An Asian business owner who was falsely accused by gang fantasist Eleanor Williams has revealed the horrific racial abuse he received, including rape threats to his wife and children.
Williams, 24, ‘destroyed lives’ with her allegations of torture, rape and exploitation against an ‘Asian grooming gang’ in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, in May 2020, which turned out to be false.
She made increasingly serious allegations of rape and sex trafficking to police over a three-year period and went viral after posting photos of her bruised face.
Williams was eventually jailed for eight and a half years after being found guilty of perverting the course of justice in 2023.
The devastating impact of his web of lies is shown in new Channel 4 documentary Accused: The Fake Grooming Scandal, which tells the stories of his victims.
The program hears from Faz, a restaurant owner in Barrow whose business was mentioned by Williams in her allegations.
In emotional scenes, Faz detailed the horrific racist abuse he received and the terrifying threats made to his wife and children.
He said: ‘There were local people passing by spitting at the window and shouting racist abuse.
The program hears from Faz, a restaurant owner in Barrow whose business was mentioned by Williams in her allegations.
Eleanor Williams was raised in a large semi-built stone house by her mother Allison Johnston and her stepfather, and appeared to have had a completely normal upbringing.
Eleanor Williams, 23, from Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, made increasingly serious allegations of rape and sex trafficking to police over a three-year period.
‘I started getting calls and answered the phone saying “we’re going to come and get you.” They say, “I know where you live, I know where you are, I know you have two children, and I know who your wife is.”
“What they told me was: ‘we’re going to rape your wife and fuck your children.'”
Faz, owner of the Mithali restaurant in Barrow, said his windows were smashed and he began receiving racist messages on social media, including telling him he was a “bloody worm” and that he “has five years left in this country.” until they burn you all alive.’
Williams claimed she had been “stuck” at his restaurant in a social media post, but after speaking to staff it turned out her story didn’t add up and she was there of her own “will” to have a cigarette.
Faz added: ‘I couldn’t understand it.
‘Barrow is a small town, I have lived here all my life. Everyone knows everyone.
‘I was the only Asian kid in the whole school and culture was never talked about. My friends never made me feel different.
“But after Ellie’s Facebook post, what affected me the most was that people who really knew me were saying things like they thought I might have been involved.”
In emotional scenes, Faz detailed the horrific racist abuse he received and the terrifying threats made to his wife and children.
Faz, owner of the Mithali restaurant in Barrow, said his windows were smashed and he began receiving racist messages on social media, including telling him he was a “bloody worm” and that he “has five years left in this country.” until they burn you all alive’
Williams claimed she had been “stuck” at his restaurant in a social media post, but after speaking to staff it turned out her story didn’t add up and she was there of her own “will” to have a cigarette.
The documentary also hears from business owners Mahin and Mohammed Ramzan, known as Mo Rammy, who said the allegations leveled against him were “destroying lives”.
Mahin told how the front and back windows of his store were smashed. He said: ‘All our windows are broken.
‘People are ignoring me. I didn’t do anything. Why do people blame me?
And ice cream shop owner Rammy said he was “hit for six” after receiving hundreds of angry messages.
He said: ‘I wasn’t afraid, I was angry. This is me protecting myself and my honor, my family name and my children. This destroys life.”
His son Harry, who was 15 at the time, was told he was a “paedophile” while serving ice cream at the family business.
Rammy described his horror when he was arrested for human trafficking, modern slavery and charged with sexual exploitation of a child.
He said, “This is the worst accusation that can be made against any man.”
Williams claimed that Rammy had trafficked her since she was 12 and threatened to kill her, allegations he always denied. He also denied having any contact with Williams, said he received hundreds of death threats and abuse from people as far away as the United States, self-harmed and considered taking his own life.
Ramzan previously said: “It absolutely ruined me to the point where I broke a bottle on my head.” I wanted to kill myself because of the damage it did. The reputation I had earned was ruined. My neighbors turned against me. People left me. I lived in hell.’
The footage shows how Williams acted as if she had been drugged when police officers visited her at her home in July 2019.
In July 2019, Ramzan was arrested on suspicion of human trafficking and was investigated for three weeks, but no charges were brought.
When the allegations became public in May 2020, Ramzan said he received hundreds of threatening or abusive messages through Facebook.
He said: “It was like the whole world was against me, literally the whole world.”
Ramzan was among five men named accused of being involved in rape or human trafficking by Williams.
She was found guilty of eight counts of perverting the course of justice, including two relating directly to Mr Ramzan.
Williams alleged Ramzan had been involved in trafficking her to Amsterdam to sell for sex in 2018, but police discovered he had been shopping at B&Q on the dates in question. Williams claimed he was involved in trafficking her to “parties” in Blackpool, where she was forced to have sex with several men.
Falsified rape allegations are incredibly rare but seriously undermine the credibility of legitimate victims, according to the Crown Prosecution Service.
His lies were debunked by more than 50 hours of footage, including street CCTV, video interview tapes and police body cameras.
These allegations were the latest in a series of allegations that began in 2017, when she was just 16 years old.
In a police interview in 2017, Williams accused his first victim of rape. But after he denied all knowledge of the alleged incident, she withdrew her involvement in the police investigation.
More than a year later, she went to police again and claimed to have been raped by a man, with images showing her with bruises on her cheek which she claimed were caused by the attack.
The man he had accused spent ten weeks in prison before finally being released.
But just weeks later she contacted police again and claimed she was the victim of an Asian grooming gang who trafficked her across the north-west of England for sex.
Detective John Robinson, who worked on the case, told the BBC he saw a clear “evolution” in Williams’ allegations, adding: “You have a terrible allegation in 2017, a much worse allegation in 2019 and weeks later they appropriately snowballs into a massive organized crime group.
She said her story began to unravel when she was taken to Blackpool, a town she claimed to have recently been trafficked to, but was unable to provide any leads.
Footage released from inside the vehicle shows Williams driving for much of the day, but cannot provide any location or other clues to support the investigation into the alleged trafficking.
Officers believe she had investigated real cases of sex trafficking by Asian grooming gangs to give more authenticity to her account.
She had given detailed accounts of the properties where she had allegedly been raped, from the color of the walls to descriptions of the calendars on the walls.
But taking her to Blackpool in an attempt to investigate her claims, Detective Con Robinson said they spent the day “driving quite aimlessly in the hope that something might look familiar”.
He was also concerned about Williams’ lack of emotion: “I spent two days in a car with her. I don’t remember her getting angry even once.
Williams sparked outrage after gruesome images of her bruised face and false allegations of abuse by an Asian grooming gang sparked far-right protests.
Further investigation revealed security camera footage and cell phone records that contradicted their accounts.
Shortly afterward, police planned to arrest Williams on false accusations, but she disappeared before they could do so.
Almost a year later, while on bail, she violated curfew and police found her in a dark field. She again claimed to have been gang raped by Asian men and had serious injuries to her face and body.
Police discovered that the wounds from the night in May 2020 were again self-inflicted with a hammer, which was found in a field with his DNA.
CCTV showed her buying an identical hammer at a Tesco branch a month earlier.
Williams later posted a photo of his injuries online and repeated his accusations, sparking public outrage.
She was arrested an hour later, but this did not stop a spate of hate crimes in Barrow-on-Furness, with police recording 83 separate incidents linked to her post.
Following his arrest, Williams’ family organized a fundraiser which raised more than £20,000 using the graphic social media post. None of the money has ever been returned.
For confidential support, call Samaritans on 116123 or visit a local Samaritans branch, see www.samaritans.org for more details.
Accused: The fake care scandal airs on Channel 4 this week.