For tourists in London, Harrods is as big an attraction as Buckingham Palace and Madame Tussaud’s. Its stunning displays of sensational toys and diamond-encrusted jewellery, its food emporium, offering delicacies from across the world that only heiresses can afford, have made entering its doors more like a trip to the theatre than visiting a department store.

In the days when it was owned by Mohamed Al Fayed, those who caught a glimpse of him striding across its marble floors counted themselves lucky. Like a king greeting his awe-struck subjects, he would hug children, teenagers and mums, his smile as wide as the Thames, and – to those who did not succumb to his charm – as oily. But even as he was playing up to his image as a generous patron of good causes and a pillar of the British establishment, the Pharoah of retail was surveying the shop floor, in search of young women to prey on.

Who could have guessed that behind the scenes at Harrods was a ruthless regime of rape, sexual assault and psychological abuse? Well, quite a lot of people, it appears.

Read more by Rosemary Goring

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Following the BBC documentary – Al Fayed: Predator at Harrods - it has become apparent that the shop owner’s predilection for young female employees was an open secret. One media commentator has since written that he first heard about Al Fayed’s activities 25 years ago. Since 2005, the Met has received 19 accusations, from rape and sexual assault to trafficking, relating to events between 1979 and 2013. These dates indicate that the tycoon was a sex offender before and after he owned Harrods (1985- 2010).

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