THE Metropolitan Police has lost its bid to overturn the reinstatement of a senior officer convicted of possessing a child abuse video.

Superintendent Novlett Robyn Williams was sentenced to 200 hours of community service for possession of an indecent image in November 2019.

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

But the officer successfully appealed against the decision to dismiss her last year following her conviction and was reinstated as a police officer.

In June 2021, the Police Appeals Tribunal found that she should not have been sacked and should have received a final written warning.

The Met challenged the decision earlier this month, arguing it was “perverse and unreasonable” and that Ms Williams’s dismissal was the “only possible outcome.”

Ms Justice Heather Williams rejected the Met’s bid in her judgment yesterday.

Ms Williams received a child abuse video via WhatsApp from her older sister so that the officer could investigate the footage, jurors at the Old Bailey heard.

But she failed to report the clip.

A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said that it will “take time to carefully consider the judgments and any next steps.”