she was off-duty.

Another person sent the video by Hodge reported it to police. An investigation then identified Williams as one of those who received the video.

The prosecutor Richard Wright QC said on Thursday: “We say that the defendant, Williams, failed to act because she knew to do so would place her sister and her sister’s partner at risk of arrest and criminal investigation.”

Williams is on trial alongside Hodge, who denies denies distributing an indecent image of a child.

Also on trial is Hodge’s partner, Dido Massivi, 61, who denies two counts of distributing an indecent photograph of a child, and another count of possessing an extreme pornographic image.

The trial continues.