Accuser says Mohamed al Fayed was a ‘predator’ who ‘preyed on the most vulnerable’
Mohamed al Fayed was a “predator” who “preyed on the most vulnerable”, one of his alleged victims has said.
The billionaire was described as a “monster enabled by a system that pervaded Harrods” by lawyers representing 37 alleged victims of sexual abuse at a press conference in London.
Dean Armstrong KC said the case “combines some of the most horrific elements” of those including Jimmy Savile, Jeffrey Epstein and Harvey Weinstein.
The Egypt-born businessman, who died last year at the age of 94, took control of the luxury department store in 1985 and later expanded his business interests to include the Paris Ritz and Fulham Football Club.
One of his alleged victims, Natacha, said she was a “young, naive and totally innocent” 19-year-old when she moved to London.
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‘Mohamed Al Fayed was a monster’ says Dean Armstrong KC.
She believed she had been given “the chance of a lifetime” when she got a job at Harrods in central London and thought it seemed “entirely innocent” when she was offered extra money and gifts to take home to her parents.
“Unbeknownst to me, I had walked into a lion’s den, a lair of cover-ups, deceit, lies, manipulation, humiliation and gross sexual misconduct,” Natacha said, describing Fayed as a “predator”, who “preyed on the most vulnerable”.
She said she was summoned to Fayed’s private apartment one night “on the pretext of a job review” before “the door was locked behind me”.
“I saw his bedroom door partially open – there were sex toys on view” she said. “I felt petrified. I perched myself at the very end of the sofa and then… my boss, the person I worked for, pushed himself onto me.”
Alleged victim of sexual abuse: ‘I had walked into a lions den’
‘Scared and sick’
Natacha said that after she managed to “kick herself free”, he laughed at her and told her “never to breathe a word of this to anyone”, leaving her feeling “scared and sick”.
More than 20 female former employees have spoken of suffering assaults and physical violence at properties in London and Paris in an investigation published by the BBC.
Read more: Egyptian tycoon was never far from controversy
Five of the women said they had been raped by Fayed, while another has now come forward to claim she was subjected to a “sickening” sexual assault by the billionaire.
Harrods said in a statement on Thursday it was “utterly appalled” by the allegations of abuse and apologised to Fayed’s alleged victims.
The department store has also set up a page on its website inviting former employees to come forward if they have allegations.
The legal team involved in a civil claim against Harrods for allegedly failing to provide a safe system of work for its employees said they aimed to seek justice for the victims of a “vast web of abuse”.
‘Corporate exploitation’
Barrister Bruce Drummond told the press conference it is “one of the worst cases of corporate sexual exploitation” that he and “perhaps the world has ever seen”.
Most of the victims were aged 19 to 24, while some were as young as 15 or 16, and were specially selected for their roles before being told to undergo private invasive medical examinations, lawyers said.
Pic: AP
US lawyer Gloria Allred, who has represented accusers of Weinstein, R Kelly and Bill Cosby, said the allegations include serial rape, attempted rape, sexual battery and sexual abuse of minors.
She said there was “something rotten at the core of Harrods”, where “underneath the glitz and glamour was a toxic, unsafe and abusive environment”.
The alleged attacks are said to have taken place at locations including the London department store, as well as the Ritz in Paris and the former Duke of Windsor’s residence in the French capital.
‘Terror was reinforced by threats’
Lawyers said they were aware of allegations made by employees at other businesses owned by Fayed and are representing women who worked at the Ritz.
“He used his wealth and his power to manipulate and control female victims for his sexual pleasure,” Ms Allred said.
Most of his alleged victims were “terrified and felt they had no place to turn,” she said and their “terror was reinforced by threats, surveillance and phone tapping”.
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Mr Armstrong said the claim shows an “abject failure of corporate responsibility” by Harrods and “it is time they took responsibility”.
“This case combines some of the most horrific elements of the cases involving Jimmy Savile, Jeffrey Epstein and Harvey Weinstein,” he said.
“Savile because in this case, as in that, the institution, we say, knew about the behaviour.
“Epstein because in that case, as in this, there was a procurement system in place to source the women and girls – as you know there are some very young victims.
“And Weinstein because it was a person at the very top of the organisation who was abusing his power.
“We will say plainly, Mohamed al Fayed was a monster.”
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Fayed had previously been accused of sexually assaulting and groping multiple women, but a 2015 police investigation did not lead to any charges.
He fought a long campaign following the death of his son, the film producer Dodi Fayed and Princess Diana in 1997, alleging the Paris car crash was not an accident but had been orchestrated by the British security services.
‘Utterly appalled’
Harrods said in a statement: “We are utterly appalled by the allegations of abuse perpetrated by Mohamed al Fayed.
“These were the actions of an individual who was intent on abusing his power wherever he operated and we condemn them in the strongest terms.
“We also acknowledge that during this time as a business we failed our employees who were his victims and for this we sincerely apologise.
