ELEANOR Williams has been denied by a judge in a bid to appeal her conviction for perverting the course of justice.

The 22-year-old was convicted of nine counts of perverting the course of justice after she was found to have made false claims of being raped, beaten and trafficked.

She is serving an eight-and-a-half-year prison sentence for her crimes and launched a bid to appeal the conviction earlier this year.

After she launched the appeal a single judge was tasked with deciding whether Williams and her legal team would be allowed to appeal.

But her request to appeal has not been allowed, the Court of Appeal has confirmed.

If she were given permission to appeal then her case would have proceeded to a full hearing at the Court of Appeal.

Judges could then have decided if the conviction is unsafe. 

Williams story gained international attention when she published pictures of her injuries and an account of being groomed and trafficked beaten on Facebook in May 2020, in a post which was shared more than 100,000 times.

The Facebook post sparked demonstrations in Barrow and led to former English Defence League founder Tommy Robinson visiting the town to 'investigate' the claims.

Williams’ trial, which began in October last year, heard she had accused a number of men of rape, going back to 2017, and told police she was groomed and trafficked by an Asian gang.

Williams, of Teasdale Road, Walney, had 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.

The court was told at her sentencing that Williams maintained her claims were the truth.

In a letter to the judge, she said: “I’m not saying I’m guilty but I know I have done wrong on some of this and I’m sorry.

“I’m devastated at the trouble that has been caused in Barrow. If I knew what consequences would have come from that status I never would have posted it.”