Mohamed Al-Fayed turned the department store Harrods into his personal harem for 25 years. The Egyptian millionaire, who passed away in 2023, took advantage of his long walks through his commercial palace to eye the shop assistants. He subjected them to rigorous medical examinations and sexual inspections to ensure they were clean. He would then have them picked up after work heading to his luxurious apartment on Park Lane, where he attempted to carry out his misdeeds. At least five former Harrods employees, including several personal assistants, have publicly admitted to being raped.
Another 20 claim to have experienced harassment and sexual abuse, although the list could be much longer. The BBC documentary Al-Fayed: a predator in Harrods has opened the floodgates. The next step will be a collective lawsuit, and Scotland Yard will finally open an official investigation, after turning a blind eye for years.
"We are facing a monster that combines the horrific elements of Jimmy Savile, Jeffrey Epstein, and Harvey Weinstein," warns the victims' lawyer, Bruce Dummond. "This is also one of the worst cases of sexual exploitation by a corporation. It is difficult to explain the existence of a dark network that protected Al-Fayed and to express the harm that all of this has caused to so many women over the years."
The scandal has had a double impact on the British, who now wonder if the tragic relationship between Princess Diana and Dodi Al-Fayed (his eldest of five children) could have been avoided had the accusations against his father been made public at the time. "In 1997, allegations of his lascivious attacks on women had already surfaced, and we made the Queen aware of them," admitted Dai Davies, the head of royal protection at Scotland Yard, in statements to The Daily Mail.
Even Prime Minister Keir Starmer has indirectly been implicated due to his role in 2008, when he was in charge of the Crown Prosecution Service, which decided not to press charges against Al-Fayed (due to lack of evidence) following a "sexual assault" complaint filed by a 15-year-old girl, initially investigated by Scotland Yard.
Al Fayed with a model inaugurating the store's salesE.M.
"He approached me while I was shopping with my mother, asked me my age, and offered me a job at Harrods," recalls the alleged victim, identified as Ellie in the BBC documentary. "We arranged for an interview, and he told me not to reveal my age. He tried to abuse me, and when I reminded him that I was 15 years old, he didn't seem to care. It was a traumatic experience."
"He had a preference for English girls, preferably blondes, although I was brunette," Sophia recounts in front of the cameras. She was promoted from the press team to the position of "personal assistant" at the age of 20 in 1988. "At first, he was very friendly, but soon it turned into physical harassment. He tried to kiss me, touched my breasts, lifted my skirt, and told me to sit on his lap: 'Come to daddy'."
Sophia describes how he once summoned her after work to his Park Lane home, a common strategy with employees, and how she managed to escape his clutches when he pushed her against a closet. On another occasion, during a work visit to Paris (where Al-Fayed bought the Ritz), he invited her to his mansion in Bois de Boulogne, once home to the Duke and Duchess of Windsor...
"On that occasion, he forcibly pushed me onto a sofa and even tried to penetrate me with his fingers. I managed to defend myself by kicking, and one of them hit him directly in his private parts, causing him to fall to the ground. I told him I was quitting my job, and he responded in a very strange way: 'One day you will tell your grandchildren about the monster I was'."
Lindsay Mason, 55, took over as a personal assistant after Sophia and went through a similar experience after an inevitable appointment at the Park Lane apartment: "He behaved brutally from the start. I quickly realized he was going to try to rape me and managed to escape to a room and barricade the door. I'm sure he saw it because he had cameras everywhere. I managed to escape and run for my life."
"We cannot undo the past, but we are determined to do the right thing as an organization and ensure that it cannot happen in the future," reads a statement from the Harrods management, acknowledging the "horror" of the accusations against Al-Fayed and formally apologizing to the victims.
Tamara, Oleska, Katherine, Gemma... Dozens of women decided to step forward (and in some cases show their faces) in the BBC documentary, which reveals other cases of sexual assaults at Al-Fayed's mansion in Saint-Tropez, the same one where his son Dodi invited Lady Di with William and Harry, weeks before the fatal accident.
Al-Fayed: a predator in Harrods reveals how the Egyptian tycoon, who sold the department store in 2010 to the Qatari royal family for £1.5 billion (¤1.78 billion), could have been questioned days before his death in 2023 for an alleged rape that occurred ten years earlier, although his frail health at 94 years old prevented it.