{"podcast":{"title":"Unreliable Witness | Storycast","slug":"unreliable-witness-storycast-573722","podcast_index_feed_id":573722,"rss_url":"https://feeds.captivate.fm/unreliable-witness/","website_url":"https://news.sky.com/story/storycast-podcasts-true-crime-and-murder-mystery-12041779","image_url":"https://artwork.captivate.fm/cd46e8b3-9e8f-406a-b494-613f6c1fc70d/6195c239e8488a9253d0c584dcd4bc37.jpg","author":"Sky News","episode_count":54,"summary":"SEASON 6: Unreliable Witness (2024/25) Investigating the high-profile case of Ellie Williams, the young woman jailed for lying about sexual assault and grooming in her home town. Sky News’ Jason Farrell and Liz Lane look at what could have led her to make these claims and if, underneath it all, there is some other secret buried amongst the lies. NEW YORK FESTIVALS RADIO AWARDS - GOLD, INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM PODCAST SEASON 5: Patient 11 (2024) Following the death of her brother, young mother Alexis Quinn seeks temporary respite in NHS psychiatric care, never imagining that three days, would turn into more than three year ordeal that would ultimately expose a national scandal. PRESS GAZETTE FUTURE OF MEDIA AWARDS - PODCAST OF THE YEAR NEW YORK FESTIVALS RADIO AWARDS - SILVER, INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM PODCAST SEASON 4: StoryCast 21 (2021) Through extraordinary personal stories, Sky News revisits 21 of the world’s biggest news events this century. NEW YORK FESTIVALS RADIO AWARDS - GOLD, PERSONAL LIVES DRUM MEDIA AWARDS - PODCAST OF THE YEAR SEASON 3: Polonium and The Piano Player (2020) Two Russian agents release a miniature nuclear weapon in a 5-star London hotel. But former KGB sp…","last_synced_at":"2026-06-21T10:21:19.269816+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/unreliable-witness-storycast-573722"},"episode":{"title":"Introducing: Unreliable Witness","slug":"introducing-unreliable-witness","published_at":"2024-03-18T12:40:01+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/unreliable-witness-storycast-573722/introducing-unreliable-witness","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/unreliable-witness-storycast-573722","url":"https://news.sky.com/story/storycast-podcasts-true-crime-and-murder-mystery-12041779","audio_url":"https://episodes.captivate.fm/episode/25d7aa19-8d4c-43ec-aec0-79a0a855dff0.mp3?aw_0_1st.showid=b6cf3528-8036-4ac1-976b-616b44fe1004&aw_0_1st.episodeid=25d7aa19-8d4c-43ec-aec0-79a0a855dff0","summary":"At the height of lockdown, 19-year-old Ellie Williams claims on social media she’s been trafficked by an Asian grooming gang across the North of England. Photos of her horrific injuries add to the outrage and the post goes viral – shared more than 100 thousand times. Social media rumours lead to attacks on Asian men and businesses in her hometown of Barrow-in-Furness. But when she’s arrested for perverting the course of justice, things really explode and there are protest rallies and claims of a cover-up. At the trial the prosecution claims she’d lied, faked text messages and even caused the catalogue of injuries to herself. In season 6 of StoryCast, Sky News’ Jason Farrell and Liz Lane, who reported on the case at the time, return to Barrow to investigate what could have led her to make these claims and if, underneath it all, there is some other secret buried amongst the lies. With access to her family, police investigators and those most impacted by her allegations, we ask: Why did Ellie Williams create such an elaborate lie? And what happened AFTER the trial – once all the media attention died down and other allegations began to emerge?","meta_description":"At the height of lockdown, 19-year-old Ellie Williams claims on social media she’s been trafficked by an Asian grooming gang across the North of England.…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":290,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/unreliable-witness-storycast-573722/episodes/introducing-unreliable-witness/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/unreliable-witness-storycast-573722/introducing-unreliable-witness.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}