Mother of fantasist who made grooming gang lies says she was ‘just trying to get people to listen’
The mother of a fantasist jailed for lying about being raped by an Asian grooming gang broke down in tears today when she claimed she was “just trying to get people to listen to her”.
Eleanor Williams, 22, was jailed for eight and a half years at Preston Crown Court on Monday for perverting the course of justice.
She sparked outrage after gruesome images of her bruised face and claims of abuse by a violent Asian group went viral, leading to public demonstrations in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, where businesses were smeared with racist abuse.
The full extent of Williams’ dishonesty was revealed this week on CCTV which showed her buying the hammer she used to hit herself in the face and cause the injuries.
Today her mother, Allison Johnston, a former Labor councillor, spoke for the first time since her daughter was sentenced.
Eleanor Williams, 22, (left, in a mugshot and right, with self-inflicted injuries) was found guilty of perverting the course of justice and has been jailed for eight and a half years. She will serve just over four years.
The mother of a fantasist jailed for lying about being raped by an Asian grooming gang broke down in tears today when she claimed she was “just trying to get people to listen to her”.
Today her mother, Allison Johnston, a former Labor councillor, spoke for the first time since her daughter was sentenced.
Speaking through tears, she told Sky News: ‘(I am) heartbroken. I can’t (describe it). I still can’t really take it in. It just doesn’t feel real.
When asked why her daughter told such lies, she added: “I think she was just trying to get people to listen to her.”
Williams was raised in a large stone-built semi-truck by her mother and stepfather.
He has an older sister, Lucy, and a brother, who doted on their younger brother.
The family home is on a quiet street on Walney Island, just off Barrow-in-Furness, where houses sell for as much as £315,000 – twice the area average – and to neighbors they looked like a ‘completely normal family’ .
Williams’ grandmother, Anne Burns, is a Labor stalwart in the town, representing the town’s Hindpool ward on Cumbria County Council and serving as a cabinet member for children’s services.
She has also been a ‘cared for child champion’ for the Barrow area and part of the town’s community safety association.
It comes as one of his victims, Jordan Trengove, who spent 73 days in prison after being accused of his lies and committed suicide as a result, has demanded that Williams receive a life sentence.
He told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “Because he served the time, I felt it should have been longer, because he’s really only going to serve two more years and then he’s out.”
“I don’t think it’s fair at all because it has destroyed several lives. I think they should have given him a life sentence.
Mr Trengove also revealed how he had spray painted ‘rapist’ on his house and its broken windows.
He added: “I would love to know why she has done this and what has made her do this.” There has to be an explanation for everything and they haven’t given it to us.
While Trengove was locked up, another victim faced lurid allegations that he made her work in a brothel in Amsterdam before selling her to another pimp.
Supporters of the Labor councilor’s daughter raised more than £20,000 through a social media campaign after the post was unknowingly shared by celebrities, including Countdown presenter Rachel Riley.
But police became suspicious of her story after discovering that she had created fake Snapchat accounts and sent messages to herself.
During the first Covid lockdown in May 2020, officers found Williams with injuries that she says were inflicted by the gang.
The next day, the then-teenager shared images of her injuries in a Facebook post, saying she wanted to “raise awareness” of the alleged grooming ring that were “mostly Pakistani men”.
The post was shared more than 100,000 times and prompted Tommy Robinson, founder of the far-right English Defense League, to go to Barrow to “investigate”.
When the police charged Williams instead, outraged supporters rallied and Asian-owned businesses were attacked.
But her trial heard the Snapchat account that Williams claimed was that of an Asian dealer who actually belonged to a Tesco worker from Essex who had never met her.
She claimed restaurateur Mohammed Ramzan had groomed her for sex since she was 12, even selling her at auction for 25,000 euros (£22,000) after making her work in a brothel in Amsterdam.
Williams also alleged that he had threatened to throw her into the sea during a ‘horrible’ trip to Blackpool during which he was ‘pimped’ with eight men.
However, it emerged that during the alleged trip to Amsterdam, Mr. Ramzan had in fact been shopping at his local B&Q.
Meanwhile, on the night of her supposed ordeal in the seaside town, she was left alone in a hotel after buying a Pot Noodle and spent the night watching YouTube on her phone.
Williams was found guilty of eight counts of perverting the course of justice.
He pleaded guilty to a ninth count at an earlier hearing.
Williams had denied telling a “package of lies” to police and jury, saying: “I wanted people to know what was going on in Barrow, it’s still going on.”
Jailing her, Preston’s honorary registrar, Judge Robert Altham, told Williams that her lies risked deterring ‘actual victims’ from going to the police for fear they would ‘not be believed’.
Superintendent Matthew Pearman of Cumbria Police stressed that Williams’ allegations “could not have been taken more seriously when they initially came forward”.
He said it had been a “dark period for Barrow” but urged anyone who has been the victim of sexual abuse to report it to the police.