Woman beat herself with a hammer before claiming a group of men had sexually assaulted her

A documentary detailed how police discovered that the allegations of assault made by an injured woman against a group of men were false.

Eleanor Williams beat herself with a hammer before claiming a group of men had sexually assaulted, trafficked and beaten her.

She left herself bloodied and bruised before accusing her innocent victims. 

Her allegations have since been proven false by police, who found her injuries were self-inflicted.

The men she blamed, from Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, received death threats as a result of her claims. Two even attempted suicide after she called them “gang rapists”.

The shocking incident has now been laid bare in a new BBC 3 documentary titled Liar: The Fake Grooming Scandal. The 58-minute report contains previously unseen footage of Williams speaking to police as blood drips from her mouth.

In another clip, the woman can also be seen staggering around her home, claiming she had been drugged. Cops then asked her to sit down and she slumped in a chair, her head lolling around as she grips onto an officer’s hand and whispers: “Help.”

Williams made a Facebook post accusing three men of attacking her in May 2020. She initially claimed she had been drugged and raped by a man in Preston before he forced her to have sex with two Asian men.

She said she then returned to Barrow-in-Furness with the man, where she was attacked and raped by two other Asian men. 

However, after police reviewed CCTV footage they found no evidence for the allegations.

Williams told investigators she had been groomed from the age of 12. She even alleged she was forced to go to sex parties across the North of England and Ibiza as a youngster and had been sold as a slave at an Amsterdam auction. The horrific claims led to protests attended by popular figures.

More than £20,000 was also raised in a “Justice for Ellie” campaign.

And the men embroiled in Williams’ bizarre tale were targeted too. 

Business owner Mohammed Ramzan, one of the accused, tried to take his own life two weeks after his arrest.

Oliver Gardner, who Williams had met by chance in Preston before roping him into her tale, was sectioned under the Mental Health Act after he also attempted suicide.

Jordan Trengove had the word “rapist” spray-painted on his house and his windows smashed in. After he was charged he spent 73 days behind bars, bunking with a convicted sex offender.

After investigating the claims, Cumbria Police found no evidence to support them and discovered she had even inflicted wounds on herself. 

When quizzed by police she said: “I wouldn’t buy a hammer to hurt myself, I’m not a psychopath.”

But officers later found eight hammers in her home as well as mobile phones containing evidence incriminating Williams. 

She was convicted of nine counts of perverting the course of justice and jailed for eight and a half years in March 2023.