'I tried to snare Mohamed Al Fayed for his predatory sex crimes - but powerful people protected him'

Billionaire 'sex predator' Mohamed Al Fayed could have faced justice before he died if a police probe had taken place in 2012, writes Mark Williams-Thomas, the ex-cop who exposed Jimmy Savile

I did everything I could to bring Mohamed Al Fayed to justice for his predatory sex crimes, which took place over decades.

In 2015, I became aware of five different victims, including three who were working closely with me and were willing to testify. Officers from the Metropolitan Police held lengthy meetings with myself and the women, including one aged 16 and one 18 when Al-Fayed attacked them.

Detectives believed the victims and were really keen to prosecute. But after about five months the Crown Prosecution Service declared there was to be no action against Al Fayed. The women were completely failed by the system, and they were not the only ones.

I was told by an official source that members of the British establishment knew Al Fayed attacked a girl on a boat in the 1990s. She was too scared to press charges, but after Al-Fayed applied for British citizenship, her well-connected father told government officials about the attack. He was told Al-Fayed would never get British citizenship. He never did.

I now believe that had my investigation and the police probe taken place in 2012, shortly after I helped unmask Jimmy Savile as a paedophile, the CPS would have gone ahead with the prosecution. But by 2016, the tide had turned following a number of embarrassing acquittals in high-profile cases.

Al-Fayed also had immense wealth and power and a network of people around him who helped keep his criminality under wraps. They included PR guru Max Clifford, also a sex offender. It chilled me to the bone listening to a tape of Clifford, who died in jail, boasting about protecting Al Fayed, who he called “a randy old sod”.

I remain very disappointed that I was unable to help bring this prolific predator to justice, but I’m glad that a TV documentary has finally managed to unmask the real Mohamed Al-Fayed.

I have no doubt he has many more victims and hope they will now feel able to come forward and tell their stories, so that the full truth and details of Al Fayed’s depravity can be revealed.