Enda Brady: UK correspondent on deceased Harrods owner Mohamed al-Fayed being accused of raping former employees

Former Harrods owner Mohamed al-Fayed has been accused of raping and sexually assaulting a string of women employed by the department store.

Five women have accused him of rape and an additional 20 have claimed he sexually assaulted them.

UK correspondent Gavin Grey says al-Fayed would identify and target young, female assistants before isolating and assaulting them.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
In the Bradi a UK correspondence with us into.

Speaker 2 (00:02):
Hello, Hello Heather, good to speak to you.

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Well okay, so this is just coming out from the
BBC right now that Muhammad al Fayed has been accused
of rape, yes.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
Multiple multiple rapes over many, many years. This is a
major piece of investigative a journalism by BBC reporters and
they have spoken to victims, They have spoken to the
head of security who was at Harold's, who had worked
for him at the time, dozens of employees, people who
worked on the shop floor, and it is a pattern

(00:32):
of predatory abuse by a man who was clearly a
sexual predator. And al Fayed would walk the shop floor
speak to any new particularly young. He had a very
keen interest in young girls, any new young employees. They
will be promoted up to the offices where he was
and selected for abuse. And this happened in London, in Paris,

(00:56):
San Tropez, anywhere he went. Basically, the masks absolutely been
ripped from the face of Muhammad Alphayed, albeit many years
too late.

Speaker 1 (01:04):
Look, and let's be clear about this in the you
know read reading what the BBC is publishing. This is
not a case of mistaken consent that this is quite
clearly out and out right, isn't it.

Speaker 2 (01:17):
Oh categorically yes, yes, it's absolutely disgusting. And I salute
every single woman who has appeared in this documentary film.
Their surnames haven't been used, some have appeared on screen,
some have appeared anonymously, as is their right, but they
have all spoken out about what Muhammad Alphaya did to them.
And this is a pattern, and the pattern is exactly

(01:38):
the same all people who were brought in. You know,
it's a big, prestigious place in the heart of London
with a name that the world knows. Getting a job
there was a big deal, and he basically worked his
way through the young female population of the staff of Harod's.
And it's disgusting and it kind of you know, I
think for a lot of the victims, that really really

(02:00):
hurt them to know that the Crown's portrayal of al
Fayed it was as this kind of you know, royal, obsessive,
almost devuncular, harmless old man who just wanted his son
to marry Diana when they knew he was a rapist.

Speaker 1 (02:12):
Hey, so he's also accused of having bugged phones and
typing people or tapping people and stuff like that. What
was that all about?

Speaker 2 (02:20):
So he was absolutely obsessed to know if any of
these girls were talking to each other. So all lines
of communication were being tapped and bugged, and he had
people listening to everything. There was a culture of fear.
It was basically instilling fear in the workforce that don't
speak outline or you will be dealt with. And it
was run like the Third Reich with a rapist at

(02:42):
the top. It's disgusting. I'm sure people will if they
want more detail, they can go into it and watch
the BBC's work. But it's quite scary to think that
this went, this went unpunished, and it was decades and
decades of abuse.

Speaker 1 (02:56):
Hey, why is Sue Gray so valuable?

Speaker 2 (03:00):
That's a good question. She's earning more than the prime minister.
Would you believe she's his chief of staff and the
story has come out today. I think she may have
made an enemy or two in the last forty eight hours,
but her salary is all over the papers today and
basically she's earning about approximately three hundred and fifty three
k and Z, which is about seven and a half
thousand dollars more than kir Starmer and a lot of

(03:22):
people asking the question, how can the advisor be earning
more than the prime minister? But that is absolutely the case,
and I think there's a bit of jealousy in Number
ten Downing Street that somehow her salary is now all
over the papers. We've always known what the Prime minister earns.
She is the highest paid chief of staff in British
political history. She was.

Speaker 1 (03:41):
That's good, Bunny, I thank you very much. Ia really
appreciated this in the brady Ow UK Correspondence ten to seven.

Speaker 2 (03:47):
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