Forty new allegations against Mohamed Al Fayed and others including claims of rape and sexual assault are being investigated by Met Police after BBC documentary

Police today announced they are investigating 40 new allegations against Mohamed Al Fayed and others since the BBC documentary was broadcast.

The Met said they have been contacted by numerous people since the investigation into the former Harrods and Fulham FC owner was published last month.

The 40 new charges relate to 40 alleged victims and add to those that police were aware of before the BBC investigation and documentary, Scotland Yard said.

Before the recent media coverage, 21 allegations were made against the late billionaire, resulting in the recording of crimes involving 21 separate women between 2005 and 2023.

The crimes are said to have taken place between 1979 and 2013. Four of the reports involved allegations of rape, 16 of sexual assault and one related to human trafficking, the Met said.

The Crown Prosecution Service was contacted by Scotland Yard five times between 2005 and 2023, the force said, but no further action was taken against Mr Al Fayed.

The force said that while it would not be possible to initiate criminal proceedings against Mr Al Fayed – who died last year at the age of 94 – it would “continue to investigate whether other individuals could be prosecuted for criminal offences’.

Met Commander Stephen Clayman said: “Since the broadcast of the documentary and our recent appeal, detectives have received numerous pieces of information, mainly relating to the activities of Mohamed Al Fayed, but some relating to the actions of others.

‘This has led to us recording 40 new allegations, involving 40 victim survivors, relating to crimes such as sexual assault and rape between 1979 and 2013. These are in addition to the allegations we received prior to the broadcast. were informed.

‘I recognize the courage it will have taken for people to take the step to talk to us about their experiences and I would like to reassure anyone who has not yet made contact that we have specially trained detectives who will listen to you and support you .

‘All these reports will need to be formally recorded and assessed to see if there are any allegations of criminality that can be pursued. This will take some time, but we will ensure that those who contact us are kept informed of progress.

‘We also continue to try to contact lawyers representing people who have come to them directly to ensure they are aware of our request to speak to the police so that any crimes can be recorded and the relevant support can be provided.

‘While the majority of the information we have received relates to Al Fayed’s ownership of Harrods, we are contacting representatives of other organizations linked to Al Fayed to ensure that anyone affected is identified and given the opportunity gets to speak to us.

An avalanche of rape and assault claims began last month with a BBC documentary that at least 20 women who had worked at Harrods in London said they had been raped or abused by the flamboyant Egyptian tycoon who bought the iconic department store in 1985 .

Since then, a further 65 women have approached the broadcaster, with similar claims dating back to 1977, before he bought Harrods.

It suggests that Al Fayed’s reign of sexual terror, first reported in the 1990s but which saw police repeatedly fail to prosecute, could have been even longer and broader than feared.

While he died five years ago at the age of 83, lawyers are now acting for many victims, many more than those who spoke to the BBC, in a quest for compensation and some form of justice.

Harrods told the BBC yesterday: ‘Since the documentary aired there have been more than 200 individuals now in the Harrods process to settle claims directly with the company.’

Of the 65 new ‘victims’ who approached the BBC in the past three weeks, 37 worked for Harrods.

Another 28 did not, saying he launched vicious sexual attacks on them under the guise of hiring them to join his domestic staff, simply during a vague “interview,” or even against a member of the BBC staff.

The first accusation, dating from 1977, comes from a woman named Sheenagh, 72, who waived her anonymity to tell journalists that the documentary made her wonder: “Was I the one to start?”

At the time, she was working in a bank in Dubai, while her husband worked in construction. The emirate was still in its infancy at the time, but Al Fayed was there too and made his fortune by winning lucrative contracts, including for the construction of the port.

According to Sheenagh, the tycoon, then in his early 40s, was one of her clients at the bank – and after repeatedly engaging her in conversation, he invited her to a meeting ‘about a job’ at his nearby office.

As she sat across from him at a desk, she claimed, he walked up behind her and continued, “As I turned around, hands came over my shoulders. His hands were everywhere.”

Sheenagh said she fled to the door to escape his assault, only succeeding after she punched him.

She claimed she told her: ‘You might regret it’ – and then proceeded to stalk her.

Sheenagh claimed there were 20 incidents of stalking, at work, on the street, at her social club and in a supermarket, during which he repeated his sinister threat and even groped her again on occasion.

It was only when she heard he had left Dubai that she breathed calmly – but she waited until 2015, when her husband was virtually on his deathbed, to finally tell him what had happened, saying: ‘It was the only secret I had ever hidden from him. ‘.

She added that she regretted not telling authorities before Al Fayed’s death.

Another alleged victim from outside Harrods, who was given the pseudonym Margot by the BBC, said she saw an advert Al Fayed placed in The Lady magazine in 1985 – and at the age of 19 applied for a job as a nanny and governess. A photo was requested.

But she was surprised that her interview ended with her being asked “if I had a boyfriend or ever had a boyfriend.” The interviewer ‘looked relieved’ when she said she had never done that.

Margot said she was then given the job – at her mother’s insistence during a month-long trial period – and driven in a chauffeured limousine to Al Fayed’s country home, Barrow Green Court in Oxted.

Once inside, she was summoned via internal telephone from her small, dark bedroom, but almost always found herself alone with Al Fayed, alternately in the indoor pool, in the gardens or in the study, and was then sexually assaulted.

She said he also eventually raped her in her bed at night, before demanding to leave – despite being offered a house – and after being “held against my will for several days”, she finally got out, with the warning to keep her mouth shut.

“He didn’t need a babysitter,” Margot said. ‘I was recruited as a potential sex partner or toy.’

Other women told the BBC they were similarly abused after being wrongly hired as nannies, chefs or housemaids. A florist and even a BBC make-up artist preparing Al Fayed for an interview have also made accusations.