Harrods tycoon Mohamed Al Fayed accused of rape: Five ex-employees say late billionaire sexually assaulted them and ‘covered up allegations’
Former Harrods boss Mohamed Al Fayed has been accused of rape, with five female ex-employees alleging the late billionaire sexually assaulted them while in charge of the luxury London department store.
A new BBC documentary says the Egyptian-born businessman – who died in London aged 94 in August 2023 – carried out the attacks during his time in charge of the outlet between 1984 and its sale in 2010.
The corporation says more than 20 female former workers at Harrods have come forward to accuse him of sexual abuse and presiding over a ‘culture of fear’ at the department store.
Some of those involved claim they were coerced into undergoing invasive medical exams in which they were tested for sexually transmitted diseases, with the results being sent directly to Al Fayed himself.
The new programme called Al Fayed: Predator at Harrods – says the firm itself not only failed to intervene to help the alleged victims but also covered up their claims.
The store’s current owners have now told of being ‘utterly appalled’ by the accusations and have apologised to the women affected.
Former Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed has been accused of sexual assault by multiple women including one, Gemma, who worked as his personal assistant between 2007 and 2009
A new BBC documentary says the Egyptian-born businessman – who died in London aged 94 last August – carried out the attacks while Harrods boss between 1984 and its sale in 2010
The corporation says more than 20 female former workers at Harrods have come forward to accuse Al Fayed (pictured) of sexual abuse
Bruce Drummond, a barrister representing some of the ex-employees, said: ‘The spider’s web of corruption and abuse in this company was unbelievable and very dark.
‘Any place of work has a duty to ensure the safety of its employees. Without question, the company failed these ladies.
‘That’s why we step in. Because they just did nothing to actually prevent this. They did the opposite. They enabled it.’
The alleged attacks are said to have happened not only in London including at his Mayfair flat in the capital but also in Paris, at the Ritz hotel which he owned, and St Tropez in France as well as Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.
Rachel, not her real name, told the BBC she was raped after staying at one of Mr Al Fayed’s apartments after a late shift at work.
She said: ‘I made it obvious that I didn’t want that to happen. I did not give consent. I just wanted it to be over.
‘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.’
Another woman told of being raped at the Mayfair address as a teenager, describing staff at Harrods as being treated as his ‘playthings’.
She said: ‘Mohamed Al Fayed was a monster, a sexual predator with no moral compass whatsoever.
‘We were all so scared. He actively cultivated fear. If he said “jump”, employees would ask, “How high?”‘
One of his alleged victims was named as Gemma, who worked for Al Fayed as a personal assistant between 2007 and 2009 – and tells how his behaviour would turn more scary during work trips abroad.
She says he raped her at Villa Windsor in Paris’s Bois de Boulogne, a former home of post-abdication King Edward VIII and his wife Wallis Simpson.
One of his alleged victims, Gemma, who worked for Al Fayed as a personal assistant between 2007 and 2009, says his behaviour would turn more frightening during work trips abroad
She says he raped her at Villa Windsor in Paris’s Bois de Boulogne, a former home of post-abdication King Edward VIII and his wife Wallis Simpson
Gemma described her former boss Fayed to the new BBC investigation as ‘a serial rapist’
Mohamed Al Fayed, former owner of Harrods and Fulham FC, is pictured here in 2018
Mohamed Al Fayed pictured alongside Diana, Princess of Wales at a charity event held at Harrods in London in 1996
She described waking up to find him attempting to get into bed with her, adding: ‘I told him, “No, I don’t want you to”.
‘And he proceeded to just keep trying to get in the bed, at which point he was kind of on top of me and [I] really couldn’t move anywhere.
‘I was kind of face down on the bed and he just pressed himself on me.’
She added: ‘I think Mohamed Al Fayed is a rapist – he is a serial rapist.’
In the documentary some women claim they were coerced into undergoing invasive medical exams, in which they were tested for sexually transmitted diseases with the results sent to Al Fayed himself.
One woman told filmmakers: ‘There is no benefit to anybody knowing how my sexual health is, unless you’re planning to sleep with somebody, which I find quite chilling now.’
Fayed was accused of sexual assault when alive, but the BBC now says it believes many more women could have been victims of him.
Eamon Coyle, who joined Harrods as a store detective in 1979 and was its deputy director of security between 1989 and 1995, told the BBC: ‘We were aware that he had this very strong interest in young girls.’
