Paul Gascoigne’s daughter says she was groomed and sexually assaulted by Al Fayed
British model Bianca Gascoigne has said she was groomed and sexually assaulted by Mohamed al Fayed when she worked at Harrods as a teenager.
Warning: This article contains details readers may find distressing
The 37-year-old, who is the daughter of England football legend Paul Gascoigne, had visited the luxury department store in Knightsbridge with her parents when she was growing up and said Al Fayed would be “charming” and bring them gifts.
Speaking publicly about it for the first time on The UK Tonight with Sarah-Jane Mee, she said this meant by the time she joined Harrods aged 16 she felt “safe” in his presence.
However, when she started working for the Egyptian businessman she claimed he would grope her and force her to kiss him during their weekly meetings.
She said she felt trapped and frightened and one night he offered her the Harrods Park Lane apartment to stay in before a flight.
Mohamed al Fayed. Pic: AP
In an emotional interview, Gascoigne said: “[Al Fayed] turned up at the apartment to my shock, I was just gobsmacked, I was kind of very shell-shocked.
“I just didn’t really know what to do, he came in and then he sat me down on the sofa… he got his privates out and got my hands and was trying to manoeuvre them on his parts.
“When that didn’t work he was trying to force my head on to his lap.
“And I don’t know how but I managed to wiggle away.
“And I think possibly you know, that him knowing my parents… I don’t know, that might have saved me at that moment. But it was horrific.”
A string of allegations against Al Fayed have emerged since the release of an investigation by the BBC. He died last year aged 94.
The Metropolitan Police said it had recorded 60 allegations against Al Fayed since the BBC documentary, including claims of rape and sexual assault. Those are in addition to the 21 women who went to the police between 2005 and 2023 with sex crime allegations against the businessman.
On Monday Harrods said more than 250 people are part of its process to settle compensation claims over Al Fayed’s alleged sexual misconduct.
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Bianca Gascoigne. Pic: PA
‘I didn’t want to bring embarrassment and shame’
Gascoigne had joined Harrods as a shop floor worker but was later promoted to her “dream” job of becoming a fashion buyer.
But she said no one in her life knew what was going on – not even her mum and dad. She said the shame stopped her from telling anyone.
“Obviously, I loved my job because it’s exactly what I wanted to do – that was my dream,” she said.
“And, you know, he’s doing all these things to me. And I was close to people that he knew, and I felt like I couldn’t even tell them either, because I didn’t want to bring embarrassment and shame.”
Gascoigne worried about losing her job if she spoke out
She said while the alleged abuse was being carried out she was “trying to work out what was going on” and was worried about losing her job.
“[Al Fayed] told me that if I would say anything that I would lose my job,” she said. “So I just got really scared, at 16 turning 17, you think you know what’s going on at the time but you really don’t.
“I look back now and just feel very sorry for my 16-year-old self and wish I could protect her.”
Paul Gascoigne in June 2023. Pic: PA
‘He used to tell me [my father] was an embarrassment
Gascoigne also said Al Fayed would make derogatory comments about her father, whose mental health and addiction problems are well documented, when he allegedly started grooming her shortly before she joined Harrods.
She continued: “[Al Fayed] used to tell me how much of a bad father my dad was because he used to come into the store drunk, and he used to tell me [my father] was an embarrassment.”
She said Al Fayed told her she should see himself as a “father figure” instead and she felt a “false sense of security with him early doors”.
‘I feel like I have to do this’
Gascoigne recently had a daughter and decided she wanted to speak out after seeing other alleged victims of Al Fayed come forward.
She said: “I feel like I have to do this, like I want to do this.
“I want to stand for the women and, you know, hopefully make any kind of change so that in the future my daughter won’t have to go through something like this… and these predators won’t be able to get away with what they are getting away with.”
Sky News has contacted Harrods for comment.
The department store has previously said it is “utterly appalled” by similar allegations and said it is a “very different organisation to the one owned and controlled by al Fayed between 1985 and 2010”.
Watch Bianca Gascoigne’s full interview on The UK Tonight With Sarah-Jane Mee from 8pm on Sky News
UK
Rail worker who protected passengers during mass stabbing on Huntingdon train discharged from hospital
The train crew member who was seriously injured while trying to protect passengers during a mass stabbing has been discharged from hospital.
Samir Zitouni, 48, known as Sam, was working on board the London North Eastern Railway (LNER) train from Doncaster to London when the attack began in Cambridgeshire on Saturday 1 November.
LNER said Mr Zitouni, who has worked for the firm for more than 20 years, was credited with helping to save multiple lives.
Mr Zitouni had been in a critical condition, having suffered multiple injuries in the incident, but was discharged on Saturday.
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Mahmood praises rail worker
His family said: “We are so grateful for the outpouring of support from the public, and very touched by all the kind words about Sam’s brave actions on the night of the attack.
“While we are really happy to have him home, he still has a significant recovery ahead and we would now like to be left in privacy to care for him as a family.”
Earlier this month, LNER said he has been a “valued member” of staff for over 20 years, working on board as a customer experience host.
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Train mass stabbing: A timeline of events
David Horne, managing director at LNER, said: “In a moment of crisis, Sam did not hesitate as he stepped forward to protect those around him.
“His actions were incredibly brave, and we are so proud of him, and of all our colleagues who acted with such courage that evening. Our thoughts and prayers remain with Sam and his family. We will continue to support them and wish him a full and speedy recovery.”
The attack is understood to have started shortly after the train left Peterborough, with passengers pulling the emergency alarms on the LNER service.
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Police believe train attacker filmed waving knife
Train driver Andrew Johnson, who served in the Royal Navy for 17 years, contacted a signaller and requested an unscheduled stop at Huntingdon station.
