Lawyers representing the former Harrods employees who claim they were raped and sexually assaulted by late billionaire Mohamed Al Fayed have described him as ‘a monster’ as they laid bare today his ‘vast web of abuse’.
It comes as multiple women came forward to claim the late Egyptian businessman sexually abused them in the Knightsbridge store and at his luxury properties in the UK and abroad.
So horrific was the alleged abuse suffered at the hands of Al Fayed, lawyers representing his victims have compared him to sexual predators Jimmy Savile and Jeffrey Epstein.
Harrods was plagued by a ‘toxic’ culture under Al Fayed’s time in charge, as the wealthy businessman ‘preyed upon… his own employees for his own sexual gratification’ and tried to ‘silence’ his vulnerable victims.
Barrister Bruce Drummond told a press conference: ‘This is one of the worse cases of sexual exploitation that I and perhaps the world has ever seen.
‘It was horrific, just horrific. It’s horrific because of the acts carried out on these women and girls.
‘It was horrific because it was the system that procured them, enabling the abuse of these young women and its horrific, because the effect this sexual abuse and of Harrods’ institutional betrayal have had on our clients.’
Barrister Dean Armstrong KC told the press conference the case of Mohammed Al Fayed ‘combines some of the most horrific elements of the cases involving Jimmy Savile, Jeffrey Epstein and Harvey Weinstein’.
He said: ‘I have many years of practice… I have never seen a case as horrific as this.
‘This case combines some of the most horrific elements of the cases involving Jimmy Savile, Jeffrey Epstein and Harvey Weinstein.
‘Savile because in this case, as in that, the institution, we say, knew about the behaviour.
‘Epstein because in that case, as in this, there was a procurement system in place to source the women and girls – as you know there are some very young victims.
‘And Weinstein, because it was a person at the very top of the organisation who was abusing his power.
‘We will say plainly, Mohammed Al Fayed was a monster.’
One of Mohamed Al Fayed’s alleged victims, who went by the name Natacha, told the press conference the billionaire businessman was ‘highly manipulative’.
In chilling testimony at the press conference. Natacha described Harrods as like walking ‘into a lion’s den’ and said Al Fayed ‘preyed on the most vulnerable’.
Branding Al Fayed a ‘sick predator’, she said: ‘Mohamed was clever and highly manipulative.
‘He behaved like a father figure, often saying “call me papa”, often talking about his family and children, as if to make me feel safe around him.’
She continued: ‘Unbeknownst to me, I had walked into a lion’s den, a layer of cover-ups, deceit, lies, manipulation, humiliation, and gross sexual misconduct.
‘The chairman preyed on the most vulnerable, those of us who needed to pay the rent and some of us who didn’t have parents to protect them.’
Mr Armstrong KC said it is time Harrods ‘took responsibility’ and ‘set matters right’.
He told the press conference: ‘We are here to say publicly and to the world, or to Harrods in front of the world, that it is time that they took responsibility, and it is time that they set matters right, and that is something they should do as soon as possible.
‘They need to face up to accept the responsibility, that they have full culpability for the abuse that these women suffered.
‘Today, we are going to set out our claim and how our claim shows an abject failure of corporate responsibility and a failure to provide a safe system of work.’
During the press conference, barrister Maria Mulla told how female workers were tormented and threatened by the billionaire alleged sex pest.
Women would often have to ‘speak in some kind of code’ and if female workers ever complained they would ‘receive threats along the lines of you will never work in London again’, the barrister said as she laid bare the horrifying accusations.
Describing the threats, Ms Mulla said staff were told ‘I know where you and your family live’ by security officials allegedly working for Al Fayed.
‘Often they would be demoted and false allegations made about them so they would have no choice but to leave Harrods,’ she added.
‘Threats were also made about police action by the security team.’
One woman who had the ‘courage and bravery’ to report her sexual assault in a written complaint was threatened hours later.
‘One woman we rep was sexually assaulted and she had the bravery and courage to raise this in a formal written complaint to Harrods.
‘On the same day the head of security, John Macnamara said, ‘you are a girl alone in London, someone could jump out the bushes at you or you could have a sudden accident,’ Ms Mulla said.
‘She of course did what she was told because she was absolutely petrified.’
Another woman tried to resign to ‘get away from it’, Ms Mulla added, claiming the victim had also been threatened.
US lawyer Gloria Allred told the press conference Harrods was a ‘toxic, unsafe and abusive environment’ under the chairmanship of Mohammed Al Fayed.
She said: ‘The allegations against Mohammed Al Fayed include serial rape, attempted rape, sexual battery, and sexual abuse of minors. They involved doctors administering invasive gynaecological exams as a condition of employment for some of the employees who were targeted by Mohammed Al Fayed for sexual abuse.
‘The allegations also include the unauthorised disclosure to Mohammed Al Fayed of the examination results of employees he targeted for sexual abuse.
‘The allegations involve cover-ups, threats and a quarter of a century of sexual abuse by Mohammed Al Fayed after he purchased Harrods and became its chairman.
‘Harrods is often referred to as the most beautiful store in the world… many women dreamed of working there, to be associated with this prestigious corporation and to further their careers.
‘However, underneath the Harrods glitz and glamour was a toxic, unsafe and abusive environment.’
This is a developing story.