Eleanor Williams: The teenager who faked a grooming scandal also named real abusers
Home video of Eleanor Williams shows a happy teenager; dancing, singing into a bottle, joking with her sister, and making others laugh. A marked contrast to the videos that came to define her.
Warning: This article contains references to sexual abuse and violence
Five years ago, police bodyworn camera footage showed a battered and drugged girl with a bleeding mouth and bruises mushrooming over her closed eye.
Looking like the victim of extreme violence, she claimed on Facebook in May 2020 that she was under the control of a brutal Asian gang who sold her for sex in her hometown of Barrow-in-Furness, northwest England.
But she was found guilty of perverting the course of justice. In January 2023, a jury found that she had lied, fabricated evidence and even inflicted wounds upon herself to frame innocent men.
There is, however, a new twist in this murky story.
There were Asian men grooming girls in Barrow – and at least one of those involved was linked to Eleanor’s allegations.
For the first time, Sky News is revealing extracts of a diary Eleanor kept in the run-up to her notorious Facebook post. And while her diary, which catalogues abuse by controlling men, may be another work of fiction, somehow within it, the girl famed for lying identifies a man who has been convicted of similar crimes.
“It’s hard,” she writes, that people think of her as a “liar” and “evil and a druggy”.
“I wish I could explain everything but what’s the point when they just say I’m lying,” she adds.
Police body-worn camera footage of Eleanor Williams from May 2020
The girl who lied
The night before the Facebook post, police found Eleanor bruised and battered in a field.
“She had horrific facial injuries,” says her mother, Allison Johnston. “There was blood everywhere.”
It wasn’t the first time Allison had seen her daughter with unexplained injuries. Her sister, Lucy, believes Eleanor had reached breaking point and spoke about feeling ignored by the police.
“The only way I can think of it stopping is if people know what’s going on,” Lucy says Eleanor told her.
Lucy, Eleanor’s sister
Read more:
How Eleanor Williams’ false claims unravelled
Sexual abuse victims reveal impact of Eleanor Williams case
Introducing… Unreliable Witness
The Facebook post triggered a wave of protest and anger at the police. People wanted “Justice for Ellie”.
The Asian community was targeted, businesses’ windows were smashed and there were more than 80 hate-related crimes linked to Eleanor’s claims in the ensuing months.
While no one was identified in her post, local restaurant and ice-cream van owner, Mohammed Ramzan, known as Mo Rammy, 45, was named by Eleanor to the police.
Mohammed Ramzan, known as Mo Rammy
When rumours started circulating about his involvement, he was left fearing for his family’s safety and, he says, barely left the house for three years.
“We had fire extinguishers and baseball bats next to [the children’s] beds,” Mo says, tearfully. “We had threats people [were] going to burn the shop down, burn us down.”
Not long after her Facebook post started going viral, it emerged that Eleanor herself was under investigation – for fabricating stories. That same day, police arrested her on suspicion of perverting the course of justice. They would later discover a hammer in the field where she was found with her injuries, which only had her DNA on it, and CCTV from Tesco would show she had bought an identical hammer days earlier.
In her trial, evidence was placed before the jury that she had fabricated text messages to implicate the men. CCTV showed she had stayed in a hotel on her own for an evening in Barrow, on a night when she’d claimed to have been raped by multiple men in Blackpool.
In March 2023, she was found guilty of trying to frame five men and was jailed for eight and a half years.
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The story of Eleanor Williams
The other trial
While most of the town was ready to move on – there was a group of local women with an ordeal ahead of them. Barrow had a secret. Another much-delayed trial involving three Asian brothers accused of grooming and sexually abusing underage girls, some as young as seven, in Barrow and Leeds was about to get under way.
“Barrow got branded a lying town,” says Elizabeth, a key witness. “It’s not. Grooming was happening here and still probably is.”
The three men faced 62 offences between them, which were alleged to have occurred in Leeds and Barrow between 1996 and 2010.
Shaha Amran Miah, 49, (Jai), was accused of 16 sexual offences against three girls, as well as two charges of intimidation and one of kidnap.
