Another 65 women claim abuse by former Harrods owner

Scores of fresh sex attack allegations have been made against billionaire Mohamed Al Fayed - dating back almost half a century.

An avalanche of rape and assault claims began last month with a BBC documentary saying at least 20 women who had worked at Harrods in London said they had been raped or molested by the flamboyant Egyptian tycoon who bought the iconic department store in 1985.

But 65 more women have since approached the broadcaster, with similar claims from as long ago as 1977, before he bought Harrods.

It suggests Al Fayed's reign of sexual terror, first reported on in the 1990s, but with police repeatedly failing to prosecute, could have been even longer and wider than already feared.

While he died aged 83 five years ago, lawyers are now acting for many victims, far in excess of those who have spoken to the BBC, in a quest for damages and some form of justice.

Harrods told the BBC yesterday: 'Since the airing of the documentary, so far there are 200-plus individuals who are now in the Harrods process to settle claims directly with the business.'

Of the 65 new 'victims' to approach the BBC over the last three weeks, 37 worked for Harrods.

'Predator' Al-Fayed said: 'Call me papa' 

'Sick predator' Mohamed Al-Fayed told his female staff to call him 'papa', one of his alleged victims has revealed. 

The woman, who went by the name of Natacha, described the billionaire as a 'monster' who was '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.' 

Another 28 did not however, saying he launched vile sex attacks on them under the guise of hiring them to join his domestic staff, simply in the course of a vague 'interview', or even against a member of BBC staff.

The earliest allegation, dated in 1977, has come from a woman called Sheenagh, 72, who waived her anonymity to tell journalists the documentary prompted her to ask herself: 'Was I the start?'

She was in Dubai at the time working in a bank, while her husband worked in building. The emirate was in its modern infancy then - but Al Fayed was also there, making his fortune by winning lucrative contracts including on the construction of the port.

According to Sheenagh, the tycoon, then in his early 40s, was among her customers at the bank - and after repeatedly engaging her in conversation, had invited her to a meeting 'about a job', at his nearby office.

As she sat opposite him at a desk, she claimed, he walked round behind her, continuing: 'As I turned the hands came over my shoulders. His hands were everywhere.'

Sheenagh said she fled to the door to escape his sexual assault, and only managed to do so after slapping him.

She claimed her told her 'You may come to regret that' - and went on to stalk her.

Sheenagh claimed there were 20 stalking incidents, at work, in the street, at her social club, and at a supermarket, at which he repeated his sinister threat and even on occasion groped her again.

Only when she learned he had left Dubai did she breathe easy - but she waited till 2015, when her husband was virtually on his deathbed, to finally tell him what had happened, saying 'It was the only secret I'd ever kept from him'.

She added that she regretted not telling authorities prior to Al Fayed's death.

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Another new victim from beyond Harrods, given the pseudonym Margot, said she saw an advert Al Fayed placed in The Lady magazine in 1985 - and applied, aged 19, for a job as a nanny and governess. A photo was requested.

But she was surprised her interview ended with her being asked 'if I had a boyfriend or if I've ever had a boyfriend'. The interviewer 'looked relieved' when she said she never had.

Margot said she then got the job - at her mother's insistence trying a one month trial - and was driven in a chauffeured limousine into Al Fayed's mansion, Barrow Green Court in Oxted.

Once inside she would be summoned by internal phone from her small dark bedroom, only to almost always find she was alone with Al Fayed, variously at the indoor pool, in the gardens, or study, and then be sexually assaulted.

She said he also finally raped her in her bed at night, before she demanded to leave - despite being offered a house - and after being 'kept against my will for several days' she finally got out, with a warning to keep quiet.

'He didn't need a nanny,' Margot said. 'I was recruited as a potential sex partner or plaything.'

Other women told the BBC they were similarly abused after being spuriously hired as nannies, chefs, or maids. A florist and even a BBC make-up artist preparing Al Fayed for an interview have also made allegations.