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A new sex assault claim has been made against Mohamed Al Fayed after an investigation into the former Harrods owner was published.
The woman believes police nearly arrested him over her allegations just days before he died in August 2023, she told the BBC. More than 20 female former employees have spoken to the broadcaster as part of a special investigation, coming forward with allegations of assault and physical violence, with incidents said to have happened in London, Paris, St Tropez and Abu Dhabi.
Five women alleged they had been raped by Fayed, who died last year at the age of 94. The BBC has alleged that Harrods not only failed to intervene, but helped cover up the allegations of abuse.
At a press conference on Friday, a legal team involved in the investigation is expected to share more details about a claim against the luxury department store for allegedly failing to provide a safe system of work for its employees.
After the publication of the investigation on Thursday, a woman who the BBC is calling Melanie came forward to say she had been subjected to a “sickening” sexual assault by the Egyptian billionaire.
The woman worked at Harrods prior to 2010, and met Fayed at work meetings on two occasions, before being summoned to his apartment, it was reported.
Melanie, who described the businessman as a “sleazebag” and “slimy”, said: “He sat down next to me… He had asked that I return a couple of weeks later to stay at the apartments the night before the Harrods sale.
“And he would not really let me leave until I agreed to that. As I stood to leave, that’s when he put his hands on my breast and said some pretty disgusting things. And I was in complete shock. I just turned around and walked out.”
Melanie decided to go to the police in 2023, and said she was later told Scotland Yard planned to arrest Fayed that year. But he was too unwell to be questioned, and died in August 2023, the BBC reported.
Another woman who said Fayed raped her when she was a teenager branded him a “monster, a sexual predator with no moral compass whatsoever”, who treated Harrods staff as his “playthings”. She added: “We were all so scared. He actively cultivated fear. If he said ‘jump’, employees would ask ‘how high?’.”
Bruce Drummond, who works for a firm representing some of the affected women, said: “The spider’s web of corruption and abuse in this company was unbelievable and very dark.”
Following the new allegation, Harrods’ current owners said they stood by a statement issued on Thursday which said they were “utterly appalled” by the allegations of abuse.
It said Fayed was “intent on abusing his power wherever he operated” and accepted that it had “failed” employees in their lack of response.
The department store has also set up a page on its website inviting former employees to come forward if they have allegations.
Fayed was born in the Egyptian city of Alexandria and came to London in the 1960s and set about building a business empire.
He took control of Harrods in 1985 and later expanded his business interests to include the Paris Ritz and Fulham Football Club.
The tycoon was rarely out of the newspapers, with his most public attack on the House of Windsor and the Establishment over the death of his son and heir Dodi alongside Diana, Princess of Wales in the world’s most famous car crash.
Fayed had previously been accused of sexually assaulting and groping multiple women, but a 2015 police investigation did not lead to any charges.
The statement from Harrods added: “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.
“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.”