Shaha Alman Miah, 47, (Ali), faced three sexual offences against one girl.
Shah Joman Miah, 38, (Sarj), was accused of 40 sexual offences against three children. Nine of these were rape of a child.
Left to right: Shaha Amran Miah, Shah Joman Miah, and Shaha Alman Miah
Elizabeth’s then boyfriend worked at a takeaway called Iesha’s, owned by the Miah family. It was there, she says, that girls as young as 13 or 14 were taken to so-called sex parties.
“Men came down from Leeds. I know they’d come down for one thing… sex with girls,” she says.
It was Sarj and the eldest brother Jai, she says, who regularly resorted to “blackmail, manipulation and threats”. She told the court that Jai was a drug dealer who made threats to try to stop her giving them an interview.
Elizabeth was pregnant at the time. “I will set this house on fire with you and your partner in it and make sure that kid will never come out of you,” Jai told her, she says.
The court also heard how Sarj would take one underage girl to a hotel for sex, sneaking her in after the receptionist had left for the night. Aged in his late 20s, he began having sex with her when she was 13. A decade and a half later, the court heard she still has nightmares where she sees his face.
Prosecution barrister Tim Evans KC said the brothers “created an environment in Barrow in which each of them could abuse young girls”. He described how the men used free cigarettes, food and alcohol and even paid for hair extensions as “classic grooming” techniques, preying on vulnerable girls who were often neglected at home.
Earlier this month, all three men were found guilty of all the counts against them. Two of the brothers, Sarj and Jai, were sentenced to life in prison. Ali was given 14 years – four of those on licence.
Iesha’s, an Indian takeaway restaurant owned by the Miah family
Eleanor’s diary
A key character in Eleanor’s diary is the man now convicted of 40 counts of child abuse, Shah Joman Miah – Sarj.
The diary is dated from late 2019 to early 2020. In it, Sarj is frequently named as part of a controlling network of men. In the extracts below, we’ve replaced the names of other men with Z.
“Monday 21 October 2019… Had Snapchats from Z saying Sarj needs me in Blackburn tomorrow, said I had to get the train to Preston because they didn’t know for definite where Sarj wanted me.”
She also worries about Sarj being “pissed off” with her and references him being at so-called “parties” where men take money after she “goes with” certain people.
Feelings of intimidation also feature. “Tuesday 29 October 2019… Was watching out of my bedroom window and the car must have circled about three times. I got into bed and laid in the dark in silence. Had Z telling me not to piss Sarj off, Z saying I’m not to lose money.”
Sky News has digital evidence that the diary was written around the time it was dated. It wasn’t public knowledge at that time that police were investigating the Miah brothers for historical crimes.
Eleanor was convicted of lying about five men – Mo Rammy and four white men. But we can reveal that both Sarj and Jai’s names were brought up in her trial as among those she alleged had abused her, and what’s more – she was never charged with lying about them.
It was suggested during her trial that diaries were all part of her fabrication, along with faked messages and self-inflicted injuries – but it is a strange coincidence that a now convicted sex offender is in there. And he is not the only one.
Eleanor’s mother Allison Johnston
The warnings
Eleanor’s mother Allison emailed police in October 2019 warning that Sarj had brought a dangerous man to Barrow, who was seen “manhandling” her daughter in a club and later pulling out a knife.
We can’t name this man for legal reasons, but two years after the email was sent, he broke into a woman’s house in another town and sexually assaulted her. He was later jailed.
In the extracts we have of Eleanor’s diary, this man is named 36 times and is described as violent towards her. Sarj is referenced eight times. Most of the men she was convicted of lying about were not referenced in the diary in the extracts we’ve seen.
The diary may well be an extension of the fantasy, but there is other supporting evidence that something was happening to Eleanor.
Her former boss at a local pub spoke of her being intimidated by men while she was working. And her sister said she was grabbed by an Asian man in a nightclub and received threats on her phone over Snapchat.
