A Facebook post that went viral sparked of the most ‘extraordinary’ cases ever to unfold in the UK
A case dubbed one of the UK’s most ‘extraordinary’ is explored in a documentary out soon.
Barrow: The Truth Behind the Grooming Lie comes from the producers of BBC’s The Betrayed Girls and Netflix’s A Deadly American Marriage, telling the story of a UK teenager’s viral lockdown lie and the events that followed.
The three-part series will examine the story of Ellie Williams who claimed she had been the victim of a grooming gang. She posted about the alleged abuse on Facebook during the COVID-19 lockdown with the post soon going viral.
What followed was a string of hate-related crimes against the Asian community in her hometown of Barrow, and later, Ellie’s arrest. She was found to have lied about the alleged abuse by a jury, and even went as far as inflicting injuries on herself in order to frame five men.
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The documentary was first announced in April this year, and now true crime fans finally have a release date confirmed. The series will broadcast at 9pm on August 2 on Sky Documentaries and also be made available to stream via NOW.
For the first time, Ellie’s family will speak out about the case in the docuseries. As per the synopsis: “When Ellie Williams’ allegations of grooming went viral, they tore the town of Barrow apart and triggered national outrage. Police quickly denied there was a grooming gang and Ellie was sentenced to eight and a half years in jail.
“But was there truth beneath the lies? And did the focus on proving one young woman a liar lead to denial of a wider grooming problem?”
Discussing the upcoming series, executive producer Henry Singer said: “We’d previously made a film on the Rochdale grooming scandal so when the Ellie Williams story broke, something didn’t sit right with us with how the press was telling it. It just felt there was more to it.
“That was the start of a three-and-a-half-year journey, navigating a tricky landscape to separate fact from fiction. In so doing, we discovered there was a much larger story to tell — not just in Barrow — but nationally.
“The abuse of young girls has been ignored and dismissed for far too long, and we hope the series does justice to their voices and sparks a long-overdue debate.”
Barrow: The Truth Behind the Grooming Lie arrives on Sky Documentaries and NOW on August 2.
