Liar: The Fake Grooming Scandal is a new true-crime documentary coming to BBC Two.
The one-off programme looks at the case of Eleanor Williams from Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbra.
The 22-year-old was jailed in 2023 for lying about being trafficked and raped by an Asian grooming gang.
Now, a new documentary speaks to key figures involved with the case and the effect of her lies had on her victims and the local community.
Who is Ellie Williams and what crimes did she commit?
Born in 2000, Eleanor Williams grew up in the port town of Barrow-in-Furness on the northwest coast of England.
According to the judge’s sentencing remarks, Williams had “difficulties” in her childhood and self-harmed from a young age.
Growing up, Williams did not get along with her mother or stepfather and moved out to live in her own flat.
Between the ages of 16 and 21, she made a series of serious allegations of rape and assault against several Asian men.
After thorough investigations by police, it was found Williams had lied about the offences.
Who were her victims?
In 2017, at the age of 16, she accused her first victim of rape, Cameron Bibby. Police arrested the alleged perpetrator, questioned and released him, before Williams withdrew her support for the prosecution.
In 2019, she made three more allegations of assault and rape by a man named Jordan Tengrove, who was arrested and remanded in custody for three months.
Later that year, she made a further allegation against local businessman Mohammed Ramzan.
She said that she had been friends with “Rammy” since she was 12 and that he had groomed her for sex and took her to parties where other men sexually abused her.
She also alleged that he had taken her to Ibiza and paid men to have sex with her. She said that when she “messed up” she was physically assaulted by Mr Ramzan. When police arrested Mr Ramzan, he denied the offences and denied that he knew Williams.
In the same year, Williams made more allegations about trafficking in the Blackpool area. However, police investigations into CCTV and the location of her mobile phone revealed discrepancies in her stories.
Police discovered that Williams herself was effectively grooming men. This occurred through Williams meeting men on adult websites, encouraging contact that then became more explicit and changing their names to the names of men she had accused of rape and sexual assault.
In 2020, a social media post shared by Williams went viral and was shared more than 10,000 times after she posted graphic photographs of her bruised face and body and claimed to have been beaten and raped by a gang of Asian men.
More than £22,000 was crowdfunded by local councillor Shane Yerrell for a private prosecution against the fictitious grooming gang. After it was revealed that Williams had been lying, her mother donated the funds to two unnamed charities.
An hour after her Facebook post went live, the then-19-year-old Williams who was arrested.
A surge in hate crime followed in her hometown of Barrow, with Cumbria Constabulary recording 83 reports linked to the post, with residents within the Asian community receiving death threats and being verbally abused and spat at. Some businesses were also vandalised.
At that stage, the police were unable to tell the public what they already knew about Williams for fear of prejudicing a future trial.
Some of the men falsely accused – Mr Trengove, Mr Gardner and Mr Ramzan – said they tried to kill themselves as a result of being falsely accused.
Others reported thousands of pounds in lost business, death threats, racist abuse and a profound effect on their mental health.
Where is Eleanor Williams now?
False allegations of rape are extremely rare, but when they are made they can seriously undermine the credibility of genuine victims, according to the Crown Prosecution Service.
Eleanor was finally convicted in 2023 after a meticulous police investigation and sentenced to eight years in prison.
The judge, Mr Justice Altham, said her allegations were “complete fiction” and criticised her for showing “no significant signs of remorse”.
What is the documentary Liar: The Fake Grooming Scandal about?
Liar: The Fake Grooming Scandal features never-before-seen police footage of her and hears for the first time from the officers at the heart of the case, including specialist detectives who treated Eleanor as a victim of serious crime until they realised they were investigating something very different.
It examines why her allegations resonated, and the devastating impact they had in Barrow.
Liar: The Fake Grooming Scandal airs at 9pm on BBC Two on Wednesday 31 January.