Sky News obtained a psychiatric report, which referred to a medical professional who did not believe Eleanor’s injuries were self-inflicted. The forensic psychiatrist concluded she was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, and was likely to have been the victim of child sexual exploitation.
Social service reports also reveal intimate injuries – and obvious signs of drug taking – even though the police say she was often pretending to be on drugs and that the injuries were for show. But the thing about the diary that is hard to ignore is she is naming men who would go on to be convicted of offences against other women.
Sarj had allegations made against him by another teenager in Barrow, which were investigated by police in 2018, but the case ended with no further action.
He was also identified by Sarah, not her real name, in Hull as having abused her from the age of 13 and selling her for sex to more than 100 men over three years.
Humberside Police continue to investigate Sarah’s case.
“He’s not just an abuser; he’s a ringleader,” Sarah told Sky News. When it comes to Eleanor’s case, she thinks the fact that Sarj “is a guy that has abused people” should have been looked at.
Elizabeth, whose evidence against Sarj helped lead to his conviction, said: “If I’d have known she’d [Eleanor] named him, I would have went to the police myself and said, ‘why are you calling this girl a liar?’.”
Anonymous witness speaking to Sky News
‘I don’t class him as human’
Sarj wasn’t charged until 2020. Previously, he often worked for local businessman Mo Rammy, the central figure who Eleanor was found guilty of lying about.
Mo first employed Sarj back in 2012. He says he felt betrayed when he learned of his crimes. “I don’t class him as human. You’ve had that person with you for so many years and they’ve just lied to you.”
But he doesn’t believe Eleanor is telling the truth about Sarj because of her lies about others including him. “Why would you fabricate the whole story and let this one horrible filthy beast walk the streets? It doesn’t make sense… I can’t see how I can believe that girl.”
Cumbria Police told Sky News: “All of Eleanor’s allegations (including those emailed by her mother) were investigated thoroughly and there was no evidence of any involvement by the Miah brothers.
“This is not a case where there was not enough evidence to pursue what she was reporting but a case where allegations were proved to be lies with evidence fabricated in an attempt to support those lies, resulting in convictions for multiple offences of perverting the course of justice.”
The force says the successful conviction of the Miah brothers shows how seriously they take offences of this nature in Cumbria, and they encourage victims to come forward. We’ve put our allegations to solicitors representing the Miah brothers but have currently had no reply.
What was going through Eleanor’s mind when she posted those allegations on Facebook is still unclear. But, at least, we know what she wrote in her diary in the months before.
On 17 October 2019, she wrote: “Starting to think there’s (ligit) no point in defending myself or explaining. I’ll let whoever think whatever and need to be okay with my situation.”
Eleanor has now been released from prison but has not returned to Barrow. She did lie about events, and a jury found she fabricated evidence, but we now know there were other liars in this town – with other secrets.
Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK
UK
Why I’m praying assisted dying bill passes major vote – even though it’s not going to happen in my lifetime
On Friday, the social fabric of England and Wales might be changed forever.
MPs are set to vote on the assisted dying bill and supporters are confident that they have the numbers to win.
But the hugely controversial legislation polarises opinion. Communities remain divided, and medical colleagues can’t agree.
Three royal colleges have withdrawn support for the bill in its current form. They want more time to be given for further scrutiny of the legislation.
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How will the assisted dying bill work?
Frank Sutton does not have time. When we went to Frank’s home in East Dulwich, London, last November to watch the vote unfold she already had terminal liver disease and cancer.
As the vote was passed with a majority of 55, Frank broke down in tears and said: “Finally, I can die in peace.”
Frank is unlikely to live long enough to see assisted dying introduced in England and Wales. If the legislation passes, it will be introduced in four years.
Frank now suffers from diabetes and fibromyalgia.
She said: “On top of everything I’ve got, to start developing more comorbidities, I have a massive thought in my head, which I live with every day, which is, is my body, am I on the road to the end, you know, is my body just giving up?
“I mean, I was taking morphine anyway for pain, but now I’m living on morphine, and that’s not a life that you want.”
