Who is Eleanor Williams? Woman who lied on Facebook about being raped by an ‘Asian grooming gang’ in Barrow
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ELEANOR Williams is the subject of the Channel 4 documentary Accused: The Fake Grooming Scandal. The true crime series, which will air in January 2025, examines the fallout from a Facebook post in which the young woman made up claims she was raped and trafficked by a grooming gang.
![[Eleanor Williams was sentenced to eight and a half years in jail for falsely accusing a group of men of raping and trafficking her]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/newspress-collage-21707999-1678799106156.jpg?1678799159&strip=all&w=960)
Eleanor Williams is a convicted criminal who was jailed for falsifying claims that she had been physically and sexually abused by a group of men from her hometown. Williams first hit the headlines in May 2020 when she claimed in a Facebook post that she had been beaten, abused and trafficked by "evil yet clever" men in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria.
She lied that she had been forced to attend sex parties and posted pictures of horrific injuries, which were later revealed to be self-inflicted, to back up her claims. The false accusations garnered the attention of far-right groups due to Williams' claim that the men were part of an Asian grooming gang.
Williams' social media post sparked a public outcry and was shared more than 100,000 times before her lies were exposed. Protestors also took to the streets under the belief that the police weren't properly handling the case. Police became involved with Williams after the evening of May 19, 2020, when Williams' family had reported her missing.
Officers found Eleanor with numerous injuries, and soon after, a bloodied hammer was found in the field in which she was located. Williams made several shocking claims to the police, including that she had been groomed from the age of 12 by a local business owner, and put to work in brothels in Amsterdam.
