Ex-Harrods boss Mohamed Al Fayed accused of raping five female staff members and string of sex assaults

19 September 2024, 07:46 | Updated: 19 September 2024, 11:50

Mohamed Al Fayed, the late billionaire and former Harrods boss has been accused of multiple rapes by members of staff.

Five women say they were raped by the former owner of the famous London department store.

More than 20 former female employees allege Al Fayed sexually assaulted them, with some accusations involving rape, according to an investigation by the BBC.

The incidents took place in London, Paris, St Tropez and Abu Dhabi.

Staff also told the investigation the Harrods boss would walk through the luxury store’s sales floors, selecting young female assistants he found attractive. These women were then promoted to work in his offices upstairs.

The Egyptian businessman died aged 94 last year.

His eldest son - Dodi - was killed alongside Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997.

'Monster'

“I made it obvious that I didn't want that to happen. I did not give consent. I just wanted it to be over,” says one of the women, who says Fayed raped her at his Park Lane apartment.

Another said she was a teenager when he raped her at the Mayfair address.

“Mohamed Al Fayed was a monster, a sexual predator with no moral compass whatsoever,” she says, adding that all the staff at Harrods were his “playthings”.

“We were all so scared. He actively cultivated fear.

"If he said ‘jump’ employees would ask ‘how high’.”

Fayed faced sexual assault claims while alive, but these allegations are of unprecedented scale and severity.

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Rachel - not her real name - worked as a personal assistant in Harrods in the 1990s.

One night after work, she was called to his luxury apartment, in a large block on Park Lane overlooking Hyde Park.

The building was protected by security staff and had an on-site office staffed by Harrods employees.

She said Al Fayed asked her to sit on his bed and put his hand on her leg, making it clear what he wanted.

“I remember feeling his body on me, the weight of him. Just hearing him make these noises. And… just going somewhere else in my head.

“He raped me.”

'Open secret'

“The abuse of women was something I was aware of while working on the shop floor," says Tony Leeming, a Harrods department manager from 1994 to 2004.

"It wasn’t even a secret," he recalls, though he claims he was unaware of more serious allegations of assault or rape.“And I think if I knew, everyone knew. Anyone who says they didn’t is lying, I’m sorry,” Leeming adds.

His account is supported by former members of Fayed's security team.

“We knew he had a very strong interest in young girls,” says Eamon Coyle, who started as a store detective at Harrods in 1979 and later served as deputy director of security from 1989 to 1995.

He relocated to the UK in 1974 and was already a prominent public figure when he acquired Harrods in 1985.

Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, he frequently appeared as a guest on popular prime-time TV chat and entertainment shows.

He also bought Fulham FC in 1997.

In a statement, Harrods told the BBC it these had been the actions of an individual “intent on abusing his power” which it condemned in the strongest terms.

It said: “The Harrods of today is a very different organisation to the one owned and controlled by Al Fayed between 1985 and 2010, it is one that seeks to put the welfare of our employees at the heart of everything we do.”

Al Fayed: Predator at Harrods airs tonight on the BBC.