Julia Hartley-Brewer's fury at woman who lied about grooming gang rape

A woman who claimed she was the victim of an Asian grooming gang has been convicted of perverting the course of justice.

Eleanor Williams, 22, published pictures of her injuries and an account of being groomed, trafficked and beaten, on Facebook in May 2020, in a post which was shared more than 100,000 times.

A jury at Preston Crown Court found her guilty of eight counts of doing acts tending and intended to pervert the course of justice.

Jurors took three hours and 29 minutes to reach their verdicts following the 10-week trial.

Williams, of Teasdale Road, Barrow, stared straight ahead as the verdicts were returned.

She pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to one count of perverting the course of justice, which related to contacting her sister and mother with requests for them to take a hammer to her solicitor.