11:40 PM
Friday, September 20, 2024
Written by: Mahmoud Abdel Rahman
In a BBC documentary and podcast titled “Al Fayed Lurking in Harrods”, the network published allegations from five women who claimed they were raped by the former Harrods boss, during their time working at the luxury London department store.
The BBC said in the documentary that it had heard testimonies from more than 20 former employees who alleged that the billionaire, who died last year at the age of 94, had sexually assaulted them, including in cases of rape.
The documentary claimed to have gathered evidence showing that Harrods under Al Fayed’s ownership not only failed to help victims, but helped cover up allegations of sexual assault, with Harrods’ current owners expressing shock at the allegations.
For his part, lawyer Bruce Drummond, who represents some of the affected women, alleged that there was a vast and unconscionable network of corruption and abuse within the company, which was run in complete secrecy.
One woman alleged that Al-Fayed raped her in his Park Lane flat in London, saying she did not give consent and just wanted it to end, while another woman claimed that she was a teenager when Al-Fayed raped her in Mayfair, and alleged that Mohamed Al-Fayed had no moral compass at all.
The woman continued that all the workers in Harrods were like toys to Al-Fayed, saying: “We were all very scared. He put fear in our hearts. If he said jump, the employees would ask from how high.”
Sofia, who worked as Fayed’s personal assistant from 1988 to 1991, says he was a slut and tried to rape her more than once, saying: “It makes me angry. People shouldn’t remember him like that. He wasn’t like that.”
According to the documentary, former employees, both male and female, accused the Harrods owner of regularly touring the store’s vast sales floors, during which he would select young female assistants he found attractive, who would then be promoted to work in his offices on the top floor.
They alleged that the attacks took place in Harrods offices, in Al Fayed’s London apartment, or during trips abroad, most often in Paris at the Ritz Hotel, which Al Fayed owned, or at the nearby Villa Windsor Hotel, saying: “What was happening in Harrods was clear and obvious.”
One woman claims: “We were all watching each other come through that door and thinking, ‘Poor girl, it’s your turn today.’ We felt absolutely powerless to stop him.”
The BBC said that it spoke to 13 women who claimed that Al-Fayed sexually assaulted them at 60 Park Lane. Sofia, who claims that she was sexually assaulted, describes the whole situation as an unavoidable nightmare.
“I couldn’t leave. I didn’t have a family home to go back to, I had rent to pay. I knew I had to go through this and I didn’t want to. It was horrible and my head was in a mess,” Sophia says. Gemma, who worked as one of Al Fayed’s personal assistants between 2007 and 2009, claims that Mohamed Al Fayed’s behaviour was most terrifying on business trips abroad.
The personal assistant added that the matter culminated when she was raped inside the Windsor Villa in the Bois de Boulogne in Paris, the former home of King Edward VIII and his wife Wallis Simpson who lived there after his abdication.
“She woke up in her bedroom in a panic. Al-Fayed was next to her bed wearing only a silk dress. He tried to climb into the bed next to her,” she continued, noting that she assured him that she did not want him to do this, but he continued to try to get into the bed. “At that point, he was kind of on top of me and I couldn’t move anywhere. I was kind of flat on the bed and he was pressing himself into me.”
Tony Leeming, a department manager at Harrods from 1994 to 2004, claims: “I was aware of the abuse of women when I worked there.”
“It wasn’t a secret,” Leeming recalls, saying he didn’t know about the more serious allegations of assault or rape, adding, “I think as long as I knew, everyone knew and anyone who says they didn’t know is lying, I’m sorry.”
“We were aware that he had this intense interest in young girls,” says Eamonn Coyle, who joined Harrods in 1979 as a store detective and became deputy security manager from 1989-95.
According to the documentary, a number of women claimed that when they began working directly with Al-Fayed, they were subjected to medical examinations – including sexual health checks by doctors.
She said these tests were offered to them as an added benefit, but many of them did not see the results even though they were sent to Al Fayed.
“There’s no point in anyone knowing about my sexual health, unless you’re planning to have sex with someone, which I find very scary now,” says Catherine, who was working as an executive assistant in 2005.
A group of women believe that phones in Harrods have been tapped, making them afraid to talk to each other about Al Fayed’s abuse, for fear of being filmed by hidden cameras.
Former deputy head of security, Eamonn Coyle, claims that part of his job was to listen to tapes of recorded calls, explaining that cameras that could record were installed throughout the store, including in the executive suites.