Fake grooming scandal's Eleanor Williams now from early jail release to why she lied
Share:
Eleanor Williams went viral online with her horrific tales of rape - but few knew they were completely false. Williams, then 22, was later jailed for eight-a-half-years in March 2023 after lying about being trafficked and sexually abused by an Asian grooming gang. The young woman shared disturbing pictures of her injuries and disturbing lies on Facebook back in May 2020, in a post that was shared more than 100,000 times.
Her falsehoods sparked unprecedented protests in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, and fundraising efforts to support her campaign reached £22,000. Now, a Channel 4 documentary titled Accused: The Fake Grooming Scandal follows how the chaos unfolded and what impact it had on the British Asian community.
Williams was 17 when she made her first rape allegation, and she later withdrew her claim. Eighteen months later, she made allegations against a second man who spent 10 weeks in prison, before being released. She went on to claim an Asian grooming gang forced her to have sex with several men.
In a bid to back up her lies, she fabricated evidence by creating fake social media profiles to send messages to herself, which she claimed were from her abusers. She also deliberately injured herself with a hammer. In a police video in the documentary, Williams describes one 'attack': "He had a knife and was waving it around… [He] pulled me into the bathroom by my hair, stripped me naked and was hitting me with the shower head.".
Her allegations, between 2016 and 2020, led to attacks on members of the Asian community and caused three people to try and take their own lives. In January 2023, Williams was found guilty at Preston Crown Court on eight counts of doing acts tending and intended to pervert the course of justice. She pleaded guilty to one count.
