Mohamed Ramzan was arrested and held in a cell for 40 hours after Eleanor Williams accused him of selling her to an Amsterdam brothel for €25,000 when she was 17, Preston Crown Court heard on Monday. No charges were ever brought against Ramzan in connection with Williams. Instead, she is on trial, accused of concocting what the prosecution called “a pack of lies” about a series of men. As well as Ramzan, she falsely accused fellow Barrow schoolmates and random strangers of trafficking or raping her, the jury heard. Williams is also accused of forging letters from Ramzan in which he “confessed” to hurting her. He denies seven charges of perverting the course of justice. Ramzan told the court he had only met Williams once before she “put me through hell” and accused him of exploiting and trafficking her. He said his wife was best friends with Williams’ aunt, Emma, ​​and that he and Williams had been to one of Emma’s birthday parties. He said he moved to Barrow in 2011 and converted a pub on Walney Island into an Indian restaurant called Mr Elephant. He then opened an Italian restaurant, bar and ice cream van business and later a takeaway. In July 2019 he was driving along the promenade in Walney when he was stopped and arrested by police, the court heard. Police told him Williams claimed he had smuggled her into Amsterdam the previous November and tried to sell her to the highest bidder. He maintained his innocence and provided bank statements showing his debit card had been used at B&Q and Asda in Barrow at the time Williams said he was using it in Amsterdam. Louise Blackwell KC, defending Williams, suggested that Ramzan’s bank card could have been used by his teenage sons while he was in Amsterdam. He rejected this suggestion, saying, “If I go anywhere, this card comes with me.” Williams’ sister Lucy Williams gave evidence last week saying the sisters traveled to Amsterdam in November 2018 to celebrate Eleanor’s upcoming 18th birthday, along with Lucy’s boyfriend. He said the three shared a room and did not notice Eleanor disappear during the break. Examining Ramzan, Blackwell asked if he had made money selling girls for sex. “I have never, ever in my life, and I have a daughter myself, I have nieces, and it’s disgusting. Your client has put me through hell,” he said. He also denied making money from drug dealing, saying he was “not an angel” and that he had taken drugs but had never been involved in supplying them. Asked by prosecutor Jonathan Sandiford KC if he had ever committed any offenses against Williams, Ramzan wept as he said: “I have never committed a single offense against Mrs Williams.” The jury was read a series of letters found under Williams’ bed at her mother’s home in Barrow in December 2020. Most of the letters purported to be from Ramzan, sent from a prison in Durham, in which he apologized for hurting her. The letters made repeated reference to Williams having a baby boy named Bailey who may have been taken from her. A letter, from Williams and addressed to Ramzan, also referred to Bailey. “Everyone said I was going to be a shitty mom and so far they’ve been right,” she wrote. But the court heard that Ramzan has never been in Durham Prison and that Williams does not have a son called Bailey. A handwriting expert analyzed the letters and determined they were all written by Williams, Sandiford told the jury. The trial continues.