Barrow: Eleanor Williams says she did not want police involved

A woman accused of lying about being the victim of a grooming gang did not want to involve the police over a rape claim, a court has heard.

Eleanor Williams, 22, claimed she was drugged and raped by a man but then refused to talk to detectives.

She told Preston Crown Court her other alleged abusers would have seen her as a "grass" and it "caused problems" having a police officer message her.

She denies eight counts of perverting the course of justice.

On the second day of giving her evidence, Ms Williams, of Teasdale Road, Barrow, was asked about allegations she made against Jordan Trengove.

She claimed Mr Trengove drugged her and had sex with her following a night out in her hometown in March 2019.

Mr Trengrove previously told the trial the claims ruined his life.

The court heard police were contacted by Susan Hunter, Ms Williams' boss at Manhattans nightclub, after Ms Williams told a colleague about the alleged incident.

The jury was shown messages from a police officer asking to speak to Ms Williams about the incident and a reply which said: "I can't take it any further sorry."

She told the court: "I couldn't, I didn't want to and I couldn't.

"It caused me problems having a police officer message my phone, given what I was involved with, so I just wanted her to stop contacting me."

She said men, who were paying to have sex with her, were able to access her phone.

She said: "Them men would probably, more than likely, think it was me talking to the police about them instead of this incident with Jordan and that would have been me being the grass."

The court heard she had withdrawn support from a prosecution of rape against another man following allegations she made in 2017.

She told jurors: "I didn't want to go through with it in the first place.

"I was told my parents would find out and I didn't want my mam knowing, we had enough problems going on in our family at the time."

The court heard a Snapchat account, which Ms Williams said belonged to Mr Trengove and was used to contact her following the alleged rape, was set up from an IP address at Ms Williams' mother's address.

Ms Williams said she was not living with her mother at the time but was living "here, there and everywhere".

Asked by Louise Blackwell KC, defending, if her mother had any idea that she was being trafficked, Ms Williams said: "No. I was always told to keep it a secret and that nobody needed to know and that's the way I have been brought up since I was 12 years old.

"It was like a dirty little secret."

Ms Williams told the court an account under her name on subscription website OnlyFans was not set up by her and she did not know who had set it up.

She said: "I asked people but nobody seemed to want to admit who it was. They all knew about it."

Asked who she was referring to, Ms Williams said: "The men."

The trial continues.

Follow BBC North East & Cumbria on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected].