Women allegedly assaulted by the late Mohamed Al Fayed feel let down by police investigators, their advocate has said, as she criticised the Met for planning to “resort” to sending a video to keep them updated.
The comments by Dame Jasvinder Sanghera, who was appointed by Harrods as an independent survivors’ advocate, came as it was reported the Metropolitan police had written to the women apologising for the distress they had suffered, especially as Fayed would never face justice.
Dozens of women have come forward with allegations of abuse by the late Harrods owner going as far back as 1977, with numbers steadily increasing since the broadcast last year of the BBC documentary Al Fayed: Predator at Harrods.
The officer who is now leading the investigation at Scotland Yard, DCS Angela Craggs, is reported to have written to the women to say she was “acutely aware the case is especially distressing to all those who have suffered. Not least due to the fact that the main suspect will now never directly face justice for his crimes, and for this I am truly sorry.”
While the Met has not provided a substantial update on the investigation since late last year, it plans to send alleged victims a video statement on Friday.
Sanghera told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “They have not been kept up to date. They have not been provided with timelines. I have been advocating for the police to meet with survivors and to have a conversation in the room and to hear their concerns.
“The police have sadly turned that down and have now resorted to a video, which is quite frankly not good enough.
“Some of these women reported Al Fayed to the police when he was alive. Right now the police should be doing everything they can to offer assurances beyond just words.”
Sanghera said some of the women had described living with “shame and guilt”, while others had harmed themselves. She said she did not believe it was too much to ask the police for updates on a monthly basis.
The Met said last year that 111 women had made allegations against Fayed. Complaints against the Met over its handling of allegations will be investigated by the force itself under the direction of Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).
The Met is also reviewing 21 allegations that were made before Fayed died in 2023, and referred two of these to the IOPC in November.
In February, his surviving brother, Ali Fayed, was also accused of sexual assault by three former Harrods employees, who alleged he assaulted them while they were working for the department store.
Three women told the BBC they were sexually assaulted by Ali in the 1990s when he and his brothers, Mohamed and Salah, owned and ran Harrods. The women said the alleged abuse happened after they were abused or harassed by Mohamed, his older brother.
A spokesperson for Ali Fayed has said the businessman “unequivocally denies any and all the allegations of wrongdoing”, that “the incidents simply never took place” and that he intended to “robustly defend himself against these unsubstantiated claims”.
