by Mick the Ram

When Mohamed Al Fayed – the former owner of luxury London department store Harrods – died in August 2023 at the age of 94, few people were aware of the shocking truth behind the man.

More than 100 women, many ex-staff members for the billionaire businessman, have come forward and accused him of sexual assault, sexual battery, sexual abuse of minors and in at least five cases, rape.    

The scale and severity of the allegations against the Egyptian, who owned the popular Knightsbridge emporium between 1985 and 2010, is unprecedented.

Additionally, it has emerged investigations are on-going to discover if prosecutions can be brought against others, some still currently employed at the Harrods, or others who have moved on, regarding their failure to intervene and involvement in facilitating his sordid and criminal activities, with cover-ups and threats.  

Fayed – whose son Dodi was killed in a Paris car crash alongside Princess Diana in 1997 – sold the world famous store to the Gulf state of Qatar in 2010 and the new owners have already accepted that the victims were seriously failed and have agreed to meet legal claims.

The women were finally been persuaded to speak out against the man who also owned Premier League football club, Fulham, only after his death, because they felt it was finally safe enough to do so.

Ruled by fear

The full extent of Al Fayed’s actions may never be completely known, with many women choosing to remain silent for their own reasons, but as more and more do come forward, what is emerging is a picture of a loathsome individual, who ruled by fear and whose behaviour was both disgusting and criminal.

It has become apparent that the Harrods owner would regularly tour his department store’s vast sales floors and identify young female assistants that he found attractive, who would then be quickly promoted to work in his offices in the upper levels, where he would commit many of his revolting assaults.

No secret amongst the staff

A former staff member who preferred to remain anonymous, confirmed that workers were aware of what was happening: “We all thought ‘you poor girl, it’s you today’ and felt utterly powerless to stop it,” they said.

Tony Lemming, a Harrods department manager from 1994 to 2004 added: “It wasn’t even a secret, and if I knew then everyone knew – anyone who says they didn’t are lying.”

He did however distance himself from the more serious accusations, remarking that he knew nothing about the allegations of assault and rape.

The ex-deputy director of security, Eamon Coyle, explained how part of his role was to listen to tapes of recorded phone calls; plus he told how cameras had been installed throughout the store, including in the executive suites: “Fayed bugged everybody that he wanted bugging,” he confirmed.

Intimidating environment

The women who are now speaking out described an atmosphere of intimidation, making it difficult to report at the time.

Many suspected that their phones had been tapped, and were fearful of talking about their situations, aware that potentially there were hidden cameras capturing them.

As the initial details began to surface, more women came forward with their accounts and bravely several waived their rights to anonymity when interviewed by TV crews, although out of respect, only their Christian names were used on film.

Ordered to take sexual health test

Together their testimonials revealed a sexual predator of astonishing depths. Many explained how even before they started working directly for Fayed, they were subjected to unbelievable invasive sexual health investigations, on his instructions.

Many never got to see the results, but it was clear that Al Fayed had sinister motives for ordering them and the girls were too afraid to refuse.

Raped in grand surroundings

Amongst the numerous accounts of the horrifying situations they had to endure, one woman described how she was raped at the billionaire’s Mayfair address when she was just a teenager.

Labelling him a “monster” with “no moral compass whatsoever”, she said it felt good to finally change the legacy of a man who “actively cultivated fear.”

Another victim told how she was called to Fayed’s luxury apartment on Park Lane overlooking London’s Hyde Park, where she too was raped.

Essentially, all the girls were hired as Personal Assistants, with one of them telling how Fayed climbed into her bed when she accompanied him on a work trip to Paris and proceeded to rape her, before ordering her to wash herself in Dettol.

Accountability being pursued

A common theme is the absolute fear these women felt and the threats they received in order to ensure their silence. They would often be warned that they would “never work in London again” and a more menacing: “we know where your family live.”

The barristers representing some of the women: Bruce Drummond and Dean Armstrong KC, are presenting an argument that the store was responsible for an unsafe system of work. “Any place of work has a duty to ensure the safety of its employees.

Without question, the company failed these ladies,” says Mr Drummond, who added: “They did the opposite; they enabled it and the spider’s web of corruption and abuse in this company was unbelievable and very dark.”

Mr Armstrong continued: “We say there have been clearly attempts by senior people at Harrods to sweep this under the carpet, but Fayed was a serial sexual abuser which was constant and repetitive over a 25 year period.”

Football club send message to victims

At Fulham FC, who had been bought by the late billionaire businessman in 1997, a former manager revealed that extra precautions were put in place to protect female players from the owner who it became obvious had a “liking for young, blonde girls”.

Gaute Haugenes, was in charge of team affairs in the early 2000’s and confirmed that the female staff were not allowed to be left alone with Al Fayed.

The club responded to the latest developments by issuing a statement which said they were “deeply troubled and concerned by the disturbing reports.” They went on to offer their “sincere empathy for the women who have shared their experiences,” before adding that they are in the process of establishing whether anyone at Fulham is in anyway affected.

Fayed sold the football club to Shahid Khan, owner of NFL side Jacksonville Jaguars for a reported £200m.

Citizenship turned down

Al-Fayed’s wealth and status allowed him to take full residency in Britain in 1974. Typical of the man who loved to grab the headlines, he decided to add “Al” to the middle of his name, which prompted the satirical magazine, Private Eye, to dub him “The Fake Pharaoh.”

However, when it emerged that he had been dishonest about his wealth and origins when initially purchasing Harrods, he had his application for British citizenship rejected, which infuriated him.

Losing all respect

Then after the tragic accident in which his son and Princess Diana were killed when smashing into a concrete pillar in a Paris tunnel, Al Fayed pointed the finger at the country’s ruling elite for causing the crash.

He focused his attention on Prince Philip, the husband of Queen Elizabeth II, with an accusation that lost him further respect and support across not just the country, but around the world.

New owners make vow

Finally in 2010 he sold Harrods for an estimated £1.5bn to the Qatar Investment Authority, who have responded to the scandal by saying how “utterly appalled” they are by the “allegations of abuse perpetrated by Mohamad Al Fayed”.

They condemned his actions and acknowledged how his victims had been “failed” for which they offered their sincere apologies, adding that they are “doing everything we can to fix this.”