The BBC said it heard testimony from 13 women who say they were sexually assaulted at Fayed’s 60 Park Lane property in London, four of whom allege they were raped there.
Harrods began settling claims with women who came forward alleging to have been sexually abused at his hands in July last year.
Harrods said in a statement to the BBC: ‘The Harrods of today is a very different organisation to the one owned and controlled by Al Fayed between 1985 and 2010.
‘I made it obvious that I didn’t want that to happen. I did not give consent. I just wanted it to be over,’ she said,
‘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.’
‘It is one that seeks to put the welfare of our employees at the heart of everything we do.
‘Since new information came to light in 2023 about historic allegations of sexual abuse by Al Fayed, it has been our priority to settle claims in the quickest way possible.
Some of Fayed’s assaults are said to have been carried out at his Park Lane property in London
One of the women now speaking out, who says Fayed raped her at his London apartment told BBC investigators: ‘I made it obvious that I didn’t want that to happen. ‘I did not give consent. I just wanted it to be over’
Mohamed Al Fayed pictured with his wife Heini Wathen in 2016. The couple had four children
Mr Al Fayed (right) with Prince Charles (with his back to camera) and Diana during a Harrods-sponsored polo match in 1987
Mohamed Al Fayed with the Queen in 1997. His business connections and charity work saw him mixing with high society despite his complaints about what he saw as establishment bias
‘This process is still available for any current or former Harrods employees.
‘While we cannot undo the past, we have been determined to do the right thing as an organisation, driven by the values we hold today, while ensuring that such behaviour can never be repeated in the future.’
The Ritz hotel in Paris, formerly owned by Fayed, told the the BBC that it ‘strongly condemns all forms of behaviour that do not align with the values of the establishment’.
Fayed was born in Alexandria in 1929 and moved to the UK in the 1960s, becoming an early driving force in the development of Dubai.
He later bought House of Fraser, including Harrods, with his brothers, as well as the Ritz hotel in Paris, which he owned up until his death.
He had begun his career selling fizzy drinks and then worked as a sewing-machine salesman.
He built his family’s fortune in real estate, shipping and construction, first in the Middle East and then in Europe – aided by connections with his first wife Samira Khashoggi’s arms dealer brother Adnan Khashoggi.
A combination of building a business empire in the UK and establishing a charitable foundation saw him mixing with the UK’s most illustrious figures – from stars to royalty.
Fayed is believed to have met Diana, Princess of Wales, and the then-Prince Charles at a polo match in the 1980s – and through this connection introduced her to his son Dodi.
The moment of their meeting was immortalised in a later season of the hit Netflix drama, The Crown, in which the Egyptian businessman was played by Israeli actor Salim Daw.
One episode charted his rise to fame and his eventual meeting with Diana, although his alleged victims have slammed the sympathetic portrayal of him on the show.
In later years he became consumed with pursuing investigations into the crash which killed Dodi and Diana on August 31 1997 – almost exactly 26 years before his own death.
Diana – who was divorced from Charles in 1992 – and Dodi were pictured together in St Tropez in 1997, sparking rumours of romance.
Among those giving testimony to the BBC is Gemma who says Fayed raped her at Villa Windsor in Paris’s Bois de Boulogne (pictured), former home of King Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson
Mohammed Al Fayed (right) with son Dodi at a party for the film Hook in 1992
The current owners of luxury department store Harrods in London (pictured) have issued a statement saying: ‘While we cannot undo the past, we have been determined to do the right thing as an organisation, driven by the values we hold today, while ensuring that such behaviour can never be repeated in the future’
The pair then travelled together as they sought to leave the Ritz Hotel in Paris on the fateful morning of August 31 that year.
The younger Al-Fayed and the Princess of Wales were being driven away from paparazzi by Henri Paul, the deputy head of security at the hotel, when Paul lost control of the car and struck a pillar at a speed of about 65mph.
Dodi’s father Fayed opened his own private investigation into the crash after being dissatisfied with the official investigations – and promoted a series of conspiracy theories alleging that the establishment had a hand in their deaths.
But a 2008 inquest concluded that Dodi and Diana were unlawfully killed by a combination of Paul’s driving under the influence of alcohol, the fact neither were wearing seatbelts and the erratic driving of paparazzi pursuing them.
