Fayed ‘used blonde fixer to procure young victims’
Mohamed Fayed allegedly used a blonde “fixer” to procure young victims, it has been reported.
The glamorous woman would frequent wealthy areas of west London and approach young, attractive women, it is claimed
She would build a rapport with them by boasting of her wealth before offering to introduce them to her rich businessman “friend”, a teenager who met the “fixer” has alleged.
In the wake of a BBC documentary aired last week, more than 100 alleged victims have come forward to accuse the former Harrods owner of attacking them. Five women have alleged they were raped by Fayed, who died last year at the age of 94.
Harrods has said the company is ‘a very different organisation to the one owned and controlled by Mr Fayed’ – CHRIS RATCLIFFE/BLOOMBERG
On Sunday, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) admitted that it had chosen not to charge Fayed twice over the alleged abuse. Evidence had been shown to prosecutors in 2009 and 2015, but they had concluded there was not “a realistic prospect of conviction”.
The Telegraph previously reported Fayed was interviewed by the Metropolitan Police under caution in 2008 after a 15-year-old girl told detectives he had sexually assaulted her at the London department store.
Sir Keir Starmer, who was chief prosecutor in 2009, has come under fire for failing to charge the late billionaire. Downing Street has insisted the Prime Minister did not handle Fayed’s case, with a spokesman adding it “did not cross his desk”.
The CPS was under the direction of Dame Alison Saunders when prosecutors considered charging Fayed in 2015.
‘I was young and naive’
The alleged fixer was reportedly a senior executive at Harrods at the time. The student, then 19, claimed to have met the woman in 2013, three years after Fayed sold Harrods. She was allegedly taken for cocktails before being driven to his Park Lane penthouse.
After being escorted in a private lift, she was then offered fruit and champagne but declined, fearing it may have been spiked.
She was then cornered by Fayed, who demanded sex in return for an allowance of £2,500 per month and a free designer handbag of her choice from Harrods, she claimed.
She told MailOnline: “In the apartment, I just felt this fear and sense that it was wrong, but I was young and naive and I thought maybe this is how people get jobs.
“When I got back downstairs, I just burst into tears, it was just a visceral reaction. I couldn’t believe he just propositioned me for sex. She [the fixer] started consoling me like a mum. She said, ‘I’m so sorry you’re upset’.
“I had a million questions. I remember wondering why he doesn’t just get prostitutes, but she told me he likes smart, young, pretty girls and is obsessed with not getting STDs so is tested every week by his personal doctor.”
‘Call me when you get randy’
The teenager then left but not before FaYED handed her £300 in £50 notes, writing his phone number on a piece of paper, saying: “Call me when you get randy.”
Outside the apartment, she burst into tears and was comforted by the alleged fixer, who implied she had had sex with Fayed herself and encouraged the teenager to do the same because: “It’s not that bad, it won’t take that long and after he will give you whatever you want.”
The teenager added: “I remember walking around London looking over my shoulder worrying about vans, like one would pull up, the door would open and I’d be gone.
“He never threatened me but he never needed to. I was in awe of his power and wealth.”
A lawyer representing 37 of the late billionaire’s accusers said that about 100 inquiries had been made to a legal team since a BBC documentary, Al Fayed: Predator at Harrods, aired on Thursday evening about the claims.
Speaking at a press conference on Friday, barrister Bruce Drummond said the cases were “rapidly evolving and expanding every day”.
It comes during the continued fallout from the broadcaster’s exposé, in which more than 20 female former employees of the luxury store had spoken out with allegations of assault and physical violence over a 25-year period.
On Friday, it was revealed that one woman who accused Fayed of sexual assault was allegedly warned by his bodyguard that she might “have an accident”.
After making a formal complaint to Harrods, the woman is said to have received a note from the late John Macnamara, a former Metropolitan Police officer, saying she must rescind her allegation.
“You are a girl alone in London, someone could jump out the bushes at you, or you could have a sudden accident,” the note said.
The allegation came as a lawyer representing dozens of women who claim to have been abused by Fayed insisted Harrods must take responsibility for the years of sexual abuse allegedly committed by the “monster”.
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