CCTV footage shows the moment fantasist Eleanor Williams pretended to be drugged after sustaining self-inflicted injuries as she falsely claimed were the results of being a victim of an ‘Asian grooming gang’.
Williams, 23, from Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, made up increasingly serious accusations of rape and sex trafficking to police over a three-year period and went viral after posting photographs of her bruised face.
She was eventually jailed for eight-and-a-half years after being found guilty of perverting the course of justice in 2023.
Falsified allegations of rape are incredibly rare, but seriously undermine the credibility of legitimate victims, according to the Crown Prosecution Service.
Her lies were undone by more than 50 hours of footage, including street CCTV, tapes of video interviews and police bodycams.
Eleanor Williams, 23, from Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, made up increasingly serious accusations of rape and sex trafficking to police over a three-year period
Eleanor Williams was brought up in a large stone-built semi by her mother Allison Johnston and stepfather, and appeared to have a completely normal upbringing
Footage shows how Williams acted as if she had been drugged when police officers visited her at home in July 2019.
Seemingly unable to stand upright and making jerky movements with her head and arms, Williams was seen lounging on a chair and unable to respond to officers while covered in injuries including bruises and a cut to her lip which was dripping blood.
She was taken to hospital where she continued to act intoxicated, before telling police she had been drugged and raped by a man in Preston before he forced her to have sex with two Asian men.
She also alleged that after returning to her hometown she was picked up by two other Asian men who also attacked her.
But these allegations were the latest in a series of claims which began in 2017 when she was just 16.
In a police interview in 2017 Williams accused her first victim of rape. But after he denied all knowledge of the alleged incident, she withdrew her involvement from the police investigation.
More than a year later, she again went to police and claimed to have been raped by a man, with images showing her with bruising to her cheek that she claims was caused by the attack.
Aged 18, she told police: ‘He had a knife and was waving it around… [He] pulled me into the bathroom by my hair, stripped me naked and was hitting me with the shower head.’
Footage shows how Williams acted as if she had been drugged when police officers visited her at home in July 2019
Williams was covered in cuts a bruises but CCTV from the hours leading up this moment showed her returning home uninjured
Williams was spotted on CCTV in Preston, seemingly well, just hours before her display of intoxication
Williams was seen travelling on her own at times she said she was raped and trafficked
Williams sparked outrage after gruesome images of her bruised face and fake claims of abuse by an Asian grooming gang sparked far-right protests
The man she had accused spent ten weeks in prison before finally being released.
But just weeks later, she contacted police again and claimed she was a victim of an Asian grooming gang that was trafficking her across the north-west of England for sex.
Detective Constable John Robinson, who worked on the case, told the BBC he saw a clear ‘evolution’ in Williams’ allegations, adding: ”You’ve got an awful allegation in 2017, a much worse allegation in 2019 and weeks later it properly snowballs into a massive organised crime group.’
He said her story began to unwind when she was taken to Blackpool, a town she had claimed to recently have been trafficked to – but was unable to provide any leads.
Footage released from inside the vehicle shows Williams being driven around for large parts of the day, but unable to provide any location or other clue that would support the investigation into the alleged trafficking.
Officers believe she had researched real cases of sex trafficking by Asian grooming gangs in order to lend her account more authenticity.
She had given detailed accounts of properties she had supposedly been raped in, from the colour of the walls to descriptions of calendars on the walls.
But on taking her to Blackpool in an attempt to investigate her claims, Det Con Robinson said they spent the day ‘driving around fairly aimlessly in the hope that something might be familiar’.
He also became concerned at the lack of emotion Williams displayed: ‘I spent two days in a car with her. I don’t remember her getting upset once.’
Further investigations revealed CCTV footage and mobile phone records which contradicted her accounts.
Shortly afterwards police planned to arrest Williams over the false allegations, but she went missing before they could do so.
She reemerged in later in July 2019, after visiting Preston, at which point she answered the door to officers in her apparent drugged state.
But rather than having been raped and trafficked by a man in the city as she claimed, CCTV footage showed that she had actually just lent him a lighter and swapped phone numbers with him, before continuing on her way.
He and two other victims later attempted to take their own lives over the false accusations.
Williams was seen travelling back to her hometown with no signs of intoxication or injuries – but later claimed she had been violently attacked by multiple men
Williams briefly disappeared before police were able to arrest her, before returning with further injuries and fresh claims
The fantasist was seen in a hotel in Blackpool at the same time she claimed she had been trafficked
Williams at a Tesco in Barrow buying a hammer that she later used to beat her own face
She was also seen arriving home with no visible injuries, with a court later hearing she was believed to have inflicted the bruising and cut to her face herself before police arrived.
Almost a year later while on bail, she broke a curfew and was found in a dark field by police. She again claimed to have been raped by a gang of Asian men and had serious injuries to her face and body.
Police discovered the injuries from the night in May 2020 were again self-inflicted with a hammer, which was found in a field with her DNA on it.
CCTV showed her buying an identical hammer in a branch of Tesco a month earlier.
Williams later posted a photo of her injuries online and repeated her allegations, sparking public outrage.
She was arrested an hour later, but this did not stop a barrage of hate crimes in Barror-on-Furness, with police recording 83 separate incidents linked to her post.
Residents within the Asian community reported threats and local businesses were damaged.
‘My serious concern was that she was going to end up killing herself or come to some serious harm. I don’t think it would have ever stopped,’ Detective Chief Inspector Graham-Cumming said.
After her arrest, Williams’ family set up a fundraiser which raised more than £20,000 using the graphic post on social media. None of the money has ever been repaid.
If you are affected by the issues in this article, call the Samaritans for free, confidential support on 116 123 from a UK phone.
