- Jordan Trengove met Ellie Williams on a night out, and it ruined his life
- Jordan was wrongly accused of rape and held in a sex offenders wing for ten weeks
- Ellie was convicted of perverting the course of justice on eight counts
In 2019, Ellie Williams accused Jordan Trengove of rape after meeting him on a night out. Despite protesting his innocence and having a solid alibi, Jordan was remanded into custody and sent to prison to await trial.
Jordan and his friends were on a night out in town when they met Ellie. After spending two hours together, they went their separate ways. Later in the evening, Jordan went back to a friend’s house with another girl and thought nothing of it.
A couple of days later, Jordan was arrested on suspicion of rape, although he had a solid alibi. After being questioned about Ellie’s accusations, he was released on bail. But only a few days later, he was arrested again as Ellie had accused him of attacking her. On May 19, 2019, Jordan was arrested a third time, now accused of spiking and raping Ellie. Following the third arrest, Jordan was held in a sex offenders wing for ten weeks awaiting his trial.
Jordan states, “You don’t want to be in prison if you have done something, but to be there when you’ve done nothing wrong is just awful. I didn’t really leave my cell.”
After ten weeks in prison, Jordan’s barrister made a successful bail application, and he was released. Although he was eventually released, Jordan was not allowed back to his hometown, Barrow, and had to sign on at a police station every other day.
A week and a half later, all charges were dropped, but Jordan’s prison experience has affected his daily life, and he has expressed it has impacted him mentally and physically.
“It was a relief”, he says, “but I still questioned why I’d been accused of all this. My case had been reported in the paper and mud stuck. When I returned to Barrow, I had my windows smashed, and someone sprayed rapist on my house.”
After the charges were dropped, Jordan appointed Watson Woodhouse Solicitor Sarah Magson to represent him in a civil claim and court proceedings. However, the case was stayed to prevent it from interfering with the criminal court case. The criminal proceedings were adjourned a number of times causing increased stress and anxiety to Jordon and prolonging his fight to prove him innocent and the fact he is a victim.
In May 2020, Ellie shared a horrific post on Facebook stating she was being sold at sex parties by an Asian grooming gang in Barrow. Within hours of the post being shared, it went viral with over 100,000 shares on Facebook. However, Ellie did not share on Facebook that she was being convicted of perverting the course of justice on 8 counts following a ten-week trial.
Sarah is continuing to assist Jordan in a case against both the police and CPS to get answers as to how they got it so wrong. This has opened a debate about whether individuals accused of crimes should be afforded the same level of anonymity as those making the allegations until proven guilty.
Sarah states, “I have seen the pain, anguish and suffering Jordan has been through – and at times he felt like he just wanted to give up. I am delighted with the result and the sense of relief and justice that it has given Jordan. The fact remains that the criminal justice system failed him as a victim and questions need to be answered as to how the Police and CPS got this so wrong and took so long to join the dots to see that there was not a scrap of evidence to support Ellie’s accusations. Jordan is not alone, and something needs to be done to ensure that victims of false allegations receive the protection they deserve. This has ruined Jordan’s life and I truly hope that this verdict will give him the strength to rebuild.”