Eleanor Williams: Lies told by Cumbrian woman who was jailed after false rape claims

Eleanor Williams, 22, was jailed on Tuesday (March 14) for perverting the course of justice after making claims including that she was the victim of an Asian grooming gang, operating in her hometown of Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria.

The PA news agency looks at some of the lies Williams told.

The first claim

The first false allegation was made by Williams when she was 16.

Preston Crown Court heard she had been with others at Cameron Bibby’s house in November 2017 when she was sick after drinking alcohol and smoking cannabis.

Mr Bibby and his friends contacted Williams’ sister and mother, who came to collect her and later took her to hospital, where she alleged she had been raped.

Williams withdrew support from a prosecution in January 2018, after Mr Bibby had been arrested.

Injuries

In March 2019, Williams had been on a night out with Jordan Trengove when she was taken home after becoming intoxicated.

She would later allege Mr Trengove raped her that night, and then on two later occasions, claiming he came to her flat, attacked her and threatened her with a knife.

The court heard she did have injuries following the alleged attack.

Honorary Recorder of Preston Judge Robert Altham said: “She caused them to herself to support her allegations.

“As we will see this was to become a feature of her conduct.”

Trafficking

Williams claimed she had been groomed since the age of 12 or 13 by local business owner Mohammed Ramzan, who she falsely claimed took her across the region and persuaded her to have sex with other men.

She described punishment beatings, rape, a girl nearly dying as a result of a beating and another having a dog set on her.

Honorary Recorder of Preston Judge Robert Altham said: “This was a detailed account of the most serious sort of sex trafficking.”

Amsterdam

Williams told police she had been taken to Amsterdam by Mr Ramzan, forced to work in a brothel and sold at an auction for 25,000 Euros, but the buyer did not go through with the deal.

During the trial, Jonathan Sandiford KC compared the account to a scene from the Liam Neeson film Taken, in which an ex-Secret Service agent’s teenage daughter is abducted by human traffickers.

Preston Crown Court heard Williams had been in Amsterdam, but had shared a hotel room with her sister and sister’s boyfriend.

At the time Williams was in the Netherlands, Mr Ramzan’s bank card was being used at a B&Q in Barrow, police discovered.

Ibiza

Williams said she was taken to Ibiza by Mr Ramzan and made to have sex with men.

She admitted this was not true when officers suggested they check flight documents, but at trial she maintained the allegation.

Blackpool

When police investigated Williams’ account of being taken to addresses in Blackpool and forced to have sex with men, they found she had gone to the seaside resort alone.

She spent most of her time in her hotel room watching YouTube after buying a Pot Noodle from a nearby shop.

Preston

After a chance encounter with Oliver Gardner in Preston city centre, Williams initially claimed he was a trafficker who forced her to take cocaine, sold her to two Asian men and raped her.

Judge Altham said: “This was a complete fabrication, much of it would be disproved from CCTV.”

The hammer

In what the prosecution called her “finale event”, in May 2020 Williams was found by police with injuries including a swollen eye, cut finger and injuries to her legs and abdomen which were “too numerous to count”.

She would later post pictures of the injuries on Facebook with a description of being beaten, groomed and trafficked by Asian men.

But, evidence from a pathologist found the injuries were consistent with being caused to herself.

A hammer found at the scene had her DNA on and was identical to one she had purchased from Tesco earlier in the month.