Mother of ‘fantasist’ who lied about being raped by an Asian gang ‘has not returned £22,000 donated by well-wishers’
- Eleanor Williams, 22, lied about being raped and trafficked by grooming gang
- Williams was convicted of eight counts of perverting the course of justice
- Her mother Allison Johnston is under pressure to return £22,000 fundraising
The mother of a fantasist who lied about being gang-raped by an Asian ‘grooming gang’ has still not handed back £22,000 fundraised by well-wishers, it is claimed.
Eleanor Williams, 22, insisted she had been trafficked, beaten and sexually assaulted by a gang in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, from the age of 12 onwards.
Compassionate members of the public donated to a Justgiving appeal to help pay Williams’ fight for ‘justice’, The Mirror reports.
However last month, a jury convicted Williams of eight counts of perverting the course of justice after concluding that she had invented the allegations of abuse.
Following the conclusion of the case, Shane Yerrell, who organised the Justgiving page, is urging Williams’ mother Allison Johnston to return the money that was raised in good faith for a fraudulent cause.
Eleanor Williams claimed she was abused by an Asian grooming gang in Barrow, Cumbria
Allison Johnston, a 51-year-old Labour councillor in Barrow (pictured), insisted her daughter, Eleanor Williams was a victim of assault and trafficking
Mr Yerrell, 39, a Tory councillor from Waltham Forest, Essex, said: ‘People donated out of the kindness of their hearts and we were all tricked.
‘I keep messaging her but she keeps stalling and claims she needs to take legal advice. Her daughter was convicted more than a month ago, the money should be returned.
‘The whole fundraising appeal was based on lies. It seems wrong for the family to have the cash.’
Ms Johnston, a Labour Party councillor in Barrow, was suspended by the party after the trial. To date, she has allegedly declined to pay back the sum.
Last month, she claimed to MailOnline that Williams had been the subject of a National Referral Mechanism (NRM) order which claimed she had been trafficked for sexual purposes from the age of 12.
Mrs Johnston said: ‘The order says Ellie was a victim of exploitation and trafficking from the age of 12. Personally I don’t believe that because I think as her mother I would have known something was happening to her at such a young age.
‘But to us, her family, it says she was telling the truth, that she was a victim in the way that she claimed to be and as her mother I believe her.
‘There were some things she claimed that I do believe were not true, there were parts of it that she made up. But I do believe that substantially she was telling the truth and she was the victim of abuse and trafficking.’
Cllr Johnson has been approached by MailOnline for further comment today.
Eleanor Williams claimed she was abused by an Asian grooming gang in Barrow, Cumbria
The Asian grooming gang lies that sparked national outrage – click here to read more
Williams sparked outrage in the Cumbrian town of Barrow when she claimed on social media she had been groomed, trafficked and beaten in 2020.
Her false stories included fabiucating injuries on herself and had a profound impact on her six victims – at least one man told media he felt suicidal after being tarnished by the lurid accusations.
The prosecution compared part of her evidence, of being ‘sold’ at an auction in Amsterdam, as like a scene from the Liam Neeson film Taken.
Restaurant owner Mohammed Ramzan, whom Williams claimed had groomed her from the age of 12, was arrested over her lies and said he and his family received more than 500 death threats.
He branded her ‘delusional’ and a ‘fantasist’ in court.
It heightened racial tensions – one curry house had its windows smashed and a Muslim takeaway owner was chased down the street by men who poured alcohol on his head.
It also painted a target on the backs of the men she accused – one man saw his wife leave him over the claims, while another family were forced to move away from the town altogether.
The 22-year-old posted photos on social media claiming to show injuries caused by the abuse (pictured) but these were found to be self-inflicted
Evidence that she posted on social media, including messages from the men who were alleged to have abused her, were found to be misleading or outright false by police.
Instead of being a grooming gang victim, Williams was a liar who had caused her own injuries as part of a fantasy, the jury found. She could now be sent to prison.
Ice cream van man tells court he was ‘put through hell’ by woman, 21, who accused him of grooming her to have sex with other men and selling her at an Amsterdam auction
Yesterday she was convicted of eight counts of perverting the course of justice after an 11-week trial at Preston Crown Court.
These included claims that she had been drugged and raped by multiple people since she was 12 years old, and that she had been trafficked to places such as Ibiza and Amsterdam and abused by men there.
Prosecutor Jonathan Sandiford KC compared the allegation with a scene from Liam Neeson film Taken, where the main character tracks down a human trafficking gang that had abducted his daughter.
Williams had claimed business owner Mohammed Ramzan had groomed her from the age of 12, and had put her to work at brothels in Amsterdam and sold her at an auction there.
But the court heard at the time she was in the Dutch capital, his bank card was being used at a B&Q in Barrow.
When confronted with evidence that she had been with her sister and her sister’s boyfriend the whole time she was in Amsterdam and the abuse could not have happened, Williams maintained her version of events was correct.
On another occasion she accused a man of threatening to kill her unless she had sex with eight men in Blackpool, local newspaper The Mail reported.
Williams’s claims that she had been abused by a grooming gang were found to be false by a jury
Former leader of the English Defence League Tommy Robinson, pictured here at a protest in Telford last year, went to a demonstration in Barrow following the claims made by Williams
After an 11-week trial at Preston Crown Court, Williams was convicted of eight counts of perverting the course of justice
But this was another fabrication, with CCTV showing she booked herself into a hotel and then stayed inside apart from a brief walk to the shops.
She accused another man, Jordan Trengove, of raping her – an allegation that led to him spending ten weeks on remand in prison.
He was finally cleared when police realised he had been in the back of one of their vans at the exact time he was supposed to have raped her – he had been arguing at a taxi rank when he was spotted by officers.
Despite this alibi and the complete lack of evidence, he was found guilty in the court of social media.
Someone painted the word ‘rapist’ on his house and the windows were smashed in.
Evidence given to the police by Williams about the supposed rape, including Snapchat logs which claimed to show him admitting to it, were later found to be fake and made using the WiFi at the home of Williams’s mother.
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