What do the latest allegations say about the extent of misconduct allegations by former Harrods bosses?

Revelation that 111 women were accused Mohammed Al Fayed The abuse is the latest in a snowballing series of allegations against the deceased ex Harrods and boss of Fulham FC.

The Metropolitan Police said they were investigating five people for allegedly enabling the crime. allegations It spanned a 37-year period from 1977 to 2014 and included rape involving an alleged 13-year-old victim.

Detectives announced the final count of accusers on Tuesday after the release. 90 more alleged victims They came forward as they continued their investigation into historical abuse.

How did we get here?

Allegations against Fayed published for the first time Vanity Fair In 1995, ITV reported allegations of sexual harassment and groping two years later.

A total of 21 women approached Scotland Yard before the BBC broadcast a documentary last month.

In 2009, the Metropolitan Police took the first case of a woman who came forward with allegations to the Crown Prosecution Service.

But it was decided not to pursue charges in that case and a second in 2015 because there was “no realistic prospect” of conviction.

The Met sought “early investigation advice” from the CPS following 10 other allegations but no further action was taken.

Seven claims did not result in further action, and two claims did not that Fayed was already dead.

Who came forward?

Police said more than 150 people had contacted them this week following the BBC documentary, while a team of lawyers operating under Harrods Justice for Survivors said they had been contacted by more than 420 victims and witnesses in the last month.

Lawyer Bruce Drummond said last month the team had credible evidence that Fayed was abused at Fulham FC, his Park Lane residences, his property in Surrey, his plane and the Ritz Hotel in Paris, saying the “scale of this is absolutely appalling”. he warned. , on his yacht at Villa Windsor and St Tropez in France.

Model Bianca Gascoigne, daughter of former English football player Paul Gascoigne, It was claimed in October Mohammed al Fayed well-groomed and sexually assaulted her when she was young to work Harrods.

Former Fulham Ladies captain Ronnie Gibbons recently claimed she was sexually assaulted twice by the businessman and that Fayed attacked her in an office at Harrods in Knightsbridge.

police response

The Met insists its background investigations into the businessman were “comprehensive and carried out by specialist teams who have twice sought charging decisions from the CPS”.

Yet Scotland Yard is reviewing previous investigations to identify missed opportunities to stop the late businessman, with the results of an internal review to be published next month.

Commander Stephen Clayman, of the Met’s Specialist Crime Command, said he “knowing that past events may have affected public trust” The police and the force were determined to rebuild public trust.

“I admire the courage of every victim-survivor who comes forward to share their experiences, often after years of silence,” he said.

What will happen to Harrods?

Harrods’ current owners said they were “completely appalled” by the allegations and were conducting an internal review into whether current staff were “directly or indirectly” involved in the allegations.

Dame Jasvinder Sanghera appointed by the store as an independent advocate to meet late-stage needs billionaire‘s victims. Speaking to the BBC recently, Dame Jasvinder, discussing the extent of the abuse, said she had seen evidence that Fayed’s “tentacles had gone too far”.

“We could be talking about something on the scale of Jimmy Savile,” he said.

Now that Fayed is dead, who can be held accountable?

Commander Clayman said the investigation was “about giving survivors a voice”. Mohammed al-Fayed He is no longer alive to stand trial.

“But we are now pursuing his suspected accomplices and are determined to seek justice,” he said in a statement this week.

Detectives are trying to determine what roles these individuals may have played in helping and facilitating Fayed’s crime.

It was revealed that more than 250 people were killed last month resolution of compensation claims with Harrods over Fayed’s historic sexual harassment allegations.