Mohamed al-Fayed - latest: Harrods boss ruled over ‘toxic and abusive’ culture, says US lawyer Gloria Allred

“The police were involved in this case. We know that a complaint was made by, a young woman of 15 years old,” said Dean Armstrong KC.

“This is not a criticism of the police, it is not any kind of judgement on the police action.”

Asked about the global scope of the case, barrister Bruce Drummond told the news conference the “scope of this case is vast” and listed countries were Mohamed Al Fayed’s accusers are from.

He said some of the women are from Malaysia, Australia, Italy, Romania, the US and Canada.

“The global aspect of this case … is because this is a claim that will affect far reaching jurisdictions,” Mr Drummond said.

“We do not see this as anything but a global claim. Also, the assaults, the rapes, the attempted rapes were carried out all over the world, it wasn’t just in Paris and the UK.”

Dean Armstrong KC suggests the legal team are pursuing other parties – without adding further details.

“It is certainly not the case that we are not pursuing other parties,” he responds to a reporter.

“We are not ruling anything out,” he added.

Barrister Maria Mulla has told the press conference that there are further allegations yet to come.

Asked whether there are more serious allegations yet to come beyond those seen in the BBC’s documentary, “Yes, unfortunately so. From the numerous women that we represent we have a number of more serious allegations that have been made.

“Also that don’t just concern Mohammad Al-Fayed. But we are not able to go any further about that now.”

However, she added that they are “the worst sexual assaults that you can imagine”.

Natacha, who formerly worked as Al-Fayed’s PA, recalled being summoned to his room, where she she would go through a “forced kiss, his hands gripping your face to his lip or pulling you down to his lap where his hands were free to explore any part of your body he wished”.

She was reminded not to tell anyone, being told that Al-Fayed would find out if she did. “I felt such fear and some sick loyalty as his employee. It was an era when women were still the underclass in the working world,” she said.

One night she was asked to stay late, and was summoned to Al-Fayed’s apartment on pretext of job review. Natacha was escorted by security guard who ushered her into his private sitting room and the door was locked behind her.

She was offered a glass of champagne. Sex toys were on view and his bedroom door was partially open, Natacha said, adding: “I felt petrified.”

Al-Fayed “pushed himself” onto her, before Natacha fell onto the floor with him still on top of her. “I managed to kick free and free myself, I ran towards the door. I told him I was meeting my father for dinner and he would be worried I was late,” Natacha said.

“He just laughed at me,” she said. He then “composed himself” and told her not to tell anyone – or she would never work in London again and that he knew where her family lived.

“I felt scared and sick. Eventually leaving Park Lane, I never stepped foot in his private office again,” Natacha said.

Natacha was 19, and had moved to London before getting an interview with Harrods in a supporting role to his private PA.

She was interviewed by himself at his private office, and given the job.

She thought it was the “chance of a lifetime”, saying it was her “passport to a shining, high-power career”.

“He was clever and highly manipulative, he behaved like a father figure, saying call me Papa,” Natacha told the press conference. “Unbeknownst to me, I had worn into a lion’s den … the chairman prayed on the most vulnerable.”

She added: “Those who abuse need to know that its not OK. They need to know that one day, like today, they will be found out and exposed.”

Leading women’s rights lawyer Gloria Allred told the press conference: “He died without ever taking responsibility for what he did to many of his victims. These victims have suffered for years, even decades. They have lived with the shame, humiliation and the anguish that Mohammad al-Fayed and Harrods caused them.

“Al Fayed was determined to silence these women. They will be silenced no more.

“We are proud of all of the women who are coming forward to seek accountability. The good news is that civil justice is still available for them, and they will not rest.

“It is not enough for Harrods to now say that they are sorry … Justice demands that the victims receive meaningful accountability for what they suffered.”

One employee was sexually assaulted and raised this in a formal written complaint to Harrods.

The head of security, John Mcnamara, allegedly said: “You are a girl alone in London, someone could jump out the bushes at you, or you could have a sudden accident. You need to deny what you have said in the first letter with a second letter, which you must drop off before noon.”

She did as she was told out of fear, Ms Mulla said.

Another woman was told she had been “disloyal” to the chairman, and she had to leave immediately.

If she spoke to press, she was told “in explicit terms that there would be serious consequences”, it was alleged.

She was subjected to threats, became mentally ill, suicidal, and admitted to psychiatric hospital for 6 months of her life. She was also left unable to create relationships with other men, losing out on the opportunity to have her own family, lawyers said.

Former Harrods employees claim their gynaecological test results were sent directly to the department store’s ex-owner Mohamed Al Fayed, my colleague Holly Patrick reports.

Speaking in the BBC documentary Al Fayed: Predator at Harrods, the former staff members claimed they were told to undergo medical checkups — including an internal sexual health test — as “an extra perk of the job” and because Al Fayed’s son Dodi “had a low immune system”.

One woman claimed she had a smear test and a doctor checked her ovaries.

“My results were sent directly to the chairman so quickly that by the time I had got back to my desk, he knew the results,” she alleged.

Women would be sent for a ‘private medical examination’ by 3 or 4 doctors after being selected by recruitment team, said barrister Maria Mulla.

This would involve a full body screening, sometimes including a cervical smear and an ovary check.

These checks would be done for roles as Al-Fayed’s secretary, personal assistant, or even interior designer.

Al-Fayed would make “degrading and humiliating comments personally about what he had been told at their medical examination”.