Labour Councillor Allison Johnston, the mother of fantasist Eleanor Williams, who was sentenced to years in prison for falsely claiming she was raped by an Asian grooming gang and others, is being sued for failing to return the £21,000 raised by duped well-wishers.
Shane Yerrell, a Tory councillor in Essex, said communication between himself and Johnston broke down when he arranged to give the donations to the James Bulger Memorial Trust and Furness Multicultural Community Forum but Williams’ mother wanted to pick her own charities.
“At the end of the day, there was a guilty verdict. The money was raised to help her fight this grooming gang, which doesn’t exist,” Yerrel told the Times.
Yerrell has revealed how he contacted Johnston and urged her to release £3,000 of the cash so it could be donated to a family that wanted to take their terminally-ill three-year-old daughter to Lapland.
According to Yerrell, Johnston “ignored” the message, which made him appeal directly to her in an interview posted on YouTube.
“As a mother you should put yourself in that little girl’s mother’s situation… I think it’s disgusting to hold on to the money,” Yerrell said.
The ‘Get Justice for Ellie’ appeal raised £21,104 and gave it to Johnston to pay for legal fees to bring her daughter’s abusers to justice. However, her 22-year-old lying daughter [Eleanor Williams] was handed eight and a half years behind bars after being exposed as a fantasist and convicted of perverting the course of justice.
The appeal, which had over 1,000 supporters was organized by Yerrell. He said the money was originally intended to help Williams pay for a apartment away from Barrow, where she lied about being a rape victim and sexually trafficked.
However, when it was found that Williams was facing a charge of perverting the course of justice, Yerrell made a decision to draw up a contract so that the money could only be spent on legal fees and counseling for Williams.
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Under a deal drawn up by Yerrell, the money was to be split between two charities, Women’s Community Matters and The Maggie Oliver Foundation, if no prosecution was brought against Williams’ supposed abusers. However, both charities refused the money after the trial.
Johnston, a councillor on Barrow Borough Council, was suspended by the Labour Party in January after her lying daughter’s conviction.
Watch Jordan Trengrove, one of the victims of the fantasist Eleanor Williams tell his story: