Innocent men speak out after being targeted by rape fantasist
‘I’m not sure how my family and I are going to recover from this’: Innocent men targeted by rape fantasist who lied about being victim of an Asian grooming gang tell how they are struggling to rebuild their lives
- Mohammed Ramzan tried to take his own life two weeks after he was arrested
- Jordan Trengrove also attempted to kill himself over claims by Eleanor Williams
- READ MORE – Fantasist whose rape lies drove men to attempt suicide is jailed
A business owner who tried to kill himself after being wrongly accused of trafficking a woman has admitted he is not sure how he will recover because ‘mud sticks’.
Mohammed Ramzan, 43, of Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, tried to take his own life two weeks after he was arrested following the claims made by Eleanor Williams.
Williams, 22, was jailed for eight-and-a-half years after falsely claiming to have been the victim of an Asian grooming gang and making a series of false rape allegations.
Speaking outside Preston Crown Court following the sentencing today, Mr Ramzan told Sky News: ‘I’m not sure how my family and I are going to recover from this.
‘The mud sticks and I fear it may take some time. But as a family we remain strong, we will be strong and we’re determined to move forward positively with our lives.’
Mohammed Ramzan, who was wrongly accused of trafficking by Eleanor Williams, with his wife Nicola Holt outside Preston Crown Court in Lancashire today after Williams was jailed
Mohammed Ramzan (second right) with his wife Nicola Holt (right) and their sons outside Preston Crown Court in Lancashire today after Williams was jailed for eight-and-a-half years
Mohammed Ramzan and his family speak to reporters outside Preston Crown Court today
He said the family would remain in Barrow but admitted he was concerned that far-Right supporters on social media were still insistent that Williams’s claims were true.
Eleanor Williams was sentenced in Preston after making a series of false rape allegations
Mr Ramzan continued: ‘It’s concerning because there’s still people on social media and this goes to the far-Right element of people who are still portraying this actually exists and this happened and it hasn’t.
‘It’s impacted us all in different ways but now we’ve got to think about moving forward.’
Williams claimed Mr Ramzan had groomed her from the age of 12, put her to work in brothels in Amsterdam, and sold her at an auction there.
But the court heard that, at the time she was in the Netherlands, his bank card was being used at a B&Q in Barrow.
Williams also gave police an account of being taken to Blackpool, where she said Mr Ramzan threatened her and she was taken to different addresses and forced to have sex with men.
Jordan Trengove (right), who was also falsely accused, outside Preston Crown Court today
Jordan Trengove speaks to the media outside Preston Crown Court today after the sentencing
Jordan Trengove (centre), who was falsely accused by Eleanor Williams, is pictured today
When police made inquiries, they found she had travelled to the seaside resort alone and stayed in a hotel, where she bought a Pot Noodle from a nearby shop and then remained in her room watching YouTube on her phone.
Fantasist whose rape lies drove three men to attempt suicide is jailed for eight years
Mr Ramzan’s family are now taking on a campaign to change the country’s social media laws, and are looking at setting up a foundation as they work to ‘move forward’.
He also said the case has resulted in him being approached by real victims of abuse and fake allegations or wrongful arrest.
He continued: ‘I’m not taking the facts away from real victims, the real victims do exist, there is issues of grooming – but how are we as a Government, as a country, how to balance this? It’s not right.’
Asked about the length of the sentence, Mr Ramzan said: ‘That’s the judge’s decision. I was just happy with the guilty verdict.
‘I’m not going to waste my time, I’m not going to be bitter. There’s a bigger picture to this, which in time will be revealed, I’m sure we’ll see who and what was behind this.’
He added that his family were ‘strong and unbreakable’, saying: ‘This is the closure, we’re moving on.’
He added: ‘This is the closure, we’re moving on.’
Another one of Williams’ victims, Jordan Trengrove, was 18 when he was accused of raping her three times – and said her jail term was insufficient.
He told reporters outside court today: ‘I don’t think the sentence is long enough in my opinion for what she’s done to us all. I don’t think she has any remorse.
