Eleanor Williams, who falsely claimed to be a victim of a grooming gang, has been released early from prison, sparking outrage in her community.
Barrow-in-Furness: So, Eleanor Williams, the woman who made up those wild stories about being abused by a grooming gang, is out of prison early. Can you believe it?
Her lies caused a real stir back in 2020. She posted some pretty shocking photos on Facebook, claiming she was hurt by this gang. It blew up into a huge “Justice for Ellie” movement with over 100,000 people rallying behind her. People were really upset, thinking the police were messing up the case.
But here’s the kicker: three men she accused tried to take their own lives because of her false claims. One of them even spent 73 days in jail. Now, she’s out before even hitting the halfway mark of her sentence. The Ministry of Justice confirmed it today.
Williams was sentenced to eight-and-a-half years back in March 2023 after being found guilty of multiple counts of trying to mess with justice. She had already admitted to one count of perverting the course of justice.
Now that she’s out, she’s on probation and has to follow some strict rules. If she breaks any of them, she could end up back in jail. Some folks in Barrow are really upset about her early release. One local even said it was “absolutely disgusting” that she didn’t serve more time for what she did.
It all started when she was just 16. After a night of partying, she claimed she was raped, but later backed out of supporting the prosecution. Then, in 2019, she accused another guy of rape after a night out. The court found out she had actually hurt herself to back up her stories.
She even claimed she was groomed since she was a kid and made up all sorts of wild tales about being trafficked. The judge pointed out that her stories were more like something out of a movie than reality.
When police looked into her claims, they found a lot of inconsistencies. For instance, she said she was in Amsterdam being trafficked, but evidence showed she was actually there with her family. It’s just wild how far her lies went.
In May 2020, she was found with injuries that she claimed were from being beaten by a gang. But a pathologist said those injuries looked self-inflicted. It’s a crazy story that’s left a lot of people shaking their heads.
