HN145 Janet Williams was the Commander in charge of Metropolitan Police Special Branch from November 2003 until late 2005 or 2006. She was the first woman to hold the post and is regarded as the last head of Special Branch before it was merged with the Anti-Terrorist Branch to form Counter Terrorism Command, SO15.
As head of Special Branch, Williams occupied a senior position in the chain of command above the Special Demonstration Squad (SDS). Her period in charge covered deployments in which undercover officers formed intimate relationships with women they were spying on, used the identities of deceased children and reported extensively on lawful political activity.
She also authorised covert surveillance under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) for the National Public Order Intelligence Unit (NPOIU).
Although Janet Williams is not named in the published 2021 Kate Wilson IPT judgement, her tenure as Commander of Special Branch overlapped with the early years of Mark Kennedy's deployment, during which she likely signed RIPA authorisations for undercover operations. The Tribunal found that the authorisation regime was fundamentally flawed. The judgement also said that collateral intrusion was inadequately assessed.
This was in addition to the fact that the police operation had breached a number of Wilson's human rights.
While the IPT made no findings against Williams personally, its criticism of the authorisation process raises important questions about what information she received, how rigorously she scrutinised applications, and the effectiveness of senior oversight.
Williams also worked for the Qatari government during the controversial 2022 Football World Cup.
She has given a statement to the Inquiry and is giving live evidence on 28 July 2026.
Full profile will follow.