A charity that helps victims of sexual exploitation has refused 10,000 originally raised to help Eleanor Williams, convicted this week of lying about being trafficked by an Asian grooming gang and making false rape claims.
Maggie Oliver said it would be “unethical” for her charity to accept any of the money. Oliver is a former Greater Manchester police (GMP) detective who rose to prominence as a whistleblower on sexual exploitation in Rochdale.
The Maggie Oliver Foundation was one of two charities that were to split 20,000 crowdfunded for Williams if she did not use it to bring her alleged abusers to justice.
Williams’s case came to public attention in May 2020 when a Facebook post she made recounting the allegations went viral, along with graphic photographs of injuries she said she had suffered in the attacks. The post, from May 2020, was liked by more than 100,000 people and shared by a number of public figures, including Oliver. She said she never spoke directly to Williams but introduced her to lawyers at the Centre for Women’s Justice.
“Ultimately she decided she wanted to stick with her original legal representation. Since then, I’ve had no contact with the family,” said Oliver. “We are not accepting any money from [the crowdfunder] because I just don’t think it would be ethical.”
She added: “I shared Ellie’s original Facebook post because I see cases like hers a lot. Not injuries like that, but victims who are being pushed away from the system and are desperate to...
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