Eleanor Williams (born 26 November 2000) is an English convicted criminal, from Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England who made false claims of multiple serious crimes, including accusations of trafficking, rape by a group of men of Asian descent, blackmail, and physical violence, none of which were found to have occurred. Following her 2022 trial, Williams was found guilty on nine counts of perverting the course of justice, contrary to English common law. She was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison, but was released early on licence after serving one year and ten months.
The fictitious claims spread by Williams on the internet had lasting impacts, including multiple attempted suicides and a rise in racially motivated violence against the Asian community, and contributed to aspects of the Online Safety Act 2023, which criminalises the spread of harmful false information online.
Background Eleanor Williams was born on 26 November 2000. Williams reportedly had difficulties in her childhood and self-harmed from a young age. Growing up, in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, Williams' parents separated and she did not see her father often. She stated that she did not get along with her stepfather or mother, stating it was the reason that she moved out of their address to live in her own flat. At the time of her trial, she was living in Teasdale Road on Walney Island.
Investigation
First allegation In 2017, aged 16, Williams made an allegation against a male individual, named as 'C' in court proceedings. During an informal event at his house, Williams became drunk and smoked cannabis. She was sick and C, along with others, called for her to be picked up. Williams' mother collected her, taking her to hospital.
Whilst in hospital, Williams alleged to staff that she had been raped. She spoke to Cumbria Police about the allegation, stating that C had threatened to set his dog on her and kill her, disposing of her body either in his garden or at sea.
C was arrested in November 2017 and was released after being interviewed. In January 2018, Williams withdrew her support for the prosecution and C faced no further police action.
Second, third and fourth allegations In 2019, Williams made three allegations against Jordan Trengove. After a night out with Trengove, on 8 and into 9 March 2019, Williams alleged that Trengove had taken her to an address and raped her.
On 6 May Williams called police, stating she had been attacked that day. Whilst feigning reluctance to tell police what had happened, she later made the allegation about what happened in March and also on 6 May. In relation to 6 May, Williams stated that Trengove had arrived at her flat and after not leaving, had threatened her with a knife, beat her with a shower head and raped her. Williams presented with bruises on her legs. Police arrested and interviewed Trengove, before he was bailed.
On 18 May 2019, Williams called police again, stating that she had returned to her flat after a night out and Trengove had entered her flat through a door she had left unlocked for a friend. She alleged Trengove had hit her face and body, before raping her. Police located her with injuries. Trengove was arrested and remanded in custody until August 2019.
Fifth allegation In June 2019, Williams was reported missing a number of times, being located each time by police. When police located her, Williams was either intoxicated through alcohol or drugs or had injuries, including bruising. Police had significant concerns in connection with this.
Williams was further interviewed by police in July 2019, disclosing further allegations. She stated that when she was younger, she attended parties at houses where older men were present. She stated that she was introduced to a male known as 'Rammy' when she was 12 years old, and that she had worked in his Indian restaurant. 'Rammy' was local businessman Mohammed Ramzan. Williams stated that he began grooming her and allegedly told her that he loved her and she was special, which Williams told police made her think that she was his girlfriend for a "long long time".
Williams claimed Ramzan began a sexual relationship with her when she was 12 or 13 years old, grooming her to have sex with other men. Williams alleged that Ramzan had "begged" her to have sex with a friend of his, telling her that she would be doing a "massive favour" for him. Williams told police she had sex with his friend and stated Ramzan had told her it would only happen once, but that was not the case and it happened more frequently. She explained she discovered that Ramzan would get money whenever she had sex with other men. She stated that Ramzan would take her to parties, where there were other girls and she met other men in Barrow, Rochdale and Oldham and other places. She wrote the names of 60 girls who she had been to addresses with. Many were verified by police as living in Barrow.
Williams alleged that in 2018, Ramzan had suggested she go to Amsterdam, where she had been forced to work in a brothel and was sold for €25,000 at an auction. However, the buyer had not completed the deal. She further alleged that Ramzan had taken her to Ibiza for two weeks, where she was forcibly coerced into working in a brothel. She stated that when she "messed up", she would be beaten. She said she was fearful of what would happen to her if it was to be found out she had spoken to the police.
Police were concerned that something like what Williams was describing was indeed occurring, in a scenario potentially similar to what had previously happened with grooming gangs in Oldham and Rochdale. Police were worried about getting things wrong or people getting hurt if they failed to act soon enough. Police arrested Ramzan and interviewed him. He denied the offence, denying that he knew Williams or had been to the places where she said he had been. After 36 hours in police custody, Ramzan was released on bail.
