Former Harrods staff accuse brother of Mohamed Al Fayed of sexual assault

The Guardian

07-02-2025

The surviving brother of the former Harrods boss Mohamed Al Fayed has been accused of sexual assault by three former Harrods employees, who claim he assaulted them while they were working for the department store.
Three women told the BBC they were sexually assaulted by Ali Fayed, 81, in the 1990s when he and his brothers, Mohamed and Salah, owned and ran Harrods. The women said the alleged abuse happened after they were abused or harassed by Mohamed, his older brother.
A spokesperson for Ali Fayed, who lives in the US, said the businessman 'unequivocally denies any and all the allegations of wrongdoing', that 'the incidents simply never took place' and that he would 'not be scapegoated'.
The women, who said they did not feel able to speak out at the time, told the broadcaster that the alleged sexual assaults happened in London, Scotland, Switzerland and the US.
One of the women, identified as Frances by the BBC, said Ali Fayed had tried to kiss her in his office, before 'groping' and 'molesting' her. She said Ali Fayed also sexually assaulted her in 1992 when she flew to Connecticut to discuss interior design plans with his wife, and when she visited Balnagown in the Scottish Highlands.
The woman said she was staying in a guest room at the family's house when Ali Fayed told her to get changed for dinner. When she emerged from the bathroom in her underwear, he had entered the room, she said.
Ali Fayed got her on the bed and tried to get on top of her, she said, with the alleged attack only stopping when one of his children called out for him. Afterwards, she sat 'frozen' on the bed, she said.
A spokesperson for Ali Fayed said the businessman was 'not a perpetrator' and would 'robustly defend himself against these unsubstantiated claims'.
A second woman, identified as Amy by the BBC, said Ali Fayed 'groped' her on a trip to a swimming pool in Switzerland. 'He pulled me in under the water, and groped and fondled me, making me feel very, very uncomfortable – very much trapped,' she told the broadcaster. 'I was terrified, thinking, how am I going to get out of this?'
The third woman, identified as Laura by the BBC, said she was subjected to a serious sexual assault at Ali Fayed's apartment that left her 'numbed with fear'.
Laura had been working directly for Mohamed Al Fayed in Harrods' HR department and told the BBC his sexual harassment was regular and had escalated to two serious sexual assaults.
The woman said Mohamed Al Fayed sent her to their office building in Park Lane one evening, but when she arrived she was not asked to work and instead sent through to Ali Fayed's apartment. She said Ali Fayed told her they would be having dinner, then gave her a bottle of wine from the year when she was born and a necklace.
She said he told her to go into the bedroom, where she was subjected to a serious sexual assault. She said she felt 'numbed with fear' and had to do whatever she was told in order to 'get out of there', adding: 'Afterwards he just told me I could go.'
Ali Fayed's spokesperson said he 'unequivocally denies any and all allegations of wrongdoing'.
According to police, 111 women have now made allegations against Mohamed Al Fayed. Complaints against the Metropolitan police over its handling of allegations will be investigated by the force itself under the direction of a watchdog.
The Met is reviewing a total of 21 allegations that were made before Al Fayed died in 2023, and referred two of these to the Independent Office for Police Conduct in November.
The three women making allegations against Ali Fayed are pursuing civil legal action against Harrods through the Justice for Harrods Survivors group, which represents a number of alleged victims of Al Fayed.
A spokesperson for the group said: 'It was clear from the very first days of our work on this case that other individuals beyond Mohamed Al Fayed were alleged to have been involved in the abuse of women and the concealment of their experiences.'
Harrods told the BBC in a statement that the new claims pointed to the 'breadth of abuse' by Mohamed Al Fayed and 'raise serious allegations' against his brother. 'We could not possibly speak on behalf of any individual who can, and should, respond to these allegations directly,' it added.