A woman who has told the BBC that she was 16 when she was raped by Mohamed Al Fayed said the assault "changed the course of my life and career entirely". Kate (not her real name) said that, while working at Harrods - her first job - she was also subjected to inappropriate and "humiliating" questioning by the billionaire and an intrusive medical check. She is one of more than 20 women who have said the former Harrods owner sexually assaulted or raped them while they worked at the luxury London department store.
Harrods' current owners said they were "utterly appalled" by the allegations and that his victims had been failed - for which the store sincerely apologised "I want people to fully understand just how much of a monster he truly was," Kate said, adding that she wanted to speak out after seeing other women come forward. "It has affected so many areas of my life, but having to live with the deep shame of what happened to be so young, being paranoid at night walking by myself, not trusting men in any form of even slightly vulnerable situation, are to name but a few," she said. Al Fayed, who died last year aged 94, was the owner of Harrods between 1985 and 2010.
Warning: this story contains details some may find distressing. Kate said "inappropriate questions" started soon after she began working for Al Fayed. "He asked me if I had a boyfriend and if I had been sexually active," she said.
"I was 16-years-old and a virgin, which he discovered." She said it was organised for h.