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.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
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
Two terminally ill adults on opposing sides of the assisted dying debate meet to share their views
Philip and Clare are on opposing sides on the issue of assisted dying.
Last year, Sky News filmed them as they watched the country debate whether to change the law to allow it.
Now, the pair meet each other for the first time to let the country watch them debate.
Warning: This article contains descriptions of assisted dying and suicide throughout
Meet Clare
My name’s Clare and I live on a farm in North Devon. I’ve got two fabulous daughters, Chloe and Izzy. I have stage 4 breast cancer.
I’ve been campaigning for the assisted dying bill [Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill] to pass through Parliament. I’m looking forward to meeting Philip. I hope it’s not going to be an argument.
Meet Philip
The name’s Philip, and I’m from the Midlands where I live with my wife Pauline. I was given six months to live last year, I should be dead right now.
I’ve got pancreatic cancer. I’m against assisted dying – or assisted suicide, as I call it. I feel terribly sorry for Clare. I want nobody to be suffering.
The pair meet in Bristol – halfway between their addresses.
After greeting with a hug, Philip tells Clare his mother died of cancer when he was a young teenager.
Philip: She said, ‘God, please either heal me or take me.’ I realised that my mum must have believed and trusted in God. Now I keep saying to the doctor that I pray God will stop the cancer growing.
Clare: I think I’m similar about Mother Earth. Whilst I’m not a Christian, I’ve always had this acceptance and understanding that I’m part of a natural cycle.
I don’t have that need to fight death as much as I’m hearing from you.
Philip: I’m not aware of fighting, because in my terms, it would be a sheer waste of time.
Clare tells Philip she would like a “good death”.
Clare: In my garden, with my daughters, preferably one of them playing her guitar – it’s my paradise. I would like to have the choice, whether I took it up or not at the last minute, at a time and place of my choosing, when death is close, to be able to take something to hasten my death.
Philip: There could be a cure for what you and I have got, but we just don’t know. You don’t know what miracle is around the corner, and if you commit suicide, you’re robbing yourself of that opportunity.
Both agree that breaking the news of their diagnoses to their children was the hardest part of cancer. Clare says the disease has turned her liver “20 shades of grey”.
Clare: It’s pretty much gone to all my bones, except for my hands and feet.
Philip: Horrible.
Clare: Then there’s also the treatment. Did you have any Docetaxels?
Philip: I’m very grateful I have refused it all.
Clare: Have you not had any chemotherapy?
Philip: I’ve had nothing.
Philip warns Clare that if the Terminally Ill Adults Bill is approved, vulnerable people could be pressured into taking their own life. He’d rather leave his death in God’s hands.
Philip: I want to do what God says. So, I’m against assisted dying on those principles of the fact that no matter what safeguards you put in, you’re breaking, what I understand to be God’s plan and purpose.
Clare: When I got my diagnosis, the first thing I said to my consultant was, “well, thank goodness I can take my own life”. I’d been very consistent, and I was on my own in the room, nobody else with me. And I think I’m a sort of bright, intelligent person.
Philip: I didn’t say you weren’t.
Clare: I really understand the power of coercive control, the insidious nature of it.
Philip: I feel sorry for the poor suckers who are with you.
Clare: My daughters?
Philip: They’ve got to live with the fact that you died and they let you.
Clare: My daughters are completely supportive of assisted dying.
Clare says dying should be a personal choice.
Clare: It’s not about other people with terminal life-limiting disease or people with disabilities. It’s purely an option for Clare Turner.
Philip: If they alter the law for Clare Turner, they’ve got to alter it for everybody.
Clare: At the moment, over 300 people with terminal illnesses take their own life in pretty miserable situations, quite often alone, every year.
Philip: It’s financial. If it’s costing hundreds of thousands to look after you, just think what we could save if we bumped 20 of you off.
Clare: I find that quite offensive, Philip.
Clare: I guess I’m just not a cynical person.
Philip: I’m not a cynical person. I’m facing reality. I see how it’s been applied in other countries.
