‘Mohamed al-Fayed was a monster’: More than 100 women make sex abuse accusations

London: More than 100 women have come forward after former Harrods owner Mohamed al-Fayed was accused of the serial sexual abuse of young women who worked at the department store.

The inquiries have been made to a legal team since a BBC documentary aired on Thursday about the claims, according to one of the barristers representing 37 of the late billionaire’s accusers.

Three of Mohamed al-Fayed’s accusers (from left): Katherine (no surname given), Lindsay Mason and Gemma (no surname given).Credit: AP

Barrister Bruce Drummond told a press conference the cases were “rapidly evolving and expanding every day”.

The BBC’s exposé told the stories of more than 20 female former employees of the luxury store who alleged assault and physical violence over 25 years.

On Friday, Maria Mulla, another barrister representing the accusers, revealed that one woman who accused Fayed of sexual assault was allegedly warned by his bodyguard that she might “have an accident”.

After making a formal complaint to Harrods, the woman is said to have received a note from the late John Macnamara, a former Metropolitan Police officer, saying she must rescind her allegation.

Former Harrods owner Mohamed al- Fayed died last year aged 94.Credit: AP

“You are a girl alone in London, someone could jump out the bushes at you, or you could have a sudden accident,” the note said, according to Mulla.

“One woman that we represent was sexually assaulted, and she had the bravery and courage to raise this in a formal written complaint to Harrods,” Mulla said.

The accuser was told to write a second letter contradicting her initial claims and Mulla said the woman “did as she was told because she was absolutely petrified”.

The barrister also said that the legal team was now investigating other companies owned by Fayed after they were made aware of allegations against him “at other places of work”, such as women who were employed by the Ritz hotel in Paris.

The allegations came as the lawyer insisted Harrods must take responsibility for the years of sexual abuse allegedly committed by the “monster” Fayed.

Dean Armstrong, KC, a barrister representing some of the tycoon’s accusers, said the case “combines some of the most horrific elements of the cases involving Jimmy Savile, Jeffrey Epstein and Harvey Weinstein”.

“I have many years of practise ... I have never seen a case as horrific as this,” he said.

Addressing how the case combined elements of three of the most high-profile abuse scandals, he said: “Savile because in this case, as in that, the institution, we say, knew about the behaviour.

Dean Armstrong, KC (left), and Gloria Allred are part of the legal team acting for the accusers.Credit: AP

“Epstein because in that case, as in this, there was a procurement system in place to source the women and girls – as you know, there are some very young victims.

“And Weinstein because it was a person at the very top of the organisation who was abusing his power.

“We will say plainly, Mohamed al-Fayed was a monster.”

Current Harrods managing director Michael Ward is under pressure from staff who rubbished earlier claims that the organisation had changed since Fayed’s alleged actions took place.

Harrods said in a statement that the company was “a very different organisation to the one owned and controlled by Mr Fayed”, and that it “seeks to put the welfare of our employees at the heart of everything [they] do”.

United Voices of the World (UVW), a union that represents low-paid and migrant workers, said organisers wrote to Harrods demanding an urgent meeting to discuss its members’ concerns, but claimed it had been refused.

On Friday, the union accused Harrods’ current bosses of fostering “a culture of secrecy and fear” in the workplace.

“The imbalance of power within the company makes it impossible for workers to be sure that any concerns they have will be acknowledged and dealt with accordingly,” it said in a statement.

The Harrods luxury department store in London. Harrods says it has been settling claims of abuse by its former owner.Credit: Bloomberg

It pointed out that Ward, who has been in the post since 2005, oversaw the luxury retailer both while it was under Fayed’s ownership and afterwards.

There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing on Ward’s part.

A Harrods spokesman said: “UVW is not a recognised union by Harrods and therefore we do not engage with this organisation on our policies. We work with Unite as our recognised union.”

In the BBC documentary Al-Fayed: Predator at Harrods, more than 20 women claimed they were sexually assaulted by the billionaire and five of those said they were raped. The BBC claimed that Harrods failed to intervene and helped cover up allegations against Fayed.

Fayed with Princess Diana at the polo in 1987. Diana and Fayed’s son Dodi dated and died together in 1997.Credit: Archives

The women, who worked at Harrods from the late 1980s to the 2000s, said assaults were carried out at the company’s offices, in Fayed’s London apartment or on foreign trips, often at the Ritz.

The press conference, held by the legal team featured in the BBC documentary, also included an accuser who described Fayed as “clever and highly manipulative”, saying he behaved like a “father figure” to trick his young employees.

Natacha, who was 19 when allegedly sexually assaulted, added that the former Harrods chairman would urge her to “call me papa” and said that he “preyed on the most vulnerable”.

“It feels good to change the legacy of a man who really was a monster,” she said.

Queen Elizabeth II with Fayed in 1997.Credit: AP

Armstrong, the barrister, urged the department store to ensure the women were properly compensated.

“They need to face up to accept the responsibility that they have full culpability for the abuse of these women,” he said.

Gloria Allred, an American lawyer specialised in women’s rights over more than four decades, told the press conference Harrods was a “toxic, unsafe and abusive environment” under Fayed’s chairmanship.

“The allegations against Mohammed Fayed include serial rape, attempted rape, sexual battery and sexual abuse of minors. They involved doctors administering invasive gynaecological exams as a condition of employment for some of the employees who were targeted by Mohammed al-Fayed for sexual abuse,” Allred said.

Natacha (centre), one of the women accusing Fayed of sexual assault, with lawyers Gloria Allred (left) and Maria Mulla.Credit: AP

“The allegations also include the unauthorised disclosure to Mohammed al-Fayed of the examination results of employees he targeted for sexual abuse.

“Underneath the Harrods glitz and glamour was a toxic, unsafe and abusive environment.”

Fayed sold Harrods to the Qatari royal family in 2010 in a deal reportedly worth £1.5 billion. He died last year aged 94.

Al-Fayed’s son Dodi dated Princess Diana and the pair died in 1997 when their car crashed in a road tunnel in Paris.

A lawyer who has represented the victims of Weinstein, Epstein and R. Kelly said: “Al-Fayed’s legacy was to prey upon, denigrate, humiliate and abuse female employees for his own sexual gratification.”

She called him the “epitome of a serial sexual abuser” and said that this “is a teaching moment for Harrods” and for corporations all over the world.

Another barrister, Bruce Drummond, said the scandal was “one of the worst cases of corporate sexual exploitation” that he and “perhaps the world has ever seen”.

“It was absolutely horrific and I can’t stress that word enough,” he said.

Drummond said some of Fayed’s accusers have ended up in “psychiatric care” and were unable to form relationships decades later because of the lifelong trauma.

“This should never have happened and Harrods must accept responsibility for the damage these women have suffered.”

Mulla warned that the lawyers were aware of more harrowing accounts of assault than the ones revealed by the BBC, saying they are “the worst sexual assaults that you can imagine”.

Speaking to the BBC on Thursday, a Harrods spokesman said: “Since new information came to light in 2023 about historic allegations of sexual abuse by al-Fayed, it has been our priority to settle claims in the quickest way possible. This process is still available for any current or former Harrods employees.

“While we cannot undo the past, we have been determined to do the right thing as an organisation, driven by the values we hold today while ensuring that such behaviour can never be repeated in the future.”

The Telegraph, London

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