Woman Jailed for Eight Years for False Rape and Trafficking Allegations

A British woman has been jailed for eight-and-a-half years for falsely claiming that she was the victim of rape and trafficked by multiple men after it was revealed that she had inflicted injuries upon herself with a hammer she bought from a supermarket.

Eleanor Williams, 22, who was been found guilty of perverting the course of justice for fabricating rape and trafficking allegations against three men, was sentenced this week at the Preston Crown Court to eight-and-a-half years behind bars, after all three of her victims had attempted to take their own lives.

One of the men she accused, Jordan Trengove, was jailed for 73 days — in the same cell as an actual convicted sex offender — as a result of the false claims or rape and assault, with Williams inventing a stories about him raping her three times and that he had attacked her and made threats with a knife. It was later discovered by police that some of the pictures she posted online of her battered face were a result of self-harm with a hammer she bought from a Tesco supermarket, and not the result of any assault.

Trengove, who said following the sentencing that he believed Williams should have received a longer prison term, said that because of her accusations, which sparked local protests after she spread the fake stories on social media, he was the subject of an intimidation campaign, with the word “rapist” being spray painted on his home. “The lowest point was when I tried to end my life in August 2020,” he said.

Another one of the falsely accused men, Oliver Gardner, who also attempted to take his own life, was alleged by Williams to have raped her after a chance encounter in Preston, after which she also falsely claimed that he had sold her as a sex slave to two Asian men, for which he was sectioned under the Mental Health Act.

Finally, the convicted liar falsely accused Barrow businessman Mohammed Ramzan of grooming her from the age of 12 to work in Amsterdam brothels. Williams went on to tell the police that Ramzan had taken her to Blackpool to forcibly have sex with several men. However, upon investigation, police found that she had travelled to the resort town alone and had spent the time watching YouTube videos in her hotel room.

Mr Ramzan said that there was “no sense of triumph, only sadness” following her sentencing, adding: “I’m not sure how the family and I are going to recover from this. Mud sticks and I fear it may take some time.”

He also revealed that two weeks after his arrest, he attempted to kill himself, saying that he “still bears the scars to this day”. Ramazan said that his business was “ruined” as a result of the false allegations and that his family was also targeted.

I have had countless death threats made over social media from people all over the world because of what they thought I was involved in,” he said.

The judge in the case, Honorary Recorder of Preston Robert Altham said that Williams displayed “no significant sign of remorse” and that there was “no explanation why the defendant would commit these offences.”

Judge Altham went on to describe Williams’ claims as “complete fiction”, saying: “She’s gone to extraordinary lengths to create false accusations including causing herself significant injury.”

It was also noted by the judge that her false claims had created a “state of heightened tension” in Barrow for a period of about four months, in which protests, attended by anti-grooming gang activist Tommy Robinson, were held at the perceived lack of police attention.

Lack of police action in dealing with grooming gangs has been a longstanding cause of anger and resentment in the north of England, after it was revealed that police forces overlooked mostly-Pakistani rape gangs for fear of being perceived as racist, while thousands of young girls were preyed upon and exploited.

Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka