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.

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.”

‘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.

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.”

Large parts of England and Wales are battling gusty winds, heavy rain and frequent lightning – as thunderstorm warnings come into effect.

The first of three Met Office warnings this weekend, which is in effect from 12pm until 8pm on Friday, stretches from the West Midlands to the South East and includes the South West. It also covers a large part of Wales, including Cardiff and Swansea.

The weather agency says lightning strikes during the storms will probably cause damage to buildings.

And with the possibility of up to 40mm (1.5in) of rain in three hours, it said driving may be affected by spray, standing water and/or hail. Power cuts are also likely, it added, with delays to trains possible.

“A few thundery showers may be present across southern and southeast England early on Friday, but from the middle of the day they are expected to develop more widely within the warning area,” the Met Office said.

“Whilst some places will remain dry, where thundery showers do occur, they will bring frequent lightning, gusty winds, potentially some large hail, as well as brief spells of heavy rain.”

It added that there was “a very small chance of 30-40mm falling in three hours” across South West England.

A second thunderstorm warning for Saturday is in place for 23 hours, from 1am until midnight, and applies to an even larger area – covering the whole of Wales, and stretching as far as Liverpool, Stoke-on-Trent, Leicester and all of Cornwall.

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The Met Office says thunderstorms and heavy showers are expected to cause disruption.

“Hail and frequent lightning may accompany the most intense storms, especially during Saturday afternoon and evening in parts of the Midlands, southern England and east Wales,” the Met Office said.

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Officials say there is a small chance that homes and businesses could be flooded rapidly, with fast flowing or deep floodwater causing “danger to life”.

They also warned there was a small chance some communities become cut off by flooded roads, with possible power cuts and cancellations to train and bus services.

On Sunday, a yellow warning for rain has now come into place for the East Midlands, east of England, London and South East, northwest England, southwest England, Wales, and the West Midlands.

The Met Office has warned of “significant” delays or cancellations to train and bus services, flooding, and difficult driving conditions.

The family of an NHS pharmacist who took his own life after suffering paralysing complications from a COVID jab are calling for urgent reform of the government’s compensation scheme for vaccine damage.

John Cross was told by the official medical assessor for the scheme that the jab had caused his rare neurological effects, but that he wasn’t disabled enough for a payment.

Mr Cross was unable to move, blink or breathe after his first dose of the vaccine.

He spent seven months recovering in hospital but was left with chronic pain and numbness – and suffered several relapses.

After he was rejected by the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme (VDPS), his mental health deteriorated and he took his own life.

Speaking exclusively to Sky News, Philip Cross, John’s youngest son, said the family would seek to overturn the judgment and force reform of the VDPS.

“We want some good out of this and to get the system changed in memory of dad.

“You look at everything and it’s just wrong. It’s unjust.”

John was a staunch supporter of vaccination, eager to get his COVID jab to protect elderly relatives and help end the pandemic.

But two weeks later, he suffered rapidly progressive paralysis that swept up his body.

He was admitted to intensive care where he was given a tracheostomy, a breathing tube in his neck. And nursing staff had to tape his eyes closed so he could sleep.

He slowly learned to eat, walk and talk again. But he never regained the mobility and fitness he had enjoyed before his illness.

Doctors eventually diagnosed Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy, nerve swelling that leads to a loss of strength or sensation.

Adam, John’s eldest son, said his father dreaded intensive dialysis-like treatment to remove rogue antibodies from his blood because it left him severely fatigued for days.

“I think he knew that without the treatment, this long-term condition would yo-yo, possibly for the rest of his life,” he said.

“And he’d have to deal with that. It’s devastating.”

John was urged by his doctors to submit a claim to the VDPS.

The scheme was set up in 1979 to make a one-off payment of £120,000 to people who have suffered rare, but significant, side effects to a range of vaccines.

But after a two-year delay, with only a review of his medical records and no face-to-face assessment, his claim was rejected.

His widow, Christine, said: “Nobody spoke to him. There was no personal contact, nothing. Just fill in this form and that was it.

“I’m very angry. John went through enough with the illness and the recovery without going through the trauma of this bureaucracy.”

John began gathering medical evidence to have the judgment overturned.

But he became increasingly anxious and overwhelmed.

In October 2023, faced with more gruelling treatment for another flare-up, he took his own life.

Liz Whitehead, his daughter, said: “We’ve all had our vaccinations. And we continue to since we’ve lost dad.

“But now you start to question. If a rare, unusual thing were to take place, the system’s not got your back. It’s not there for you… is it worth the risk?”

Vaccination has long been seen as a social contract, with individuals taking the jab for the good of everyone.

But all vaccines have rare side effects, and the VDPS was designed to be a safety net for severe cases.

Under the VDPS, a medical examiner assesses patient records and testimony from doctors involved in the claimant’s care.

To qualify for payment, they must be deemed to be 60% disabled, a threshold with origins in compensation schemes for industrial injuries. Amputation below the knee would be sufficient for a payout.

But the Cross family’s solicitor, Peter Todd, of Scott-Moncrieff & Associates, said medical assessors struggle to make “apples and pears” comparisons with complex vaccine damage.

“The threshold is often misunderstood as being very high, akin to being totally paralysed,” he said.

“But it isn’t. It’s a much lower standard, and they have to take into account both the physical disablement and the psychological impact.”

Mr Todd has tracked applications to the VDPS.

Before the pandemic there were a few dozen a year.

But since the COVID vaccine rollout, 14,000 people have made claims, according to Freedom of Information requests submitted by Mr Todd to the NHS Business Services Authority.

Just over 6,000 have so far been notified of an outcome, with 180 people told they would be given a payment.

Another 350 people have been told that on the balance of probabilities the vaccine caused their complications, but that they didn’t meet the 60% disability threshold.

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Mr Todd said people can struggle to explain the full impact of their vaccine damage on a complex form.

“There’s a real mismatch between what the claimant has understood about their condition and what the assessor is prepared to accept based purely on medical records that weren’t created for the purposes of this assessment,” he said.

“They rejected (John’s claim) in the most high-handed and unfair manner, which just broke him psychologically.”

The NHS Business Services Authority told Sky News that it did not comment on individual cases, but that it was in touch with the Cross family about their concerns over John’s assessment.

The Department of Health, which is responsible for the scheme, said the ongoing COVID Inquiry would investigate reform of the VDPS as part of its vaccination module starting in January next year.

In a statement, it said: “Assessments of VDPS claims are undertaken by qualified independent medical assessors, who use the medical records and information provided by the claimants’ healthcare providers to make their assessment.”

The Cross family are upset by the slow progress of the case.

“He was our dad, he was a really wonderful man,” said Liz.

“It’s a tragedy and the government needs to hear it. Don’t send me your condolences, don’t tell me how bad you feel for me or us.

“Do something.”

Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK