UK woman jailed for false rape, trafficking claims

LONDON

A woman, 22, was sentenced Tuesday to eight-and-a-half years in prison for false rape and trafficking claims which a judge said are "complete fiction."

Robert Altham sentenced Eleanor Williams for "perverting the court of justice" after she was found to have lied about being abused by an Asian grooming gang following a two-day hearing at the Preston Crown Court.

Williams sparked protests in her Cumbrian hometown of Barrow when she shared a post on Facebook in 2020 that claimed she was the victim of rape and sex trafficking for years.

"A two-day sentencing hearing was told three men Williams falsely accused tried to take their own lives after being targeted and suffering 'hell on earth'," the BBC reported.

Mohammed Ramzan, who was falsely accused by Williams, said he started being targeted as "drug dealers, as pedophile enablers and sympathisers."

Jordan Trengove, who was among the men falsely accused, spent 73 days in custody.

Williams claimed she had been taken to Amsterdam Ramzan and forced to work in a brothel. Among other false claims, she said an attempt had been made to take her to Pakistan, on another occasion she said she had been subdued by being forcibly injected with heroin in a caravan in the UK.

"All of this was complete fabrication. She created an extensive cast of traffickers, many with detailed biographers. Some were invented altogether. Others existed but were not traffickers at all," Altham said during the hearing.