Mohamed Al Fayed is alleged to have raped and sexually assaulted more than 20 female ex-employees at his luxury London department store, according to claims on a new bombshell podcast.
The former Harrods employees claim the Egyptian businessman, who died in August last year aged 94, is said to have sexually abused and raped them. Fayed was known as the eccentric owner of Harrods when he took over in 1985 and appeared on entertainment TV shows in the 90s and 20s
His son Dodi, became well known in his own right over his relationship with Princess Diana. Dodi would die alongside the Princess of Wales and their driver, Henri Paul, in a Paris tunnel on August 31, 1997. Harrod’s boss Fayed faced groping and sexual assault allegations as well as one claim of rape which was investigated by police in 2015 but did not lead to any charges. According to their accounts, the sexual assaults happened in London, Paris, St Tropez and Abu Dhabi.
The BBC heard testimony from Fayed’s former employees who gave harrowing details of his alleged sex attacks. The allegations will be heard tonight as part of a podcast and feature on BBC Sounds and iPlayer. One woman said Fayed raped her in his Park Lane flat, adding: “I made it obvious that I didn’t want that to happen. I did not give consent. I just wanted it to be over.”
Another woman claimed she was a teenager when Fayed raped her at the same flat in Mayfair. “Mohamed Al Fayed was a monster, a sexual predator with no moral compass whatsoever.” While Fayed faced sexual assault claims, the allegations are of an unprecedented scale. The BBC added it believes “many more women” may have been assaulted by the businessman.
Following his takeover of Harrods in 1985, Fayed carved out a public persona of generosity, which his victims said was little more than a façade. Sophia, a woman who worked as his personal assistant between 1988 and 1991 and claims Fayed tried to rape her more than once said: “He was vile…that makes me angry, people shouldn’t remember him like that. It’s not how he was.”
Sophia recalls two separate instances where he tried to force himself on her – once in his apartment on Park Lane and another during a trip to his Villa Windsor in Paris. Both times, she believes he was going to rape her, and she kicked and screamed to get him off.
Many of the women recall how he would offer apartments in private residence, 60 Park Lane, for female staff who had been working late. 60 Park Lane is a big block of apartments situated right next door to the Dorchester Hotel. It also had his private quarters. Thirteen women say Al Fayed sexually assaulted them at 60 Park Lane and four claim they were raped.
Several women women waived or partially waived their anonymity to speak with the BBC in order to expose Fayed’s reported abuse. His former employees claim Fayed would tour the famous department store, identifying attractive young women who he would then promote to work in his upstairs office.
Assaults would reportedly happen in Harrod’s offices, in his flat, as well as on foreign trips to France. Rachel, not her real name, who was 19 at the time, stayed in one of Al Fayed’s apartments instead of taking a taxi home on his insistence after working late on Harrods business. He then invited her to his personal apartment, where he asked her to sit on the bed, with his hand on her leg and a firm grip, she says.
“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 says, “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.”
“He raped me,” Rachel tells the BBC, “Afterwards, you blame yourself. You’re there to do a job and this is your boss standing there in front of you in a dressing gown. And so even when you’re trying to get out of the situation, I’m trying not to offend him.”
One former senior manager, Tony Leeming, who worked at the department store for ten years between 1994-2004, tells the BBC that “everyone knew” about “the groping and the non-consensual touching” of female employees, and that “it was known around the whole company.”
He remembers jokes being made about women going into Al Fayed’s office and coming back out with a promotion. “Looking back on it now, it’s pretty repellent honestly actually. And I was a part of that I must admit,” he says.
“The abuse of women, I was aware of it when I was on the shop floor. I knew and I think if I know, everybody knew, anyone who says they didn’t, they’re lying,” he adds. He says he did not know the severity of the allegations.
Harrods’ current owners said they were “utterly appalled” by the harrowing allegations and that Fayed’s former employees had been failed. The owners then apologised over the failings.
In a statement, Harrods said: “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 Al 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 Al Fayed, it has been our priority to settle claims in the quickest way possible, avoiding lengthy legal proceedings for the women involved.
“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.”
Bruce Drummond and Dean Armstrong KC are part of a group of lawyers now preparing new legal claims against Harrods.
“Any place of work has a duty to ensure the safety of its employees. When you take that to a classic place like Harrods, without question, the company failed these ladies,” Mr Drummond says.
“We are in possession of material to suggest that the extent of the knowledge of those who were significant in Harrods did rather make it, effectively, at least an acquiescence to what was going on,” adds Mr Armstrong.
Some of the women the BBC spoke to were not happy with Al Fayed’s portrayal in Netflix’s The Crown, with Sophia saying: “It just makes him look sort of funny and gregarious and he could turn that on. But he wasn’t. He was vile. And that makes me angry, people shouldn’t remember him like that. It’s not how he was. It’s not fair that he got he got to die with the legacy he did,” Gemma adds.
Al Fayed: Predator at Harrods is on BBC Two at 9pm tonight (Thursday) and is available on BBC iPlayer now. All five episodes of World of Secrets: Al Fayed, Predator at Harrods are available on BBC Sounds. This is season four, from the BBC World Service, of the BBC’s global investigations podcast.
