Eleanor Williams (criminal)

Williams' first claim was in 2017, when she was 16 years old. She stated in November 2017 that she became unwell from drinking beer and consuming marijuana while at a man's home. Williams' family was contacted by him and his companions, who then picked her up and took her to the hospital. At the hospital, she claimed she had been raped. After the accused was taken into custody in January 2018, she withdrew her support for the prosecution.[4]

In 2019, Williams made false allegations of rape against another man, causing the police to arrest and keep him in custody for three months. Williams was arrested on suspicion of perverting the course of justice, before being released pending further investigation.[5]

In 2020, Williams claimed she had been passed around for sex "for years" across the North of England by an Asian gang who drugged her, beat her, blackmailed her, and threatened her with weapons.[6] In May, Williams was discovered by police with wounds to her legs and abdomen, a cut finger, and a swollen eye. She later uploaded photos of the wounds to Facebook, claiming that Asian males had battered, groomed, and trafficked her. A pathologist found that her injuries, however, were consistent with being self-inflicted. A hammer that she had purchased earlier that month was found to have her DNA on it.[4] Williams was subsequently remanded on charges of perverting the course of justice.[7]

In 2022, Williams was found guilty of eight counts of perverting the course of justice, pleading guilty to the ninth charge.[1]

In March 2023, Williams was jailed for eight and a half years. She immediately appealed her conviction.[8] Her request was then denied by the Court of Appeal.[9] The Attorney General's office considered appealing the sentence at the Court of Appeal for being unduly lenient, which could have potentially lengthened her sentence, but ultimately decided not to.[10]

Williams' posts went viral, with one being shared more than 100,000 times.[11] Her claims heightened racial tensions across Britain. Cumbria Police reported dealing with over 150 extra crimes following her post, of which they considered 83 to be hate crimes. The senior investigating officer for the case said that he was "shocked" at the level of racism the accusations caused.[12] The Guardian wrote that there had been reports of Indian restaurant owners having their windows smashed in Barrow.[13] Far-right activist Tommy Robinson turned up in Barrow-in-Furness, claiming to be a journalist investigating the case.[7]

The Guardian reported in 2023 that three of the men falsely accused by Williams had since attempted suicide.[13]

A charity in Barrow that supports victims of sexual exploitation said many of its clients were reluctant to report abuse to police because they “don’t want to be arrested”.[14] Other victims of abuse, including Sammy Woodhouse from the Rotherham child sexual exploitation scandal, claimed Williams' false allegations "caused harm" to survivors and will deter others from coming forward.[15][16]

The local newspaper, The Mail, became a subject of a boycott because of its reporting on the case. In his sentencing remarks, Judge John Altham said that the boycott had potentially contributed to the newspaper's "financial collapse".[1]

In 2023, Conservative MP Simon Fell raised the consequences of Williams' case to justice ministers in Parliament. He said that the virality of her claims and its social media spread prevented the police from adequately doing their job. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Courts and Legal Services, Mike Freer, responded that the government intended to create two new offences in the Online Safety Bill (passed as the Online Safety Act 2023 in October) to address the issue. This includes criminalising "communications where a person sends information that they know to be false with the intention of causing harm".[3]