Mohamed Al Fayed’s sexual abuse may have been on a similar scale to Jimmy Savile’s, a survivors’ advocate appointed by Harrods has said.
Dame Jasvinder Sanghera was appointed by the department store, previously owned by Al Fayed, as an independent advocate to address the needs of the late billionaire’s victims.
Speaking to the BBC, Dame Jasvinder said she has seen evidence Al Fayed’s “tentacles went far and wide” as she discussed the scale of the abuse.
“We could be talking about something on the scale of Jimmy Savile,” she said.
After his death in 2011, hundreds of survivors came forward with stories of abuse by Savile, who used his work at the BBC and at hospitals, prisons and charities to conceal his wrongdoings.
Over 290 individuals are engaged in Harrods’ compensation process, but Dame Jasvinder believes the abuse went further than the department store.
She said: “If you look at the breadth of the abuse, this didn’t just happen in Harrods. I’m already hearing from survivors who are saying this happened in other areas.”
She said she had been told by a former pupil from a school for deaf children that Al Fayed “had access to vulnerable young women from that school”.
She said: “What we do know is that there are many people – and survivors have said this to me already – that were complicit [in Al Fayed’s abuse].
“They looked the other way. This could not have happened without people knowing about it, and he used his position of power and influence.”
The school told the BBC that as far as it was aware Al Fayed did not have access to the institution, and that it takes safeguarding very seriously.
The Harrods claims process is only open to those who were employed by the company, but the Justice for Harrods Survivors group said last month that other victims had contacted them from Fulham FC, the Ritz hotel in Paris and elsewhere.
Dame Jasvinder said she would like to hear from victims regardless of whether they were abused by Al Fayed at Harrods or elsewhere.
She said: “I would absolutely encourage anyone affected by this, or who may know somebody that’s affected, who just wants to have a conversation about the process, to absolutely contact me.”
Harrods said it “supports the bravery of these women in coming forward” and urged them to make claims to the company’s compensation scheme.
Al Fayed acquired Harrods for £615m in 1985 and after 26 years in charge sold it to the Qatari royal family for a reported £1.5bn in 2010
He died in 2023, aged 94.