Show me Canada and Belgium have never altered their laws with regards to assisted suicide. You can’t. They’ve altered them totally.
Before they say goodbye, Clare gifts Philip honey made by bees that visit her garden.
Philip gives Clare a box of chocolates called Heroes.
“Anybody who is battling with cancer is a hero not to quit,” he says.
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
A man who has spent 38 years in prison for murder has had his conviction quashed – but insisted he is “not angry” or “bitter”.
The Court of Appeal ruling in the case of Peter Sullivan ends what’s thought to be the longest-running miscarriage of justice in British history.
He was found guilty of the 1986 murder of 21-year-old Diane Sindall, who had been beaten, raped and left in an alleyway in Bebington, Merseyside.
Diane Sindall was murdered in 1986. Pic: Merseyside Police/PA Wire
Mr Sullivan – who was jailed in 1987 – had always maintained his innocence and first tried to challenge his conviction in 2016, but the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) declined to refer the case, and he lost his own appeal bid in 2019.
Two years later, he again asked the CCRC to refer his case and new tests, ordered by the commission, revealed Mr Sullivan’s DNA was not present on samples preserved at the time.
At a hearing on Tuesday, lawyers for Mr Sullivan told the Court of Appeal in London that the new evidence showed that Ms Sindall’s killer “was not the defendant”.
Mr Sullivan attended the hearing via video link from HMP Wakefield, listening to his conviction being quashed with his head down and arms folded before appearing to weep and putting his hand to his mouth.
A relative in court also wept as the judgment was read out.
‘The truth shall set you free’
In a statement following the ruling, Mr Sullivan – now 68 – said: “I lost my liberty four decades ago over a crime I did not commit.
“What happened to me was very wrong, but does not detract that what happened… was a heinous and most terrible loss of life.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Peter Sullivan case explained
He added: “It is said the truth shall set you free. It is unfortunate that it does not give a timescale as we advance towards resolving the wrongs done to me.
“I am not angry, I am not bitter.
“I am simply anxious to return to my loved ones and family as I’ve got to make the most of what is left of the existence I am granted in this world.”
Outside court, Mr Sullivan’s sister Kim Smith said she was “ecstatic” at seeing her brother’s conviction quashed.
She told reporters: “We lost Peter for 39 years and at the end of the day, it’s not just us; Peter hasn’t won, and neither has the Sindall family. They’ve lost their daughter, they are not going to get her back.
“We’ve got Peter back and now we’ve got to try and build a life around him again. We feel sorry for the Sindalls and it’s such a shame this has had to happen in the first place.”
Mr Sullivan’s sister Kim Smith said she was ‘ecstatic’ after the ruling. Pic: PA
Barristers for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said the DNA evidence was “sufficient fundamentally to cast doubt on the safety of the conviction” and that there was “no credible basis on which the appeal can be opposed”.
Lord Justice Holroyde, sitting with Mr Justice Goss and Mr Justice Bryan, said in light of the new DNA evidence “it is impossible to regard the appellant’s conviction as safe” as he quashed the conviction.
Hunt for DNA match
Merseyside Police has confirmed detectives are now “carrying out an extensive investigation in a bid to identify who the new DNA profile belongs to, as to date there is no match on the national DNA database”.
Detectives are also contacting individuals identified in the original investigation to request voluntary DNA samples.
That initial investigation was the largest in the force’s history and, for many officers, the “frenzied” nature of the attack made it the worst case they had ever encountered.
Ms Sindall, who was engaged to be married, had just left her shift as a part-time barmaid at a pub in Bebington when her small blue van ran out of petrol.
Diane Sindall was killed after finishing her shift as a barmaid
She was walking to an all-night garage when she was attacked.
Mr Sullivan, who was 29 at the time and described as a loner, initially denied the attack but later signed a confession.
Questions have since been raised about whether he had proper legal representation during police interviews. Evidence related to bite marks on Ms Sindall’s body, considered crucial at the trial, has also since been called into question.
