A woman who claimed she had been the victim of an Asian grooming gang has been convicted of perverting the course of justice.
Eleanor Williams, 22, put pictures on Facebook and claimed she had been groomed, trafficked and beaten – but prosecutors said her injuries were self-inflicted with a hammer.
Her post was shared more than 100,000 times and led to demonstrations in her home town and a visit by former English Defence League founder Tommy Robinson to “investigate”.
A jury at Preston Crown Court today found her guilty of eight counts of doing acts tending and intended to pervert the course of justice.
Her trial heard how she had accused multiple men of rape going back to 2017, as well as claiming an Asian gang abused her.
Williams, from Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria, published the pictures in May 2020 but the prosecution said the injuries had been self-inflicted with a blood-stained hammer found at her home.
Jonathan Sandiford KC said it was the “finale” to a string of lies by Williams.
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“The defendant goes online to her social media contacts and effectively finds random names on the internet she presents as being victims of trafficking or perpetrators,” he told the jury.
It was alleged she sent some social media messages to herself, making them appear as if they were from traffickers or other victims.
In other cases, she was accused of manipulating real people to send messages which she then said were from abusers.
Williams denied telling a “pack of lies” and during evidence said she wanted “people to know what was going on in Barrow, still is going on”.
