A decorated senior Metropolitan police officer controversially convicted of possessing a child abuse video is facing a fast-track dismissal from the force, the Guardian has learned.

Supt Robyn Williams could end up being sacked within months for gross misconduct, before her appeal against her conviction can be heard.

The decision to seek the fastest method to expel Williams after a 36-year career at Scotland Yard has dismayed present and former black officers, with one saying the Met was “throwing her under a bus”.

Williams was convicted after she was sent unsolicited video of a child being abused in February 2018 by her sister, who wanted the paedophile behind it hunted down and caught.

Williams was sentenced to community service and placed on the sex offender register despite the prosecution accepting she had no sexual interest in children and had never watched the video.

Her lawyers are understood to be close to lodging their challenge to her conviction with the court of appeal. Williams returned to work at the Met on Tuesday last week and is on restricted duties that bar her from contact with the public.

A spokesperson for the police watchdog, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), said it had provided a special report on the case at the request of the Met, adding: “It will now be a matter for the force to consider its next steps.”

The Metropolitan police service (MPS) said: “The work status of Supt Robyn Williams has now been reviewed by a senior officer within [the] Professionalism [business group] and the decision made she will remain on restricted duties.

“We are not discussing full details but the restrictions are greater than before and include no contact with the general public. She returned to work on Tuesday, 3 December, and remains within Frontline Policing.

The Met added: “Following a conviction, it is normal procedure for any potential misconduct matters to be fast-tracked. “In this case the MPS and the IOPC discussed this normal practice and the best way forward. To the end the IOPC has now supplied the MPS with a special case report, which is being considered.”

Former Met superintendent Leroy Logan said: “It just shows the Met being disproportionate to a black officer.

“The fast-track process is usually when they have made up their mind that someone is not fit for the office of constable. Usually they can hold back until after the appeal.

“I don’t think they have considered the impact it has on the black community. Again we have a black officer who is a victim of the system. It does not reassure them that the Met will ever be reflective of London because they throw so many of them under the bus.”

The fast-track process will mean Williams will not be able to call witnesses as she seeks to avoid dismissal. She will be allowed legal representation.

Williams denied ever seeing a video thumbnail image in WhatsApp on her phone which the prosecution said she must have seen and would have alerted her to the child abuse therein. The prosecution told an Old Bailey jury she had lied to protect her sister from potential action for distributing the image and video.

A jury cleared Williams of corruptly failing to report the video to her superiors, but convicted her of possession of it.

Williams, one of the most senior female African-Caribbean officers in Britain, was praised for her work after the Grenfell fire disaster. She was a founder member of the National Black Police Association, helped to set up a gay police association, campaigned for more women in policing and had received the Queen’s police medal.

As well as being placed on the sex offender register, she was sentenced to 200 hours of unpaid work with her job.







