ELEANOR WILLIAMS' TRIAL: ALLEGATIONS OF SEX TRAFFICKING AND LIES
A 21-year-old woman from Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, named Eleanor Williams, claimed she was part of an international sex trafficking ring where she and other girls were made to have sex with men and subjected to violent punishments if they disobeyed traffickers.Williams alleged that Mohammed Ramzan, a local business owner known as Rammi, began a sexual relationship with her when she was 12 or 13 and groomed her to have sex with others.
She claimed in 2018 that Ramzan suggested she travel to Amsterdam to work in a brothel and that she was sold at auction for 25,000 euros, although authorities later found a different, more mundane story.
The police discovered Ramzan's phone did not leave Barrow during the alleged trip and that he was engaged in typical activities such as shopping in B&Q and filling his car with petrol at Asda, suggesting he was not involved in trafficking.
Williams also reported a trip to Blackpool, where she claimed Ramzan was violent and threatened her, but police investigations revealed she stayed at a hotel and stayed in her room, indicating her account was fabricated.
The court heard that Williams created manipulated messages and social media accounts and that her interactions with a man called Liam Wood, whom she also associated with trafficking and violence, were part of her false claims.
Williams was reported missing in May 2020 and was later found with injuries, which a pathologist concluded were consistent with self-inflicted hammer blows.
Williams denies seven counts of doing acts tending to pervert the course of justice, and her trial is expected to last up to 10 weeks.