At the time of Mr Sullivan’s trial in 1987, DNA technology was not available and subsequent requests for new tests had been refused.
‘Nobody felt safe’
On the grass verge close to where Ms Sindall’s body was found, a memorial stone has been placed in memory of her and “and all of our sisters who have been raped and murdered”.
Her murder sent a chill through the community and led to the creation of the Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre on Merseyside. “Nobody felt safe, it was a very scary time,” said the centre’s Jo Wood.
A memorial to Ms Sindall on a grass verge near where her body was found
She says the uncertainty has resurfaced. “There’s someone out who killed Diane Sindall,” said solicitor Ms Myatt.
“The biggest fear we’ve got is of the unknown and now we’ve got an unknown. We don’t know who it might be. Who knows who this person is? Are we going to encounter him?
“We might have encountered him, we don’t know, we just know that he’s out there.”
Ms Sindall’s family told Sky News they did not want to comment on the case.
Mel John, landlord of the pub where Ms Sindall worked on the night of her death, said: “I’m glad he’s being released if he’s innocent. It has been a long time.”
Mr Sullivan is also aware, his solicitor says, of the impact on Ms Sindall’s family.
“We are very sensitive and respectful to the fact that there is a victim, Diane Sindall and her family, that will be affected by this process,” the solicitor said.
Tory MP Patrick Spencer has been charged with two counts of sexual assault at London’s Groucho Club.
The charges follow two alleged incidents involving two different women at the private members’ club, in Soho, in August 2023, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.
Follow live politics updates: Your views on Starmer’s migration speech
Mr Spencer – who is the Conservative MP for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich – will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Monday 16 June.
A Conservative Party spokesman said Mr Spencer, 37, has been suspended by the Tories and had the whip withdrawn.
The Groucho Club in Soho, London. Pic: PA
The Metropolitan Police said he was charged after attending a voluntary interview at a London police station on 13 March this year.
Frank Ferguson, head of the CPS special crime and counter terrorism division, said: “Following a review of the evidence provided by the Metropolitan Police Service, we have authorised two counts of sexual assault against Patrick Spencer MP.
“The charges follow two alleged incidents involving two separate women at the Groucho Club in central London in August 2023.
“The Crown Prosecution Service reminds all concerned that criminal proceedings against this defendant are now active and that he has the right to a fair trial.
“It is extremely important that there should be no reporting, commentary or sharing of information online which could in any way prejudice these proceedings.”
Mr Spencer was first elected to Parliament last year with a majority of 4,290.
It is understood he was asked not to attend the parliamentary estate by the Tory chief whip while police enquiries were ongoing.
A Conservative Party spokesman said: “The Conservative Party believes in integrity and high standards. We have taken immediate action.
“Patrick Spencer MP has been suspended from the Conservative Party, and the whip withdrawn, with immediate effect.
“The Conservative Party cannot comment further on an ongoing legal case.”
Read more from Sky News:
Man who spent 38 years in jail for murder has conviction quashed
The online drug trade behind QR code stickers on UK streets
The Groucho Club, in Dean Street, opened in 1985 and became a renowned meeting place for A-list celebrities and others, including actors, comedians and media executives.
The club was named after the comedian and actor Groucho Marx, who reportedly once said he would refuse to join any club that would have him as a member.
It was originally set up as a more relaxed alternative to traditional gentlemen’s clubs, according to the venue’s website, which adds that members should be in the creative industry “and share the club’s maverick spirit”.
Before becoming an MP, Mr Spencer worked in finance for private equity firm IPGL, a company chaired by his father, former Conservative Party treasurer Lord Michael Spencer.
He later took a job at the Centre for Social Justice think thank before becoming a senior adviser at the Department for Education.
He made his maiden speech in the Commons in July last year during a debate on the MPs’ code of conduct relating to second jobs, during which he said the “most important thing to the people across my constituency” was “restoring a sense of moral probity and public spiritedness to our political system”.
Sky News has contacted Mr Spencer for comment.
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business3 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway