Jordan Trengrove, who was falsely accused of rape, says “…everyone had listened to Ellie’s story, and now it is time for them to hear mine”
A man has spoken out about the horror that ruined his entire life after a chance meeting with a woman on a night out. Jordan Trengrove’s world would soon turn upside down after meeting Ellie Williams while with his friends at a nightclub.
After spending two hours in each other’s company, they then went their separate ways. Two months later, innocent Jordan, then 18 years old, would find himself behind bars, sitting in a prison cell in the sex offenders wing.
Speaking in an interview, Jordan recalled the night he met Ellie Williams. “I knew of her, because she worked there, but that was it”, he said. When Jordan and his friends went to another bar, he said she tagged along. “We said she could come with us, because we are nice people. But later she disappeared and someone said she was being sick on the stairs, so we carried on with our night out.”
When they all decided to leave, Jordan rode in a taxi to his friend’s house with another girl. But soon after, he would find himself being driven home by Cumbria Police. A few days later, he was then arrested on suspicion of rape.
Ellie Williams had gone to the police, claiming Jordan had attacked her in her flat on Steamer Street, Lancashire. Recalling the moment, Jordan said: “I had a solid alibi. I had been with the police. I was disgusted and I was confused. I didn’t know what was going on.”
The 18-year-old was taken to a police station, where he was asked questions about Ellie Williams’ allegations. Although he went on to be released on bail, his horror was far from over.
Jordan was arrested again just a few days later, accused of attacking Ellie Williams a second time. He was then arrested a third time on May 19, 2019, after the woman had claimed the 18-year-old spiked her and raped her. The police weren’t taking any chances, so a week before his 19th birthday, Jordan was remanded in custody and sent to prison to await trial.
“It was horrible”, Jordan said. “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.”
Jordan spent 10 weeks in prison before his barrister made a successful bail application. He was then allowed to leave, but wasn’t allowed to go back to his home in Barrow. He was ordered to stay in Workington, more than 50 miles from home, and sign on at a police station every other day.
But just a week and a half later, everything changed after Jordan received a phone call telling him that the charges against him had been dropped and he was officially acquitted of any wrongdoing. Jordan described the call as a “relief”, but says he “still questioned why I’d been accused of all this.”
He added: “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.”
Jordan went on to try to rebuild his life and go back to how things were. At the end of 2019, he met someone new who he began dating. However, his time in prison was never far from his mind. “My mental health was shot”, he says, adding how he did not feel comfortable in public and was always fearful he would be attacked or subjected to abuse.
In May 2020, a shocking post was made online by Ellie Williams where she shared horrific account of being sold at sex parties by an “evil but clever” Asian grooming gang, she claimed was operating in Barrow. She claimed that when she did not follow their orders, she was beaten.
Alongside the Facebook post, which comprised of 1,300 words, she uploaded harrowing images of herself with a bruised face and body. Her heart-wrenching account of being sexually exploited for years grabbed the attention of thousands, and within hours, her post went viral and was shared more than 100,000 times.
However, the post did not include what had come to light just a few weeks prior, which was that Ellie Williams had be charged with eight counts of perverting the course of justice, in connection with her false claims against Jordan, and a number of other men.
Jordan said: “It was shocking. I knew it must be more lies. I knew the extent she had gone to to lie about me and I tried to warn people but she had them all fooled. The Justice For Ellie campaign was horrible. They were driving from Barrow to where I lived in Ulverston. There were people doing Facebook Lives. You couldn’t get away from it.
“I would go on days out to Manchester and it was a relief to be where no-one recognised me but I still felt unsafe. I felt like everyone was talking about me and calling me a rapist. There was no escape. The police came to see me not long after she was remanded into custody. I felt a little bit of relief, but the campaign was still carrying on.
“It has affected me in so many ways. When my son was born in August 2021, I struggled to bond with him because I didn’t want him growing up, hearing his dad being called a rapist. My relationship was affected and I pushed my partner away so many times. I have complex PTSD because of what happened to me and struggle to trust anyone.”
He added: “I had to go to court to give evidence, which was nerve-wracking. The last time I had been in court I was being accused of something I hadn’t done, and before that I had never set foot in a courtroom. But everyone had listened to Ellie’s story, and now it is time for them to hear mine.
“Some of the evidence that came out was really shocking. I went along to hear the closing speeches and the defence team were saying things about me. I had Ellie sitting behind me and her mum sitting in front. I couldn’t breathe and I had to walk out of the court room. Then the jury went out and we waited, and waited, and waited.”
“The community came together for her, and I think it is time they came together again now. For me, I just have to keep fighting forward and keep my head high. I want to get on top of my mental health and rebuild things with my Mrs and my little boy. I said to her, when all this is over we’ll have a proper day out, and get some food. Just have a nice time. We’ve never been able to go on a proper date, with everything that’s happened.
Williams will be sentenced at Preston Crown Court in March, three years after Jordan met her in Manhattan’s nightclub. “I don’t know what to expect from the sentence, but that will be it. One final court date and it is over. I can start to rebuild my life.”
Source :Coventry Telegraph
