MOHAMED Al Fayed has been accused of raping and sexually assaulting a number of women who worked at Harrods.
Five women said they were raped by the Egyptian billionaire, who died last year aged 94, and a further 20 female employees claim they were sexually assaulted by Al Fayed.
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Mohamed Al Fayed is accused of raping five women and sexually abusing others Credit: AFP
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The billionaire who died at the age of 94 was the owner of Harrods. Credit: Reuters
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Gemma, who worked as one of Fayed’s personal assistants, spoke Credit: BBC
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Harrods department store in central LondonCredit: AFP
Women who worked at Harrods from the late 1980s to the 2000s said the attacks took place in the company’s offices, at Fayed’s flat in London or on foreign trips, often in Paris at the Ritz Hotel, according to a BBC investigation.
It is claimed the Harrods tycoon regularly visited the department store’s sales areas to identify young female assistants he found attractive before isolating and assaulting them.
In a new documentary called Al Fayed: Predator at Harrods, allegations are heard that the store not only failed to intervene, but also helped to cover up the allegations against Al Fayed.
The current owners of Harrods said they were “absolutely appalled” by the allegations, stressing that the company is “very different” today.
One of his alleged victims, named Gemma, who worked for Al Fayed as a personal assistant between 2007 and 2009, said his behavior would become even more horrific during work trips abroad.
- One woman claimed that Al Fayed told her to wash herself with Dettol to “wipe out the traces” of him being around her.
- Another woman described him as a “monster” with “no moral compass”
- The owner of Harrods would regularly visit the vast sales areas of the department store and find young assistants he found attractive.
- His former personal assistant claimed that the Egyptian billionaire tried to rape her several times
She claims he raped her at the Windsor Villa in Paris’ Bois de Boulogne, the former home of King Edward VIII and his wife Wallis Simpson after his abdication.
Gemma described waking up to find him trying to get into bed with her, adding: “I told him, ‘No, I don’t want you to do that’.
“And he just kept trying to get into the bed, at which point he was kind of on top of me and [I] he really couldn’t move anywhere.
“I was kind of face down on the bed and he just pressed himself against me.”
She says she cried after the Harrods tycoon raped her, while he stood up and aggressively told her to wash herself with Dettol.
“He obviously wanted me to erase any trace of him being around me,” she explains.
Another woman described being raped at an address in Mayfair as a teenager, describing staff at Harrods as treating her like his “toy”.
She said: “Mohamed Al Fayed was a monster, a sexual predator without any moral compass.
“We were all so scared. He actively cultivated fear. When he said ‘jump,’ the employees would ask, ‘How high?'”
She added: “I think Mohamed Al Fayed is a rapist – he is a serial rapist.”
Bruce Drummond, a lawyer from the legal team representing a number of women, said: “The spider’s web of corruption and abuse at this company was incredible and very dark.”
Speaking to the BBC, one of his alleged victims, Sophia, who worked as his personal assistant from 1988 to 1991, said he tried to rape her more than once. She said, “He was mean.”
After appearing in two recent series of Netflix’s The Crown, she spoke of her anger at his portrayal as a pleasant and social character.
Sophia, who did not give her second name, said: “It makes me angry, people shouldn’t remember him like that. It’s not what it used to be.”
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Sophia also worked as Al Fayed’s assistantCredit: BBC
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At least nine women have told the BBC that Al Fayed sexually assaulted them at his properties in ParisCredit: BBC
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Mohamed with his second wife Heini Wathen in June 2016. Credit: Getty
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Al Fayed is a former resident of Villa Windsor in the Bois de Boulogne near Paris, FranceCredit: Getty
Another alleged victim, Rachel, her real name, who was 19 at the time, stayed at one of Al-Fayed’s flats instead of taking a taxi home at his insistence after working late on a Harrods job.
The Egyptian billionaire then invited her to his private apartment in London, where he asked her to sit on the bed, with his hand on her leg and a firm grip, she says.
She said: “I made it clear 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, his weight. Just hearing him make those sounds. And I just go somewhere else in my head.”
Rachel told the BBC: “He raped me. Blame yourself afterwards. You are there to do a job, and this is your boss standing in front of you in a dressing gown.
“And even when you’re trying to get out of a situation, I’m trying not to offend him.”
Al Fayed has been accused of groping and sexually abusing female employees throughout his life, including rape allegations that were investigated by police in 2015 but did not lead to any charges.
Born in Egypt, Al Fayed was a businessman in the Middle East before moving to the UK in the 1970s.
He took control of Harrods in 1985, and in 1979 he bought the Ritz hotel in Paris.
In a statement to the BBC, Harrods said: “Today’s Harrods is a very different organization to the one owned and controlled by Al Fayed between 1985 and 2010.
“It is one that strives to put the well-being of our employees at the center of everything we do.
“Since new information came to light in 2023 about the historic allegations of sexual abuse by Al Fayed, our priority has been to resolve the claims as quickly as possible.
“This process is still available to all current or former Harrods employees.
“While we cannot undo the past, we are determined to do the right thing as an organization, guided by the values we hold today, while ensuring that such behavior never happens again in the future.”
Al Fayed: The Predator at Harrods airs on BBC Two tonight at 9pm and is available now on BBC iPlayer.
An accompanying new five-part season of the World of Secrets podcast is on BBC Sounds.
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Princess Diana with Mohammed Al Fayed at a charity dinner at Harrods in 1996 Credit: Getty
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King Charles and Princess Diana with the billionaire
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He also bought Fulham FC in 1997. Credit: Getty
Who was Mohamed Al Fayed?
MOHAMED AL FAYED was best known as the owner of the luxury department store Harrods and the father of Princess Diana’s boyfriend Dodi Al-Fayed.
The billionaire died in August 2023 at the age of 94, almost 26 years after the death of his son.
Heini Wathen married Mohamed Al-Fayed in 1985 and the couple had four children; Jasmine, Karim, Camilla and Omar.
Heini and Mohamed’s romance started after Mohamed’s son Dodi met them.
The couple is played by Hanna Alström and Salim Daw in the sixth and final season of Netflix’s The Crown.
Before marrying Heini, Mohamed was already married once.
In 1954, he married writer Samira Khashoggi from Saudi Arabia.
The couple separated after two years, but they welcomed their son Dodi together in 1955.
Dodi is Samira and Mohamed’s only child, but Mohamed had four more children with another woman.
Before his death, Mohamed lived with his wife Heini in a house near Oxted.
The family estate in Surrey, called Barrow Green Court, is where both Mohamed and his son Dodi are buried.
His eldest son – Dodi – was killed along with Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997.
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