Mohamed Al Fayed accuser says complaint brushed off by manager

Fresh allegations are being made about ex-Harrods boss Mohamed Al Fayed by a former worker who says her line manager “brushed it off” when she complained about inappropriate advances.

The woman, named Catherine, contacted the BBC after reports this week from other women saying they were sexually assaulted by the late billionaire.

Catherine said she was a 21-year-old Harrods employee when she was called into Fayed’s office where he made “uncomfortable” advances including kissing her on the forehead, inviting her to work in his office and saying he was her boyfriend.

Harrods’ current owners said earlier this week they were “utterly appalled” by the allegations and that “victims were failed”.

They said they had sought to settle claims “in the quickest way possible” since “new information came to light” in 2023.

Lawyers for the dozens of female complainants say that it was “inconceivable” Harrods would not have been aware of the allegations, and argue the owners would have done due diligence checks when it bought the business in 2010.

Dean Armstrong KC, one of the barristers representing alleged victims, said they had 37 clients, but that the number of people who had contacted them with claims about Fayed was approaching 150.

In an interview with the BBC on Saturday, he said he was “at a loss” as to what the new information Harrods received in 2023 may have been.

He argued that the new owners – who bought Harrods in 2010 – “either didn’t know [about the allegations] – which I find very difficult to accept – or refused to acknowledge that there was this background of sexual misconduct”.

Lawyers allege Fayed’s assaults occurred around the world – including in the US, Canada, France, Malaysia and Dubai.

“It’s very much a global case, it’s not just the UK. It happened all over the world,” another lawyer, Bruce Drummond, told the BBC.

For Catherine, she says her experience took place in Harrods’ flagship store in London.

When she told her line manager about her incident, it was dismissed – and she regards it as one example of a wider culture of “collusion” at Harrods which enabled Fayed’s behaviour.

“I explained to [my line manager] what happened… and he just completely kind of brushed it off and was kind of like ‘oh you know, that’s just what he’s like’,” she told the BBC’s Radio 4 Today programme.

She had been “in a very junior role” when one weekend she was told to bring store musicians up to Fayed’s office, after which he requested her immediate return.

“So then I went back up and we went into a little room at the back, just him and I,” she said.

Fayed invited her to take a job in his office, she said – an offer she turned down because it was not in her area of expertise.

“He then held my hand and asked if I had a boyfriend and I sort of politely laughed and said yes.

“And he said, ‘No, you don’t have a boyfriend, I’m your boyfriend you don’t need that donkey’ – which was strange and obviously I’m more and more uncomfortable by this point.”

She said Fayed then kissed her on the forehead, told her to think about the job and handed her £300 in cash – which she returned shortly after along with a formal rejection of the post.

“He kissed me on the forehead. I know a lot of people have mentioned this whole thing about this fatherly approach but I have boundaries. It was horrible, and you know, holding my hand, being in very close proximity, was not normal,” she said.

She says she contacted the BBC this week to add to the weight of accusations against Fayed.

More than 20 women told the BBC the businessman sexually assaulted or raped them while they worked at Harrods luxury department store in London.

Mr Armstrong said his legal team was “going to reach a lot more” than they already had given the international nature of the allegations against Fayed.

He said Fayed liked to associate with “what he perceived to be the upper echelons of society” – including celebrities, footballers and politicians – adding: “The scale of this is likely to increase, but the impact of this [on society as a whole] is likely to be much, much bigger.”

Catherine said she felt her experience compared to the rape allegations “feels like absolutely nothing – but I think it’s important in kind of building up that evidence of a pattern of behaviour and culture.”

She condemned the workplace environment at Harrods which she said had allowed such actions to regularly happen – claims that have been rejected by the department store. Harrods was owned by Fayed from 1985 until 2010 and is now under new ownership – which said this week the company operated differently to how it had under Fayed.

Additional reporting by Aleks Phillips.

Catherine told the BBC: “It was kind of known that he behaved in a certain way and preyed upon young women and young women were recruited to work on the shop floor or to work in his office.

“And that seemed to go without any kind of question.”

Her comments have been echoed by other accusers who have said many people in Harrods knew about Fayed’s alleged behaviour. Concerns have also been raised about his conduct at Fulham Football Club, which he used to own.

“I think that there were people at Harrods at the time who were enablers and they are as guilty as Fayed because they were not just passive onlookers. They were actually helping girl after girl into a total nightmare,” Catherine said.

She has called on “individuals” to be identified and “questioned on their collusion”.

“It is essentially grooming as the evidence suggests and they should face justice,” she added.

Catherine’s testimony comes as more women speak out about Fayed’s behaviour. New details have also emerged of failed efforts by police and prosecutors to hold Fayed to account during his life.

The legal team representing many of the women the BBC has spoken to outlined their case against Harrods on Friday.

The store’s new owners have said: “These were the actions of an individual who was intent on abusing his power wherever he operated and we condemn them in the strongest terms.”

“We also acknowledge that during this time his victims were failed and for this we sincerely apologise.”

Mr Armstrong said: “As far as I am concerned, this is a corporate Me Too moment.”

Mr Drummond said: “This is the worst case of corporate sexual exploitation of young women that… probably the world has ever seen.”