But even as MPs prepare to vote, many important questions remain over who will take responsibility for determining a patient’s mental capacity and their prognosis. The Royal College of Psychiatrists said it was approaching Friday “with trepidation”.
Read more:
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Dr Annabel Price, the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ lead on assisted dying
Dr Annabel Price, the RCPsych’s lead on assisted dying, told Sky News: “If this bill as it stands proceeds through the rest of the parliamentary process, we as psychiatrists are left in a situation where there are so many unknowns about what is expected of us, about what patients can expect and about the safety of the process.
“We will continue to engage and there may be opportunities for reconsideration at further points in the bill. But yes, I approach this professionally with trepidation.”
The Royal College of GPs says the assisted dying process should happen outside of general practice.
Dr Susi Caesar is in favour of the bill being passed and feels it is okay for the medical community to be so divided on the issue.
She said: “I think people have the right to make their own choices and absolutely I would not want to see anybody forced into being part of this process who didn’t. Our current system is broken and this law would go a long way towards fixing it, at least for a certain group of people.”
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Psychiatrists raise assisted dying concerns
But the Royal Colleges of Physicians (RCP) also has reservations about the bill in its current form.
It says it would be hard for a panel of experts who have no connection to a patient requesting an assisted death to determine if the person is being coerced or has mental capacity.
Dr John Dean, clinical vice president at the RCP has concerns, saying: “Currently decisions clearly are made by patients but agreed by single doctors and then the social worker and psychiatrists are not meeting the patient and those that have been caring for them.
“This has to be done in keeping with modern clinical practice which is complex decisions made with patients and families by teams.”
But for patients like Frank, these concerns have not changed her mind.
She said: “I’m praying for Friday that it still goes through because, like I said, it’s not going to happen in my lifetime, but the thought that people like me who still try to look nice, who still tried to have a life and everything, that they can just have some peace of mind and they can have a weight lifted off their shoulders knowing that they’re going to be able to do it peacefully with their family.”
UK
Crucial evidence in Post Office scandal found in garage of retired computer expert after 30 years
A damning report into the faulty Post Office IT system that proceeded Horizon has been unearthed after nearly 30 years – and it could help overturn criminal convictions.
The document, known about by the Post Office in 1998, is described as “hugely significant” and a “fundamental piece of evidence” and was found in a garage by a retired computer expert.
Capture was a piece of accounting software, likely to have caused errors, used in more than 2,000 branches between 1992 and 1999.
It came before the infamous faulty Horizon software scandal, which saw hundreds of sub postmasters wrongfully convicted between 1999 and 2015.
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What is the Capture scandal?
The ‘lost long’ Capture documents were discovered in a garage by a retired computer expert who came forward after a Sky News report into the case of Patricia Owen, a convicted sub postmistress who used the software.
Adrian Montagu was supposed to be a key witness for Pat’s defence at her trial in 1998 but her family always believed he had never turned up, despite his computer “just sitting there” in court.
Mr Montagu, however, insists he did attend.
He describes being in the courtroom and adds that “at some point into the trial” he was stood down by the barrister for Mrs Owen with “no reason” given.
Adrian Montagu was supposed to be a key witness for Pat’s defence
Sky News has seen contemporaneous notes proving Mr Montagu did go to Canterbury Crown Court for the first one or two days of the trial in June 1998.
“I went to the court and I set up a computer with a big old screen,” he says.
“I remember being there, I remember the judge introducing everybody very properly…but the barrister in question for the defence, he went along and said ‘I am not going to need you so you don’t need to be here any more’.
“I wasn’t asked back.”
The ‘lost long’ Capture documents were discovered in a garage
Sky News has reached out to the barrister in Pat Owen’s case who said he had no recollection of it.
‘An accident waiting to happen’
The report, commissioned by the defence and written by Adrian Montagu and his colleague, describes Capture as “an accident waiting to happen”, and “totally discredited”.
It concludes that “reasonable doubt exists as to whether any criminal offence has taken place”.
It also states that the software “is quite capable of producing absurd gibberish”, and describes “several insidious faults…which would not be necessarily apparent to the user”.
