Police investigating claims that a young woman had been trafficked by an Asian gang didn't have a 'single piece of evidence' that she was being groomed, a court heard.
Eleanor Williams falsely accused a number of men of rape, dating back to 2017, and told police she was groomed, trafficked and beaten by an Asian gang.
She is appearing at Preston Crown Court today (13 March) where she is due to be sentenced, after a jury found her guilty of eight counts of doing acts tending and intended to pervert the course of justice.
READ MORE: Woman who lied about being victim of Asian grooming gang to learn her fate
The 22-year-old, from Walney, Barrow, fabricated evidence, injuring herself with a hammer, and made a dramatic social media post claiming she had been beaten up when she refused to attend sex parties in lockdown.
Williams was 16 when she made the first false claim she had been raped at a party in Barrow. She later claimed she had been raped after a night out at Manhattans nightclub, where she worked, and again at her flat by the same man.
She went on to say she had been groomed from the age of 12 and forced to attend sex parties across the north of England and had been taken to Ibiza where the abuse continued. She said she had been sold as a slave at an auction in Amsterdam, while on holiday with her sister.
During the sentencing hearing, prosecutor Jonathan Sandiford KC, told the court that following Cumbria Police's investigation, there was 'not a single piece of evidence to support Williams having been groomed' by any of the people accused, Lancs Live reports.
One of those included a local man named Mohammed Ramzan, who was investigated by the police and received death threats in the wake of her fictitious claims.
Mr Ramzan, also known as Mo Rammy, is a successful businessman who owns several restaurants, ice cream vans and rental properties in Barrow. He was pulled over by police in July 2019 and accused of modern slavery and human trafficking offences.
As he was handcuffed, members of the public got out their phones and began filming as police searched his car.
Mr Ramzan's windows were smashed, tenants moved out of his rental properties as they feared for their safety, and he was unable to let them out again with the windows permanently boarded up. Friends were labelled 'enablers' and targeted with bricks and eggs. His Porsche was keyed.
Mr Sandiford KC told the sentencing hearing that following their investigation, Cumbria Police could not find a single witness who had ever seen Williams with Mr Ramzan or in the Mr Elephant restaurant he ran.
Williams claimed she had been in a relationship with Rammy for many years and worked in his restaurant. She claimed to have moved away from Barrow and lived with him elsewhere in the North West. "This is all fantasy, Mr Sandiford said.
The court heard that William's mobile phones were searched, and that there wasn't a single phone number saved or call data between her and Mr Ramzan.
"That would be astonishing given the defendant's claimed relationship with him," Mr Sandiford added.
The court heard that on a number of occasions, Williams gave the police social media usernames of alleged traffickers which belonged to innocent individuals - for example 'Shaggy Wood' was a young man in Essex called Liam, who had met Williams online and worked in Tesco. He was portrayed as an international human trafficker, drug dealer and racist.
Williams' attempts to create a second 'Shaggy Wood' profile fell flat, the court heard. Where there were genuine conversations with people she claimed were traffickers, the content of the messages was inconsistent with a trafficker/victim relationship and in many instances they were inconsistent with her accounts.
She wrote diary entries about a trip to Wigan to be trafficked but it was clear from messages that at the time she was at home asleep.
The sentencing hearing is due to last at Preston Crown Court for two days, with Williams expected to be told her fate on Tuesday (14 March).
Cumbria Police have been approached for comment.
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