“The Harrods of today is a very different organisation to the one owned and controlled by Fayed between 1985 and 2010, it is one that seeks to put the welfare of our employees at the heart of everything we do.
“This is why, since new information came to light in 2023 about historic allegations of sexual abuse by Fayed, it has been our priority to settle claims in the quickest way possible, avoiding lengthy legal proceedings for the women involved.”
Metropolitan Police Commander Kevin Southworth said: “We are aware of various allegations of sexual offences made over a number of years in relation to the late Mohamed al Fayed which were reported to the Met.
“Each one was investigated and, where appropriate, advice from the Crown Prosecution Service was sought. No charges resulted from these investigations.”
UK
Special educational needs children ‘segregated and left to struggle in wrong schools to save money’
Children with special educational needs are being “segregated” and left to struggle in the wrong schools because councils are trying to “save on costs”, parents have told Sky News.
Maire Leigh Wilson, whose four-year-old son has Down’s syndrome, says she “shudders to think” where he would be now had she not been in a “constant battle” with her council.
“I think he would probably just be at the back of a classroom, running around with no support and no ability to sign or communicate,” she said.
Mrs Leigh Wilson wanted her son Aidan to go to a mainstream school with additional specialist support, but her council, who decide what is known as a child’s Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP), wanted him to attend a special school.
The number of EHCPs being appealed by parents has risen “massively”, according to education barrister Alice De Coverley.
She said councils are struggling to meet the volume of demand with “stretched budgets”, and parents are also more aware of their ability to appeal.
Mrs De Coverley said more than 90% of tribunals are won by parents, in part because councils do not have the resources to fight their cases.
She said, in her experience, parents of children with special educational needs will put “anything on the line, their homes, their jobs”.
On whether she thinks the system is rigged against parents, Mrs De Coverley said: “I’m not sure it’s meant to be. But I think that parents are certainly finding it very tough.”
She added the number of “unlawful decisions” being made by local authorities means parents who can afford it are being “utterly burnt out” by legal challenges.
Read more:
Three in four parents of SEND children forced to give up work or cut hours
Maire Leigh Wilson with her son, Aiden, four
Mrs Leigh Wilson’s case was resolved before making it to court.
Her council, Hounslow in southwest London, said they complete more than four in five new EHCPs within the statutory 20-week timescale, twice the national average.
Hounslow Council said they “put families at the heart of decision-making” and young people in the area with special educational needs and disabilities achieve, on average, above their peers nationally.
They admitted there are areas of their offer “that need to be further improved” and they are “working closely with families as a partnership”.
“We have a clear and credible plan to achieve this, and we can see over the last 18 months where we have focused our improvement work, the real benefits of an improved experience for children, young people, and their families,” a Hounslow Council spokesman said.
He added the council had seen the number of EHCPs double in the last decade and they “share parents’ frustrations amid rising levels of national demand, and what’s widely acknowledged as a broken SEND system”.
Emma Dunville wanted her son, Albie, to go to a special school but the council took too long to assess him
Emma Dunville, a friend of Mrs Leigh Wilson whose son also has Down’s syndrome, describes her experience trying to get the right education provision for her child as “exhausting mentally and physically”.
She said: “For the rest of his life we’ll be battling, battling, battling, everything is stacked up against you.”
Unlike Mrs Leigh Wilson, Mrs Dunville wanted her son Albie to go to a special school, but she had to wait more than a year for an assessment with an education psychologist to contribute to the council’s decision, which meant she missed the deadline for an EHCP.
“The people making these decisions just don’t see that all children with Down’s syndrome are totally different and can’t be seen as the same.”
The guidelines are that if there are not enough local authority-employed education psychologists they should seek a private assessment, but her local authority did not do that.
Mrs Dunville said her son has been “segregated” in a mainstream school, where they are “trying their best” but “it’s just not the right setting”.
Two women have died following reports of a stabbing in Milton Keynes on Christmas Day, police have said.
A dog injured in the incident in Bletchley also died after being taken to the vets.
A man and a teenage boy suffered serious injuries.
A 49-year-old man from Milton Keynes has been arrested on suspicion of murder and attempted murder and remains in custody.
Forensic officers at the scene. Pics: PA
Officers were called to a block of apartments in Santa Cruz Avenue just after 6.30pm on Christmas Day following reports of a stabbing.
The two women, aged 38 and 24, died at the scene, Thames Valley Police said. Their next of kin have been informed.
The injured man and teenage boy were taken to hospital and are both in a stable condition.
Police said the parties are known to each other.
Senior investigating officer Detective Chief Inspector Stuart Brangwin said: “Firstly I would like to extend my deepest condolences to the families of the women who have tragically died in this shocking incident.
“We have launched a double murder investigation, which may be concerning to the wider public; however, we have made an arrest and are not looking for anyone else in connection with this incident and the parties are known to each other.”
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