Mohamed Al-Fayed ‘groped 19-year-old personal assistant in front of his three children at country mansion after his wife left the room’ – as CPS reveals the late Harrods owner escaped sex abuse charges twice
A former personal assistant to Mohamed Al-Fayed has accused the disgraced businessman of groping her in front of his three children when she was just 19.
Catherine first met the owner of Harrods in 1990 during a job interview for the position in his office at the luxury department store and was immediately hired.
She thought she had found her ‘dream job’, but it soon turned into a nightmare. After just a few months, she was invited to Al-Fayed’s country house in Oxted, Surrey.
But while she was there, Catherine claimed he “put his hand up my skirt and groped me” while three of his children were in the room.
Catherine, now in her early 50s, is still haunted by her harrowing experience with “monster” Al-Fayed, joining dozens of other women who have accused the late billionaire of sexual assault and, in some cases, rape.
Although Al-Fayed has not appeared in court since his death last year at the age of 94, it has emerged that prosecutors twice failed to charge him while he was alive.
Mohamed Al Fayed, who died last year at the age of 94, is accused of raping and assaulting multiple women during his time as owner of Harrods from 1985 to 2010
The late former boss of Harrods is accused of dozens of sexual assaults by at least 20 women who worked at the prestigious Knightsbridge department store
A former personal assistant to Al-Fayed has accused the disgraced businessman of groping her in front of his three children at his Surrey mansion (pictured) when she was just 19.
Al-Fayed acquired Harrods from House of Frasier in 1985 for £615 million and remained the owner until 2010, when he sold the department store to Qatar Holdings for £1.5 billion.
Catherine said that in 1990, when she was 19 years old, she was hired as his personal assistant at the department store.
Within four or five months of working there, she was invited to Al-Fayed’s country house in Oxted to help his daughter Camilla with piano lessons.
She told The Sunday Telegraph: ‘When I got there he introduced me to his children and his wife. He made you feel like if you worked for him you were like family.’
Catherine said he took her to a large playroom that contained a piano and a ball pit for children.
“All of a sudden he picked me up, put his hand under my skirt and groped me, and threw me in,” she said. “I remember being under the water and coming up and they were all laughing at me.”
Catherine recalls that the assault took place in the presence of Al-Fayed’s three children and just after his wife had left the room.
Later that night he tried to attack her again, but luckily she was able to fight him off before barricading her room with a chest of drawers, Catherine said.
Just a few months after the alleged incident, Catherine was fired from her job after pushing Al-Fayed away when he “tried to get into my blouse.”
Late billionaire Mohamed Al-Fayed has been described as ‘a monster’ amid claims he raped multiple women who worked for him at Harrods
Al Fayed unveils a monument to his son Dodi and Britain’s Princess Diana of Wales at Harrods in London in 2005
Lawyers representing women who allege they were sexually abused by Al Fayed say they have received “more than 150 new inquiries” since a damning BBC documentary aired earlier this week.
Five women claim they were raped by Al Fayed, while dozens of others claim they were sexually abused.
The new investigations involve a “mix of survivors and individuals with evidence about Al Fayed”.
According to The Sunday Times, the Public Prosecution Service has admitted receiving evidence from police about Al-Fayed’s alleged crimes, but has decided not to press charges against him.
A CPS spokeswoman told the newspaper: ‘We have reviewed evidence submitted by police in 2009 and 2015.
‘To institute a prosecution, the Public Prosecution Service must be certain that there is a real chance of a conviction.
“In any event, our prosecutors carefully examined the evidence and concluded that this was not the case.”
Lawyer Bruce Drummond, part of the legal team representing 37 alleged victims in a civil case against Harrods, told BBC Radio 4 on Saturday: “This is the worst case of corporate sexual exploitation of young women that I have ever seen, and I don’t think the world has ever seen anything as bad.”
Al Fayed is accused of raping five women during his 25-year tenure at the luxury retailer (pictured), while at least 15 other women say they were sexually abused by him
It is said that some of Fayed’s attacks took place at his Park Lane estate in London
Mr Drummond added that his legal team is working “very closely” with Gloria Allred, who is seen in the US as a stalwart advocate on women’s rights issues, as the attacks are also said to have taken place in America.
He said some survivors came from Malaysia, Dubai, Canada and France. The Ritz Hotel in Paris, which Al Fayed once owned, was also the scene of alleged attacks.
Mr Drummond said on the programme: ‘It really is a global issue, it’s not just the UK. It happened all over the world.’
Harrods said in a statement earlier this week: ‘We are deeply shocked by the allegations of abuse made by Mohamed al Fayed.
‘These were the actions of an individual who sought to abuse his power wherever he operated. We condemn these actions in the strongest possible terms.
‘We also recognize that as a company we have failed our employees who were victims of this act during this time and for that we offer our sincere apologies.
‘The Harrods of today is a very different organisation to the one Fayed owned and led between 1985 and 2010. It is an organisation that puts the wellbeing of its employees at the heart of everything we do.’
Harrods added that it was a “priority” to resolve the claims as “new information came to light in 2023 regarding historical allegations of sexual abuse by Fayed”.
In response to that statement, Mr Drummond said it was “absolutely inconceivable” that Harrods’ current owners, the State of Qatar, could not have been aware of any “outstanding claims or obligations” to the company at the time they bought it in 2010.
He added: ‘When you buy a company, you also take over the responsibilities of that company.’