‘I’ve tried ending my life over it, I’ve not had a bond with my son, I’ve not been able to leave the house, I’ve not been able to go to work. Now I know she’s locked away for a bit longer, it’s just a bit of a relief. But I wish it was a longer sentence.
Williams is pictured shopping in a Spar, at a time she claimed she was being trafficked
‘I do think I’ll be able to move on with my life a little bit but I’m also going to have the thought in my head that it’s only two years of my life until she’s free again.
How fantasist’s Labour councillor mother stood by her daughter
By Kevin Donald
Allison Johnston
The mother of fantasist Eleanor Williams said she stood by her daughter despite her lies.
Allison Johnston, a 51-year-old Labour councillor in Barrow, told MailOnline in January: ‘I believe my daughter.’
She was suspended by Labour after the intervention.
Johnston claimed that Williams had been the subject of a National Referral Mechanism (NRM) order which claimed she had been trafficked for sexual purposes from the age of 12.
The NRM was introduced in 2009 following the signing of the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings.
It was designed to identify and protect victims of modern slavery and human trafficking.
Mrs Johnston said: ‘The order says Ellie was a victim of exploitation and trafficking from the age of 12. Personally I don’t believe that because I think as her mother I would have known something was happening to her at such a young age.
‘But to us, her family, it says she was telling the truth, that she was a victim in the way that she claimed to be and as her mother I believe her. There were some things she claimed that I do believe were not true, there were parts of it that she made up.
‘But I do believe that substantially she was telling the truth and she was the victim of abuse and trafficking. I also don’t believe that Ellie inflicted those injuries on herself, she couldn’t have caused them.’
A Labour spokesperson said: ‘The party does not comment on internal party matters and any complaints are investigated in line with our rules and procedures.’
‘So as bad as it sounds, I do think I’m going to move out of the area so I’m not in the same area when she’s released.’
Mr Trengrove, who had the word ‘rapist’ spray painted across his house, added: ‘Her and her family have destroyed me and mine.’
He spent 73 days in jail where he shared a cell with a convicted sex offender after being charged as a result of Williams’s claims.
And Mr Trengrove said today: ‘I’m taking action against the police because there was evidence there that I didn’t do anything wrong and they still insisted on sending me to prison.’
In a Facebook post in May 2020, which was shared more than 100,000 times, Williams described being beaten, abused and trafficked by Asian men.
She also posted pictures of her injuries, but the court heard that she had caused them to herself, with a hammer.
In January, a jury found Williams guilty of eight counts of doing acts tending and intended to pervert the course of justice.
She pleaded guilty to a ninth count at an earlier hearing.
In statements read to the court on Monday, three of the men Williams had accused described attempts to take their own life following her allegations.
Mr Ramzan told the court: ‘I have had countless death threats made over social media from people all over the world because of what they thought I was involved in.’
Superintendent Matthew Pearman, of Cumbria Police, said Williams’ allegations led to ‘public displays of mass anger’ in Barrow, with protests held outside the police station and on a retail park.
Videos of English Defence League founder Tommy Robinson in the town were shown in court.
In a letter read to the court, Williams said she had not instigated anything which happened in the community and did not want Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, to come to the town.
She said: ‘I do not agree with his views or opinions.’
In the letter to the judge, she said: ‘I’m not saying I’m guilty but I know I have done wrong on some of this and I’m sorry.
‘I’m devastated at the trouble that has been caused in Barrow, if I knew what consequences would have come from that status I never would have posted it.’
Louise Blackwell KC, defending Williams, said her client maintained the allegations were true.
She added: ‘Other than her personal vulnerabilities and her age there doesn’t appear to be any motivation at all.’
Williams in seen in Tesco buying a hammer that she would later use to cave her own face in
In sentencing remarks which were broadcast on television, Honorary Recorder of Preston Judge Robert Altham said: ‘It is troubling to say the least that she shows no significant signs of remorse.’
He said there was no explanation for why the defendant made the allegations, which he described as ‘complete fiction’.
He added: ‘Unless and until the defendant chooses to say why she has told these lies we will not know.’
Williams looked straight ahead and thanked the judge after he sentenced her.
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