CPS did not prosecute the Harrods owner twice

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has said it has twice failed to bring charges of sexual abuse against Mohamed Al Fayed.

New allegations are being made against the late billionaire and Harrods owner, who died last year at the age of 94.

Following a BBC documentary, dozens of women said they had been raped or sexually abused by Egyptian businessman Fayed.

Prosecutors said on Sunday that they had already considered bringing charges against Fayed in 2009 and 2015. In both cases, however, they concluded that there was no realistic prospect of a conviction.

In 2008, the Metropolitan Police investigated Fayed after a 15-year-old girl alleged that he sexually assaulted her in the boardroom at Harrods.

Police said they had submitted a file of evidence to the Crown Prosecution Service – a step that must be taken before charges can be brought – but the Crown Prosecution Service had decided that no further action should be taken.

A CPS spokesman said: “We have reviewed evidence files provided by the police in 2009 and 2015.

“In order to bring charges, the CPS must be satisfied that there is a realistic prospect of conviction – in any case, our prosecutors have carefully considered the evidence and concluded that this was not the case.”

Three further investigations into the statements of three other women – in 2018, 2021 and 2023 – had progressed to the point where the CPS was called in to advise investigators.

In these cases, however, a complete file of evidence was never handed over to prosecutors.

Fayed bought Harrods in 1985 and sold it in 2010.

More than 20 women have told the BBC that the businessman sexually harassed or raped them while they were working at London's luxury department store Harrods.

The legal team representing many of the women the BBC spoke to presented their case against Harrods on Friday.

The current owners of Harrods said earlier this week they were “deeply appalled” by the allegations and said the victims had been “let down”.

The company said it is now a “completely different organization” and is trying to “put the well-being of our employees at the heart of everything we do.”

The department store's new owners have a compensation plan in place for former employees who say they were assaulted by Fayed, a plan that operates independently of the legal action taken by some plaintiffs.

Harrods has already reached financial agreements with most of the customers who have approached the company since 2023 and received new enquiries this week.

Harrods accepts vicarious liability for Fayed's actions and the settlements are not accompanied by any confidentiality agreements.

Dean Armstrong KC, one of the lawyers representing the alleged victims, said he was “perplexed” as to what new information Harrods might have received in 2023.

In a BBC interview on Saturday, he argued that the new owners – who bought Harrods in 2010 – “either did not know [about the allegations] – which I find difficult to accept – or refused to acknowledge that there was this background of sexual misconduct.”

Mr Armstrong also said that his team had 37 clients, but the number of people who had approached them with allegations about Fayed was nearly 150.

The lawyers claim that the attacks on Fayed took place all over the world, including in the UK, the US, Canada, France, Malaysia and Dubai.

“This is a global case, not just in the UK. Such incidents have happened all over the world,” another lawyer, Bruce Drummond, told the BBC.