All of which produced “arithmetical or accounting errors”.
Sky News has also seen documents suggesting the jury in Pat Owen’s case may never have seen the report.
What is clear is that they did not hear evidence from its author including his planned “demonstration” of how Capture could produce accounting errors.
But flaws were found within it
Pat Owen was convicted of stealing from her Post Office branch in 1998 and given a suspended prison sentence.
Her family describe how it “wrecked” her life, contributing towards her ill health, and she died in 2003 before the wider Post Office scandal came to light.
Her daughter Juliet said her mother fought with “everything she could”.
“To know that in the background there was Adrian with this (report) that would have changed everything, not just for mum but for every Capture victim after that, I think is shocking and really upsetting – really, really upsetting.”
Pat died before the contents of the report came to light
The report itself was served on the Post Office lawyers – who continued to prosecute sub postmasters in the months and years after Pat Owen’s trial.
‘My blood is boiling’
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‘They knew software was faulty’
Steve Marston, who used the Capture software in his branch, was one of them – he was convicted of stealing nearly £80,000 in September 1998.
His prosecution took place four months after the Capture report had been served on the Post Office.
Steve says he was persuaded to plead guilty with the “threat of jail” hanging over him and received a suspended sentence.
He describes the discovery of the report as “incredible” and says his “blood is boiling” and he feels “betrayed”.
“So they knew that the software was faulty?,” he says. “It’s in black and white isn’t it? And yet they still pressed on doing what they did.
“They used Capture evidence … as the evidence to get me to plead guilty to avoid jail.
“They kept telling us it was safe…They knew the software should never have been used in 1998, didn’t they?”
Steve says his family’s lives were destroyed and the knowledge of this report could have “changed everything”.
He says he would have fought the case “instead of giving in”.
“How dare they. And no doubt I certainly wasn’t the last one…And yet they knew they were convicting people with faulty software, faulty computers.”
Steve’s prosecution took place four months after the Capture report had been served on the Post Office
The report is now with the Criminal Cases Review Commission, the body investigating potential miscarriages of justice, which is currently looking into 28 Capture cases.
A fundamental piece of evidence
Neil Hudgell, the lawyer representing more than 100 victims, describes the report as “hugely significant”, “seismic” and a “fundamental piece of evidence”.
“I’m as confident as I can be that this is a good day for families like Steve Marston and Mrs Owen’s family,” he says.
“I think (the documents) could be very pivotal in delivering the exoneration that they very badly deserve.”
He also added that “there’s absolutely no doubt” that the “entire contents” of the “damning” report “was under the noses of the Post Office at a very early stage”.
Pat Owen
He describes it as a “massive missed opportunity” and “early red flag” for the Post Office which went on to prosecute hundreds who used Horizon in the years that followed.
Read more from Sky News:
Sir Alan Bates attacks ‘kangaroo court’ Post Office scheme
Widow received compensation letter days after his death
“It is a continuation of a theme that obviously has rolled out over the subsequent 20 plus years in relation to Horizon,” he says.
“…if this had seen the light of day in its proper sense, and poor Mrs Owen had not been convicted, the domino effect of what followed may not have happened.”
What the Post Office said
Sky News approached the former Chief Executive of the Post Office during the Capture years, John Roberts, who said: “I can’t recall any discussion at my level, or that of the board, about Capture at any time while I was CEO.”
A statement from the Post Office said: “We have been very concerned about the reported problems relating to the use of the Capture software and are sincerely sorry for past failings that have caused suffering to postmasters.
“We are determined that past wrongs are put right and are continuing to support the government’s work and fully co-operating with the Criminal Cases Review Commission as it investigates several cases which may be Capture related.”
A Department for Business and Trade spokesperson said: “Postmasters including Patricia Owen endured immeasurable suffering, and we continue to listen to those who have been sharing their stories on the Capture system.
“Government officials met with postmasters recently as part of our commitment to develop an effective and fair redress process for those affected by Capture, and we will continue to keep them updated.”
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