After this, a major investigations team was set up in regards to the Williams allegations. In the meantime, police temporarily moved Williams out of Barrow to a hotel close to Kendal police station, arranging for Williams to have a job there. Williams had previously refused to participate in a witness protection programme.
Sixth allegation Williams made a further allegation that she had been trafficked to the Blackpool area around 30 June 2019. Williams stated she had been getting messages, stating that she was to get on the train to Blackpool. She described to police locations in Blackpool, with specific details of the layout of the addresses, including drawing pictures of places. Police believed that she had been to the locations from the way she could describe them in detail.
Police hoped that given how much detail Williams had provided about the addresses in Blackpool that the whole investigation would be opened up by one bit of evidence. Williams was taken by car by the police on 10 July 2019 to Blackpool in the hope that Williams could point out locations. This was captured on police body-worn video, showing Williams pointing out vague locations and actions that had happened, including getting into a car or walking. One of the officers that drove Williams to Blackpool was surprised that Williams could not provide details in relation to the addresses and hoped that driving around the Blackpool area they may go past somewhere that looked familiar to Williams. He later stated that he found it unusual that Williams displayed no emotion and at no point got upset. At the end of driving around Blackpool, police had no leads in their investigation. The officer driving Williams around later stated that this was the first time that he had doubts as to whether what Williams was saying had happened.
Police discover Williams has lied Williams' discrepancies in Blackpool in relation to suspicions about whether what she was saying had happened had occurred were shared by other officers.
Due to Williams having previously been graded as a high-risk missing person, the police had authority to conduct checks on her mobile phone in relation to telephone masts that it was connecting to. This led to police trawling through accommodation in the Blackpool area to see whether Williams had been seen. Fifty venues were visited, including pubs, hotels and B&Bs. On the final venue, the Savoy Hotel, police were told by the receptionist that Williams had booked into the hotel on 30 June 2019.
Police uncovered that Williams had made a booking at the hotel two nights previously on Booking.com. They found that Williams arrived at the hotel at 20:20 BST, finding CCTV footage of her arriving on her own, checking in, before going to her room. After staying in the room for approximately an hour, Williams was seen on CCTV to leave the hotel and attend two local shops. This was contrary to what Williams had told police was happening around that time, stating that she had been driven around to various locations in Blackpool, being forced to have sex. Having left the local shops, Williams returned to the Savoy Hotel, where the door of the hotel room, which had digital key access, was shown to not have opened for 24 hours.
Police realised that Williams had been lying about what had occurred. An enquiry team went door to door to speak to the girls that Williams had alleged had been at the parties she had been at, who had been victims of sexual exploitation. Not one of them were found to have been a victim, with the girls and their parents being shocked at police speaking to them.
Seventh allegation The police made the decision to arrest Williams for perverting the course of justice. However, before she could be arrested, Williams went missing again. Police located her 12 hours after she had been reported missing. When she was located in the early hours of 19 July 2019, she made further allegations against different men in relation to trafficking. Police body-worn video from their arrival at Williams' flat shows her opening the door, appearing intoxicated through either drink or drugs. Pretending to be semi-conscious, Williams is seen to have a number of injuries and says "help" to the police officer. An ambulance takes her to hospital, where she discloses that she had taken alcohol, cannabis and spice, telling an officer that she had sex with a male named "Oli" in Preston in a back street. She is heard to say to the officer "I'm not going to get arrested am I?", later stating, "You might not believe me."
Williams later stated in an interview with police that she got messages, telling her to get the train to Preston. She stated that she walked through the town centre of Preston and met a male called Oli – this was a male called Oliver Gardner. She stated that Gardner walked her through a back street to where there were two men, who paid Gardner to have sex with her. On returning to Barrow, Williams stated that a male named Salza picked her up in a car, dropping her off nearby to her address. After this, Williams stated that Salza and another man followed her into the address, whereby they had sex with her. She stated that she was hit in the face twice. She stated that approximately 10 minutes after this happened, police knocked at the door.
Police discovered CCTV of Williams. It showed Williams getting off a train in Preston. CCTV shows Gardner walking on his own, having a chance encounter with Williams when asking her for a light for his cigarette. They are seen to talk to one another, but when Gardner gets a light for his cigarette, he appears to walk off. Williams is seen on CCTV to follow him, appearing to want to continue the conversation. Later, Gardner and Williams are seen walking happily together, with Gardner having his arm around Williams. Voluntarily, the pair go up a lane out of view, where it is believed consensual sex occurs. The pair swap telephone numbers and Williams is seen on CCTV to walk back to the railway station.