Woman, 22, accused of lying about being beaten and trafficked by an Asian grooming gang tells court she is ‘not a psychopath’ as she denies buying a hammer to hurt herself
- Eleanor Williams is accused of making false claims about Asian grooming gang
- She alleges she was groomed, abused and beaten by the gang in Cumbria
- The alleged lier denies the eight counts of perverting the course of justice
A woman accused of injuring herself with a hammer and claiming she was beaten by an Asian grooming gang has told a court she is ‘not a psychopath’.
Eleanor Williams, 22, is charged with perverting the course of justice by making allegations against a number of men, including telling police she had been groomed, trafficked and beaten by an Asian gang.
Cross-examining Williams at Preston Crown Court on Monday, Jonathan Sandiford KC, prosecuting, asked her about a hammer which she bought in Tesco on May 11 2020.
The prosecution alleges the hammer was used by Williams to injure herself when she claimed she was attacked by her abusers on May 19.
Eleanor Williams, 22, is charged with perverting the course of justice by making allegations against a number of men, including telling police she had been groomed, trafficked and beaten by an Asian gang
Williams told the court: ‘I wouldn’t buy a hammer to hurt myself, I’m not a psychopath.’
The court heard a hammer, with Williams’ blood on, was discovered in a field near to where she was found injured by police officers.
Mr Sandiford said: ‘What’s your explanation as to why that hammer, in that state, was found a few metres from where police located you?’
She replied: ‘I can’t explain that.’
When Mr Sandiford suggested Williams had injured herself, she said: ‘No, I hadn’t.’
The court heard Williams was taken to hospital and on May 20 she posted pictures of her injuries on Facebook along with an account of being trafficked.
She accepted part of the post, in which she said she had previously suffered a bleed on the brain, was a lie.
But Williams denied she had been ‘telling lies’ on the social media site and said it was her ‘final resort’.
She said: ‘At this time I’d had enough, I didn’t care about consequences, I didn’t care about embarrassment, I just wanted what was happening to stop.’
She added: ‘I wanted people to know what was going on in Barrow, still is going on.’
Cross-examining Williams at Preston Crown Court on Monday, Jonathan Sandiford KC, prosecuting, asked her about a hammer which she bought in Tesco on May 11 2020. The prosecution alleges the hammer was used by Williams to injure herself when she claimed she was attacked by her abusers on May 19
Mr Sandiford suggested Williams had told a ‘pack of lies’ to the police and to the jury.
She replied: ‘No.’
Williams also denied using an old Snapchat account to message her new account, creating the impression she was receiving messages from traffickers and a fellow victim.
Mr Sandiford said: ‘You were desperately staging events to try and make good your false claims that you were a victim of trafficking.’
She said: ‘No I wasn’t.’
Williams, of Teasdale Road, Barrow, Cumbria, denies eight counts of perverting the course of justice.
She previously told the court: ‘I was sick of what was happening to me. I didn’t know how else to stop it.
‘At this point I didn’t care, I just thought everyone can know what’s happening and maybe it’ll stop.’
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