BOMBSHELL allegations surrounding Mohamed Al Fayed gripped the nation this week as the former Harrods boss was accused of being a “serial rapist”.
The Egyptian billionaire, who died last year, is facing accusations he raped and sexually assaulted more than 20 female employees.
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The women, who worked at Harrods from the late 1980s to 2000s, claim assaults were carried out at the company’s offices, in Fayed’s London apartment, or on foreign trips often in Paris at the Ritz hotel.
The new documentary – called Al Fayed: Predator at Harrods – hears claims that the store not only failed to intervene but also helped cover up allegations against Al Fayed.
Here we take a look at the seven biggest bombshells….
Royal warning
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The late Queen was warned Mohamed Al Fayed was a “dirty old man” with a reputation as a “salacious attacker of women”, a former royal protection head has claimed.
Her Majesty was reportedly told about Al Fayed by Scotland Yard’s Dai Davies, before the majority of his allegations surfaced this week.
Davies said he had warned Queen Elizabeth about Mr Al Fayed’s reputation in the 1990s, due to his association with the late Princess Diana.
He told the Daily Mail: “He had a salacious reputation. There were concerns about his persona as a dirty old man.
“There were allegations I was aware of that Al Fayed had sexually assaulted women then paid them off. I had no compunction in warning the Queen about this individual.
“I advised the Queen, through Lord Fellowes (her private secretary), not to let the boys (Prince William and Prince Harry) go away on holiday with him because of the allegations I was aware of – that he was a salacious attacker of women.
“(Fellowes) said to me: ‘The Palace is aware, Mr Davies.’”
Cops ‘wiped evidence’
More than 20 former workers have accused Al Fayed, whose son Dodi was killed in a car crash alongside girlfriend Princess Diana, of sex abuse.
The new BBC documentary claims Al Fayed deployed an army of aides to silence his alleged victims and used his power and wealth to evade justice.
He allegedly deployed Harrods staff, a former senior Met Police officer, lawyers and PR agents to threaten his victims who he spied on using hidden cameras and bugging equipment.
One woman named Ellie was 15 when she told police in 2008 Al Fayed groped and tried to kiss her in Harrods.
She claims the case was dropped after details were leaked by the Met Police who allegedly wiped evidence from her phone.
Al Fayed allegedly used head of security John Macnamara to threaten women who made sex claims.
The former Met Police chief superintendent was described as a “nasty piece of work” by an ex-Harrods colleague who said “He would use his power as an ex-copper. I know Macnamara knocked on someone’s door and threatened a girl.”
It is understood three women came forward to the Met in 2018, 2021 and 2023, but the CPS was never asked to consider charges.
Paris ‘sex abuse’ mansion
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Al Fayed has also been accused of using a royal mansion featured in The Crown to rape and sexually assault victims.
Multiple women have even claimed that the billionaire raped or sexually assaulted them at “Villa Windsor” in Paris’s Bois de Boulogne.
The lavish 14-room mansion was the home of post-abdication King Edward VIII and his wife Wallis Simpson and recently featured on The Crown’s third season.
One woman named Gemma – who worked as one of his personal assistants between 2007 and 2009 – has claimed Al Fayed raped her at the historic Parisian villa.
Gemma described waking up to find him attempting to get into bed with her, adding: “I told him, ‘No, I don’t want you to'”.
She added: “I was kind of face down on the bed and he just pressed himself on me.”
Speaking to the BBC, Sophia, who worked as his personal assistant from 1988 to 1991, said “vile” Al Fayed tried to rape her more than once with one of those attempts taking place at the Villa Windsor.
‘Forced’ health checks
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Al Fayed also allegedly forced staff to take sexual health tests before he sexually assaulted them.
Women recruited in their teens and early twenties to work as personal assistants in Al Fayed’s private office claimed that they were required by Wendy Snell, Harrods’s corporate GP, to undertake medicals that included intimate examinations.
Former staff claimed that the medical checkups were advertised as “an extra perk of the job” and because Al Fayed’s son Dodi “had a low immune system”.
However, they later made the harrowing discovery that it was preparing them for sexual abuse by Al Fayed, who was obsessed with hygiene.
One woman claimed she had a smear test and a doctor checked her ovaries.
“My results were sent directly to the chairman so quickly that by the time I had got back to my desk, he knew the results,” she alleged.
Harrods ‘cover up’
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The new BBC documentary heard claims that the store not only failed to intervene but also helped cover up allegations against the Egyptian billionaire.
Bruce Drummond, a barrister from a legal team representing a number of the women, said: “The spider’s web of corruption and abuse in this company was unbelievable and very dark.”
However, Harrods’ current owners said they were “utterly appalled” by the allegations, stressing the company today is “very different”.
A Harrods human resources manager between 1990 and 1994 said she was ordered by Al Fayed’s senior assistant to find attractive young sales assistants he had seen in the store and send them to his office.
Tony Leeming, a department manager, admitted: “It was well known and everyone knew about it and it was a joke.”
Of the 13 women the BBC spoke to, four say Al Fayed raped them, and all said they felt intimidated by a culture of fear at Harrods.
Over 100 victims
Mohamed Al Fayed’s alleged abuse of women “combined the worst of Jimmy Savile, Jeffrey Epstein and Harvey Weinstein“, a lawyer has said.
But there are fears the total number of victims could exceed more than 100 as Dean Armstrong KC, representing the alleged victims, encouraged other potential victims to come forward today.
Speaking at a press conference, the lawyer described the former Harrods chairman as a “monster”.
Mr Drummond KC added: “This is one of the worst cases of corporate sexual exploitation that certainly I, and perhaps the world has ever seen.
“It was absolutely horrific and I can’t stress that word enough.”
Forced to wash with Dettol
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Gemma, who worked for Al Fayed as a personal assistant between 2007 and 2009, recounted the scary moment Al Fayed allegedly raped her.
She said: “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.”
She says after the Harrods tycoon raped her she cried, while he got up and told her aggressively to wash herself with Dettol.
“Obviously he wanted me to erase any trace of him being anywhere near me,” she explains.
Another woman described 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.”
She added: “I think Mohamed Al Fayed is a rapist – he is a serial rapist.”