Eleanor Williams is the woman who lied and kicked up a storm.
The legacy of a younger lady being discovered responsible of faking her abuse has solid a protracted shadow – probably impacting different instances, with one real sufferer telling Sky News: “It makes us all look like liars.”
Williams, 22, was sentenced this week to eight-and-a-half years for perverting the course of justice.
In May 2020 she posted surprising images of her accidents on Facebook and claimed she was being bodily and sexually abused by “evil and clever men” and that an Asian gang had trafficked her to intercourse events in her hometown of Barrow-in-Furness and elsewhere.
But then, after a police investigation and trial, a jury at Preston Crown Court discovered all the pieces was a lie – that even the horrific accidents had been self-inflicted.
The case took greater than two years to return to courtroom and lengthy earlier than the trial happened, Sky News spoke to a lot of alleged victims who had been troubled by what had occurred in Barrow.
The drawback was that Williams’ faux story echoed their very own experiences.
One lady even instructed us her abusers had mentioned she would find yourself in jail identical to Eleanor Williams if she went to the police.
In many instances, girls felt they’d not been believed by the authorities, and sensed that officers had been investigating them, greater than the lads.
Read extra:
How Eleanor Williams’s false claims unravelled
Speaking to us final 12 months, Laura, not her actual title, mentioned: “It’s kind of a similar story to me, being exploited by lots of different men, and being taken to different areas.
“And then that she’s been arrested, that actually, actually scared me as a result of I used to be like: ‘I’m speaking to the police a few comparable crime, what if I get arrested?'”
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Judge sentences Eleanor Williams
Many victims nonetheless assume Williams did undergo abuse
It’s why, regardless of the conviction on compelling proof, many alleged victims nonetheless assume Williams will need to have suffered from some type of abuse.
‘Suzie’, who’s a sexual abuse sufferer from the North East, feels the case has triggered big injury.
She mentioned: “I think it makes us all look like liars and, well, with me and other girls, they just wouldn’t want to come forward.”
Indeed, when Eleanor Williams was sentenced, Judge Robert Altham mentioned: “We are aware that sex trafficking of young females does occur.
“There is a threat that real victims will, because of this defendant’s actions, really feel deterred from reporting it.”
One victim believes case was dropped due to Williams
But some women fear the case may affect police attitudes.
A young woman from Barrow told us when she reported sexual assault the case was closed not long after Williams’ Facebook post went up because, she thinks, the man she was accusing, although not named as a victim in the Williams case, was connected to her claims.
‘Kate’, not her real name, told Sky News: “I gave my bedding to them. I gave them my pyjamas.
“And then after they had all the evidence, they had my statement – we had an email saying there was no further action.”
She added she believed the police thought she may be one other Eleanor Williams.
Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria
But Cumbria Police instructed Sky News that there was a four-month investigation into {the teenager}’s claims.
They added: “That investigation resulted in the arrest of the alleged offender on 11 June 2020. He was interviewed and denied committing any offences.
“The investigation continued. However, the person was subsequently knowledgeable on 19 July 2020 that he was launched with no additional motion.
“This decision was reached following an evaluation of the evidence available to officers, which did not reach the charging threshold.
“The case was investigated by officers who weren’t concerned within the Eleanor Williams investigation.
“To suggest that Eleanor Williams’ lying had any influence on this case being NFA’d [no further actioned] or resulted in the police not believing victims is completely baseless and false.”
Wendy Lloyd, CPS prosecutor within the Williams case
Police say Williams’ crimes had been revealed by drive’s ‘diligence’
A CPS prosecutor concerned within the Williams case, Wendy Lloyd, says her crimes solely got here to gentle as a result of police had been so diligent.
“This case if anything would demonstrate to true and genuine victims just how seriously these kinds of cases are investigated,” she mentioned.
“Before the perverting the course of justice charges were preferred against Miss Williams, there was a lot of safeguarding around her and a lot of investigation into all the allegations she made.”
But the laborious reality is that solely a fraction of ladies who allege being raped truly get a prosecution and it’s possible {that a} lady discovered responsible of mendacity will solely make issues worse.
Source: information.sky.com”
