The former Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed has been accused of raping five women and sexually abusing at least 15 others when they worked at the luxury department store, according to a BBC investigation. More than 20 women, all of whom were Fayed’s former employees, told a BBC documentary they were sexually assaulted by him and that Harrods covered up the abuse. The store’s current owners said they were “utterly appalled” by the allegations and apologised to the victims.
Fayed, who sold Harrods in 2010, died last year aged 94. His obituary in the Guardian noted there were repeated allegations of sexual harassment of female staff during his lifetime. In 2009 the Crown Prosecution Service decided not to charge Fayed over the claim he had sexually assaulted a 15-year-old girl at the store.
In 2013 he was interviewed by police after a woman alleged he had sexually attacked her at his Park Lane apartment after a job interview. The police reopened the case in 2015 but took no further action. Fayed always denied the allegations.
The alleged victims give detailed accounts of the abuse, including some on camera, in the new documentary, Al Fayed: Predator at Harrods. It alleges the abuse took place in London, Paris, Saint-Tropez and Abu Dhabi. One woman told the BBC she was raped as a teenager in Fayed’s Park Lane apartment.
“Mohamed Al Fayed was a monster, a sexual predator with no moral compass,” she told the BBC. Three other women told the BBC they were also raped by hi.