Mohamed Al Fayed 'faked dementia to avoid police sex crimes probe', tycoon's son says
8 December 2024, 00:33
Mohamed Al Fayed's son says that the late Harrods boss faked dementia in order to avoid police probes into alleged sex crimes.
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Omar Al Fayed, the youngest of the businessman's five children, told The Mail on Sunday he wished investigations by the Metropolitan Police into his father's conduct "had been able to take its course when he was still alive".
Investigators twice sent files for a charging decision to the Crown Prosecution Service - once in 2008 relating to three victims and again in 2015 linked to one other.
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On another three occasions - in 2018, 2021 and 2023 - the CPS was asked for what is called early investigative advice but the matters were not pursued further by police.
Omar said individuals surrounding Al Fayed helped him avoid further police probing "on the grounds he was mentally incapacitated" and had dementia, but that when he returned to business affairs he was "as sharp as a tack".
Since the latest publicity around the case, 90 alleged victims have contacted the Metropolitan Police to say they fell prey to the tycoon, who died in 2023.
This is on top of 21 alleged victims who had already contacted the force.
The youngest from the latest 90 is thought to have been 13 years old at the time she was reportedly abused, and the alleged crimes include rape and sexual assault.
Omar told the newspaper he believed there was a lost opportunity in 2017, when Al Fayed was aged 90, when police examined abuse allegations.
He said: "If a Nazi general is found to have been hiding in the Algarve for the last 50 years then of course he should be tried."
The 37-year-old told the Mail on Sunday he got "dirty old man vibes" from his father, and "knew about the call girls", and that he now felt "a degree of relief" that the allegations were coming to light.
Last month, the Metropolitan Police said it had launched an investigation into more than five people who may have "facilitated" his alleged crimes.
Omar, who resigned from Harrods in 2009, continued: "I am sad that victims of these horrific alleged crimes were not able to address them in a timely manner.
"Maybe then they could have had some form of closure. There might have been some comeuppance, consequences.
"My father embodied systemic issues - racism and homophobia, among them - and we need to air them as caring human beings."
