A group of 50 survivors of alleged sexual abuse by Harrods’ former owner Mohamed Al Fayed are calling for “meaningful consequences” for those who they claim facilitated and ignored the abuse.
“If they think the money is the important factor they are so far off the mark,” said Jen Mills, a member of the Justice for Fayed and Harrods Survivors group. They claim there are “dozens of individuals who must be held to account”, from a range of eras.
The campaign group, which includes some of those who took part in the redress scheme and others who did not, wants Harrods to release the findings of an internal investigation into what staff knew.
The group, which is being supported by actor Richard Gere, Dame Vera Baird DBC KC, the former victims commissioner for England and Wales, and women’s rights advocates Gloria Allred and Gina Martin, also wants more regulation of HR professionals overseeing the hiring of new workers and an explanation of why the Metropolitan police and General Medical Council did not investigate women’s complaints at the time.
“It’s not just about what happened to us, it’s about making sure that this stops and that this doesn’t get to continue to the generations coming through,” says Mills, who started working for Al Fayed at Harrods as a 16-year-old.
Harrods last month closed a compensation scheme set up after dozens of women came forward with allegations of abuse by the late entrepreneur going back as far as 1977 after the broadcast last year of the BBC documentary Al Fayed: Predator at Harrods.
A spokesperson for Harrods said: “We recognise differing views, however Harrods has always stated that the scheme represents only one form of redress available to survivors. It was designed to provide resolution without the need for a protracted legal process and to ensure all reasonable legal fees could be paid and the full compensation award would go to the individual. Our commitment to redress does not end with the application deadline.”
More than 220 people engaged with the redress scheme and payments have already been made to 70 people with further claims being processed.
However, some who suffered alleged abuse have not taken part in the scheme for various reasons including having previously accepted compensation.
Mills is part of a separate group claim led by the legal firm KP Law. She said even if she had been able to participate in the main redress scheme she would have been unhappy about engaging with a scheme run by the company which still employs people who have remained since the days of Al Fayed.
“They are marking their own homework,” Mills said.
“Young people in a corporate environment are fresh meat and we were just thrown to the wolves,” said fellow campaigner Lindsay Mason, who was offered a job by the department store aged 20, on the day she was spotted on the street in central London by a recruitment agent.
The group are to meet the prime minister, Keir Starmer, and want a committee of MPs to help push forward an investigation into what happened at Harrods and why many of those involved have yet to be prosecuted. Al Fayed died in 2023 aged 94.
“We felt at the time we had nowhere to go. We had nowhere to turn.,” said Mills, who claims Al Fayed was able to use his money and influence to stave off justice for complainants.
“We want there to be reform so that companies can’t hide behind this kind of power and wealth any more.”
The spokesperson for Harrods said: “Harrods recognises the remarkable bravery of survivors who come forward and continue to shed further light on this dark chapter to our history. The intention of the Harrods redress scheme has been to support survivors of the despicable sexual abuse perpetrated by Fayed, for which we have accepted vicarious liability and utterly condemn. We stand by the progress made through this scheme, and our commitment to these survivors continues.”
