Women who claim they were sexually assaulted by Mohamed Al Fayed have called for an investigation into why doctors allegedly subjected them and other Harrods staff to sexual health examinations before sharing the results with the company.
They have urged the General Medical Council (GMC) to investigate doctors who allegedly tested Fayed’s staff for sexually transmitted diseases before he sexually assaulted them or attempted to.
Natacha says she was sexually abused as a 19-year-old by Fayed when working in a supporting role to the billionaire’s private personal assistant. She says she was sent for a medical by Dr Ann Coxon when she joined Harrods.
Coxon, who is still practising in Harley Street, allegedly subjected her to a gynaecological examination and tested for Aids and sexually transmitted diseases without her consent.
Natacha, represented by New Bailey Chambers, which is acting for the Justice for Harrods Survivors group, said: “Ann Coxon has questions to answer about the medical examinations that she carried out on behalf of Mohamed Al Fayed. The examinations carried out by Dr Coxon were intrusive and wholly unnecessary.”
She added: “They also resulted in many employees’ confidential medical information being inappropriately shared within Harrods, including my own. This should not have happened. We will be making a formal complaint to the General Medical Council and would expect them to investigate.”
Last week, a BBC documentary, Al Fayed: Predator at Harrods, claimed that Fayed raped five women and sexually assaulted at least 15 others during his time as owner of Harrods from 1985 to 2010.
The investigation named two doctors, Coxon and Dr Wendy Snell, who allegedly carried out gynaecological tests and sexual health examinations on women who worked in Fayed’s office.
Snell died in 2022. Coxon has been approached for comment.
A GMC spokesperson said: “The alleged sexual abuse conducted by Mohamed Al Fayed against multiple women is horrifying.
“The allegations relating to medical staff working for Mr Al Fayed are deeply concerning. If we identify any potential fitness-to-practise concerns about individual doctors, we will thoroughly examine all relevant information and take action as appropriate.”
Henry Porter, the former editor of Vanity Fair who investigated Fayed for years, said at least five West End doctors were involved in examinations.
Since the documentary was broadcast, scores of other alleged victims have come forward, including some who claimed they faced similar tests and examinations. Lawyers representing women who Fayed allegedly abused said they had received more than 200 inquiries from further potential survivors since the broadcast.
The law firm Leigh Day is representing a woman, whom it is calling Joan, who claims she was sexually abused and trafficked at Harrods. Leigh Day claims other former Harrods female staff were asked to undergo gynaecological tests, sexual health examinations or both. When some of them went to doctors asking for such tests, the doctors expressed shock and questioned why Harrods had requested such tests.
Leigh Day says doctors who carried out the tests should be investigated. The Leigh Day partner Richard Meeran, who represents Joan, called for “an investigation by the GMC into the role of medical professionals who allegedly conducted gynaecological tests and sexual health examinations on women working on the shop floor of a department store, or in its executive offices, and who allegedly passed these sensitive and private results to Harrods and Al Fayed”.
He added: “Our client feels strongly that the actions of these medical professionals must be included in a statutory public inquiry.”
Tamara, who worked as a personal assistant to Fayed in the early 1990s, told the BBC: “We were told to go for a medical checkup with Dr Ann Coxon in Harley Street … Things should be confidential between a doctor and a patient. She certainly did not conform to that.”
She claims Fayed confronted her with a bottle of Dettol disinfectant saying: “Who have you been fucking?” She claimed Fayed had seen Coxon’s medical report which claimed she had contracted a sexually transmitted disease. She also claimed that Fayed later attempted to rape her.
Tamara told the documentary: “I think the doctor who did my medical should be held accountable, providing information to Mohamed which he used to take advantage of us.”
Katherine, an executive assistant in Harrods in 2005, showed the BBC a letter Snell had sent her, reporting the results of a smear test, blood tests and “gynaecological swabs, including chlamydia”. She told the programme: “There is no benefit to anybody in knowing what my sexual health is unless you’re planning to sleep with somebody, which I find quite chilling now.”