11 people were treated in hospital after the mass stabbing – nine were initially reported as having life-threatening injuries.
Anthony Williams, 32, was remanded into custody at Peterborough Magistrates’ Court on November 3, charged with 10 counts of attempted murder over the incident.
He will appear at Cambridge Crown Court on 1 December.
Donald Trump has said he will sue the BBC for between $1bn and $5bn over the editing of his speech on Panorama.
The US president confirmed he would be taking legal action against the broadcaster while on Air Force One overnight on Saturday.
“We’ll sue them. We’ll sue them for anywhere between a billion (£792m) and five billion dollars (£3.79bn), probably sometime next week,” he told reporters.
“We have to do it, they’ve even admitted that they cheated. Not that they couldn’t have not done that. They cheated. They changed the words coming out of my mouth.”
Mr Trump then told reporters he would discuss the matter with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer over the weekend, and claimed “the people of the UK are very angry about what happened… because it shows the BBC is fake news”.
The Daily Telegraph reported earlier this month that an internal memo raised concerns about the BBC’s editing of a speech made by Mr Trump on 6 January 2021, just before a mob rioted at the US Capitol building, on its flagship late-night news programme.
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BBC crisis: How did it happen?
The concerns regard clips spliced together from sections of the president’s speech to make it appear he told supporters he was going to walk to the US Capitol with them to “fight like hell” in the documentary Trump: A Second Chance?, which was broadcast by the BBC the week before last year’s US election.
Following a backlash, both BBC director-general Tim Davie and BBC News chief executive Deborah Turness resigned from their roles.
‘No basis for defamation claim’
On Thursday, the broadcaster officially apologised to the president and added that it was an “error of judgement” and the programme will “not be broadcast again in this form on any BBC platforms”.
A spokesperson said that “the BBC sincerely regrets the manner in which the video clip was edited,” but they also added that “we strongly disagree there is a basis for a defamation claim”.
Earlier this week, Mr Trump’s lawyers threatened to sue the BBC for $1bn unless it apologised, retracted the clip, and compensated him.
The US president said he would sue the broadcaster for between $1bn and $5bn. File pic: PA
Legal challenges
But legal experts have said that Mr Trump would face challenges taking the case to court in the UK or the US.
The deadline to bring the case to UK courts, where defamation damages rarely exceed £100,000 ($132,000), has already expired because the documentary aired in October 2024, which is more than one year.
Also because the documentary was not shown in the US, it would be hard to show that Americans thought less of the president because of a programme they could not watch.
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Newsnight allegations
The BBC has said it was looking into fresh allegations, published in The Telegraph, that its Newsnight show also selectively edited footage of the same speech in a report broadcast in June 2022.
A BBC spokesperson said: “The BBC holds itself to the highest editorial standards. This matter has been brought to our attention and we are now looking into it.”
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A man has been given a 13-month prison sentence for stealing Banksy’s famous Girl With Balloon print from a London gallery.
Larry Fraser, 49, of Beckton, east London, was sentenced on Friday after pleading guilty to one count of non-residential burglary at Kingston Crown Court on 9 October.
The print, one of the street artist‘s most famous, was stolen from a gallery in New Cavendish Street in London at around 11pm on 8 September last year.
The recovered artwork back in the gallery. Pic: Metropolitan Police
Fraser used a hammer to smash his way through a glass entrance door at the Grove Gallery before stealing the artwork, which was valued at £270,000.
He concealed his identity with a mask, hooded jacket and gloves, but the Metropolitan Police’s Flying Squad was able to identify him and track him to a location streets away.
He was also caught on CCTV loading the artwork into a van before fleeing the scene.
A second man, 54-year-old James Love, was accused of being the getaway driver in the burglary, but cleared of stealing the print.
Larry Fraser. Pic: Metropolitan Police
Damage to the Grove Gallery after the theft. Pic: Metropolitan Police
Fraser was arrested at his home address on 10 September, within 48 hours of the burglary, and charged the next day.
Officers were able to recover the artwork after executing a warrant on the Isle of Dogs. It has now been returned to the gallery.
Fraser pleaded to the court that he was struggling with a historic drug debt and agreed to steal the work “under a degree of pressure and fear”.
He said he did not know what he would be stealing, nor its value, until the day of the offence.
Fraser was caught on CCTV taking the artwork away from the gallery. Pic: Metropolitan Police
Jeffrey Israel, defending, said Fraser lived with his mother as her principal carer, and had only managed to “break his cycle of drug addiction” after his last prison sentence.
He added that it “would take a bold advocate” to suggest that the value of the print had increased by the burglary, but insisted “that is probably the reality”.
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Judge Anne Brown was unmoved, however, and said the offence was “simply too serious” for a suspended sentence.
“This is a brazen and serious non-domestic burglary,” she said.
“Whilst you did not know the precise value of the print, you obviously understood it to be very valuable.”
She added: “Whilst I am sure there was a high degree of planning, this was not your plan.”
However, Fraser may be eligible for immediate release due to time spent on electronic curfew.
Detective Chief Inspector Scott Mather, who led the Met’s investigation, said: “Banksy’s Girl With Balloon is known across the world – and we reacted immediately to not just bring Fraser to justice but also reunite the artwork with the gallery.
“The speed at which this took place is a testament to the tireless work of the flying squad officers – in total it took just four days for normality to be restored.”
The 2004 artwork was part of a £1.5m collection of 13 Banksy pieces at the gallery.
Gallery manager, Lindor Mehmetaj, said it was “remarkable” for the piece to have been recovered after the theft.
The 29-year-old said: “I was completely, completely shocked, but in a very, very positive way when the Flying Squad showed me the actual artwork.
“It’s very hard to put into words, the weight that comes off your shoulders.”
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