UK: woman's fake rape, forced prostitution claims land her in jail for 8 years

A woman in the United Kingdom has been jailed for more than 8 years for falsely claiming that she was drugged, raped, and forced to work as a prostitute.

In May 2020, Eleanor Williams had posted on Facebook that she had been beaten, abused and trafficked by south Asian men. The claims stoked racial tensions, leading to acts of vandalism, anger, and fear in Eleanor's hometown.

Judge Robert Altham said he couldn't explain Williams' motivation, but said the accusations were a “complete fiction” that capitalized on real instances in which men — sometimes of south Asian descent — had exploited teenage girls by grooming them first with gifts, booze and drugs before abusing them.

“I'm sure she chose to lie about Asian men because she was modeling her lies on other cases of national prominence,” Altham said. "She regarded the prospects of being believed as greater if she based them on cases already in the public consciousness.” Three of the accused men told authorities they tried to take their own lives while under suspicion.

Williams had claimed that Mohammed Ramzan, a business owner, had groomed her from the age of 12 and took her to Amsterdam where she was forced to have sex for money and sold her at auction.

(With agency inputs)

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