A woman who has told the BBC that she was 16 when she was raped by Mohamed Al Fayed said the assault “changed the course of my life and career entirely”.
Kate (not her real name) said that, while working at Harrods – her first job – she was also subjected to inappropriate and “humiliating” questioning by the billionaire and an intrusive medical check.
She is one of more than 20 women who have said the former Harrods owner sexually assaulted or raped them while they worked at the luxury London department store.
Harrods’ current owners said they were “utterly appalled” by the allegations and that his victims had been failed – for which the store sincerely apologised.
“I want people to fully understand just how much of a monster he truly was,” Kate said, adding that she wanted to speak out after seeing other women come forward.
“It has affected so many areas of my life, but having to live with the deep shame of what happened to me so young, being paranoid at night walking by myself, not trusting men in any form of even slightly vulnerable situation, are to name but a few,” she said.
Al Fayed, who died last year aged 94, was the owner of Harrods between 1985 and 2010.
Warning: this story contains details some may find distressing.
Kate said “inappropriate questions” started soon after she began working for Al Fayed.
“He asked me if I had a boyfriend and if I had been sexually active,” she said.
“I was 16-years-old and a virgin, which he discovered.”
She said it was organised for her to see Dr Ann Coxon of Harley Street, London, for a “company medical”, which was sold to her as a perk of working in the chairman’s office.
Dr Coxon asked to do an internal examination, she said, and a test for HIV and STDs.
“I explained that I hadn’t become sexually active yet, and therefore it was unnecessary.”
She said her concerns were “brushed off” and she was told it was “still necessary”.
“I remember feeling very confused,” she said. “I was just 16 at the time, this was my first job, and I was way out of my depth.”
She said Al Fayed then asked to see her and began discussing the intimate details of her medical and “questioned my purity”.
She found the conversation “confusing, intrusive and humiliating”, she said.
Al Fayed knew that she had a long distance to travel to work and offered that she could stay at his Park Lane apartment, which she said was sold as another staff perk.
She said she was “scared” but “knew I had no option to say no” when she was “summoned” to his apartment one night.
“He tried to pressure me in to having sex with him,” she said.
“He tried to be charming and keep things light and jokey, but I kept saying no and then his mood changed and the threats started – he was angry.
“The doors were locked and I couldn’t get out. He raped me.”
Other women have come forward to say they too were subject to “intrusive” medical tests, including sexual health tests, while working at Harrods, many of them approaching the BBC after the documentary and podcast Al Fayed: Predator at Harrods detailed the evidence.
The BBC has heard testimony from more than 20 female ex-employees who say the billionaire sexually assaulted or raped them.
Dr Coxon has been approached for comment.
The Justice For Harrods survivors group has filed a complaint to the General Medical Council about her conduct.
She was one of two doctors repeatedly named by women for carrying out intrusive medical examinations and sexual health screening while they were working at Harrods.
Another doctor also reported to have carried out the medical tests – Wendy Snell – has since died.
The group has confirmed to the BBC that a complaint has been put in to the medical regulator about Dr Coxon, but the details of the complaint have not been shared.
Source: BBC
