Former Harrods boss Mohamed Al Fayed charged with multiple rapes

Former Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed has been accused of rape and sexual assault by several women who worked at the London department store.

As part of a new investigation, the BBC has spoken to more than 20 women who have accused female Harrods employees of sexual assault and physical violence at the billionaire's properties in London and Paris.

Five of them, including a woman who was a teenager at the time, said they were raped by Al Fayed, who died in August 2023.

During his lifetime, the Egyptian tycoon was accused of groping and sexually harassing female employees. He was also accused of rape. Police investigated the allegations in 2015, but no charges were brought.

The BBC Al Fayed: Predator at Harrods documentary, which will be broadcast tonight on BBC Two, and the World of Secrets Podcast, say the department store failed to intervene and helped cover up the women's allegations.

Harrods responded by saying: “As a company, we have let down our employees, who were its victims, and for that we sincerely apologise.”

Rape allegations in a Mayfair apartment block

Four women said Al Fayed raped them in his private apartment in London's Park Lane. Thirteen other women said he sexually assaulted them in the same location.

Women told the BBC he would offer female employees who worked late into the night apartments at his private residence at 60 Park Lane, Mayfair.

Rachel (not her real name) was 19 at the time and was staying in one of Al Fayed's apartments instead of taking a taxi home after working long hours for Harrods and insisting on it.

She said Al Fayed invited her to his private apartment and told her to sit on the bed while keeping his hand on her leg.

“He raped me,” Rachel told the BBC. “Afterwards you blame yourself. You're there to do your job and there's the boss in his dressing gown. And even if you try to get out of the situation, I try not to insult him.”

She added: “I made it clear that I didn't want this. I didn't agree. I just wanted it to be over. I remember feeling his body on top of me, his weight. I just heard him making these noises. And my mind just went somewhere else.”

Al Fayed accused of rape in Paris

According to the BBC, some of the worst attacks allegedly occurred in Paris, many of them at Al Fayed's residence, Villa Windsor.

Nine women said they were sexually assaulted in his homes in the French capital. Five of them described the attack as attempted rape and one said she was raped.

A woman who worked as a personal assistant for two years in the 2000s said she was raped at Windsor Castle after Al Fayed came into her room wearing a dressing gown and tried to get into bed with her despite her protests.

She told the BBC that he fell on top of her so that her face was on the bed and she could not move.

She said Al Fayed then told her to take a bath and there was a bottle of Dettol in the bathroom.

“I just stood in the bathtub and washed myself like I was told. Obviously he wanted to cover up any trace of him being near me at that point,” she said.

Following this incident, she resigned from her job at Harrods and spoke to a lawyer who advised her to settle the matter “quickly and quietly” given who Al Fayed was.

After previous assaults, she also bought a tape recorder to collect evidence against Al Fayed and allegedly recorded him making advances to her.

“Mohammed Al Fayed is a rapist, he is a serial rapist,” she said.

“Confidentiality agreement and evidence destroyed”

She said she told Harrods about the harassment but did not feel able to disclose the full details and severity of her allegations at the time.

Harrods allowed her to leave and promised to pay her a sum of money if she destroyed all evidence and signed a confidentiality agreement.

She said a member of Harrods' human resources department was present at the destruction.

She later found copies of the transcripts, which she showed to her lawyer, but was advised that it was in her “best interest” to remain silent.

“Not being able to talk about something that is so unfair for all these years. It's cruel to put someone through something like that and then expect them not to talk about it,” she said.

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A member of Al Fayed's personal security detail, known only as Steve, said his colleagues had not spoken out because they feared their jobs were at risk.

He said a control room in the basement with surveillance cameras would allow them to see the corridors leading to Al Fayed's private residence.

“So we actually see the girls walk in the door and close the door behind them. And then in the morning we see them leave again, or even an hour later. Some of them are still wearing the Harrods uniforms,” ​​he recalls.

“I questioned it, it's strange behavior, but they said, 'If you don't agree with that, you know where the door is.'”

Harrods reaches agreement over sexual assault and rape

Starting in July 2023, Harrods began settling claims with women who accused Al Fayed of sexual abuse, including sexual assault and rape.

A woman went to the police in 2018 and made a video statement at the station.

The woman said she was told Al Fayed, who suffers from dementia, was too old to face prosecution and was not of sound mind.

She then hired a lawyer who spoke to Harrods and shortly before his death she received a letter informing her that she would be paid compensation.

The department store expressed regret but did not admit liability, the BBC report said. Harrods began settling compensation claims with most of the women the BBC spoke to in the months that followed, it said.

A Harrods spokesman said: “We are deeply appalled by the allegations of abuse of power by Mohamed Al Fayed. These were the actions of an individual who sought to abuse his power wherever he operated and we condemn them in the strongest possible terms.

“We also recognise that as a company we have failed our employees, who were its victims, during this time and for that we sincerely apologise.

“Harrods is a very different organisation today to the one that was owned and controlled by Al Fayed between 1985 and 2010. Harrods is an organisation that seeks to put the wellbeing of our people at the heart of everything we do.

“That is why, since new information came to light in 2023 about historical allegations of sexual abuse by Al Fayed, our priority has been to resolve the claims as quickly as possible and avoid lengthy legal proceedings for the women affected. This process remains available to all current or former Harrods employees.

“While we cannot undo the past, we are committed to doing the right thing as an organization, guided by the values ​​we hold today, while ensuring that such behavior cannot be repeated in the future.”