Mohamed Al Fayed faked dementia to avoid sex abuse probe, claims son
Since the latest publicity around the case, 90 alleged victims have contacted the Metropolitan Police to say they fell prey to the billionaire Harrods owner
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Your support makes all the difference.Mohamed Al Fayed’s son has claimed his disgraced father faked having dementia in the later years of his life to avoid police questioning over his alleged sexual abuse.
Scotland Yard is investigating reports the billionaire Harrods and Fulham FC owner, who died in 2023 aged 94, could have raped and abused more than 111 women.
Omar Al Fayed told The Mail on Sunday his father should have been prosecuted for his accused crimes as if he were “a Nazi general”.
He suggested individuals surrounding Fayed helped him avoid further police probing “on the grounds he was mentally incapacitated” and had dementia, but said when he returned to business affairs he was “as sharp as a tack”.
The youngest of the latest 90 alleged victims to have emerged since the latest publicity around the case is thought to have been 13 years old at the time she was reportedly abused, and the crimes he is accused of include rape and sexual assault. This is on top of 21 alleged victims who had already contacted the force.
Omar told the newspaper he believed there was a lost opportunity in 2017 when Fayed was 90, when police examined abuse allegations but he was never charged.
“If a Nazi general is found to have been hiding in the Algarve for the last 50 years then of course he should be tried,” Omar added.
The 37-year-old, who is the youngest of the businessman’s five children, told The Mail on Sunday he got “dirty old man vibes” from his father, and “knew about the call girls”, and that he now felt “a degree of relief” that the allegations were coming to light.
Investigators twice sent files for a charging decision to the Crown Prosecution Service – once in 2008 relating to three victims and again in 2015 linked to one other.
On another three occasions – in 2018, 2021 and 2023 – the CPS was asked for what is called early investigative advice but the matters were not pursued further by police.
Last month, the Metropolitan Police said it had launched an investigation into more than five people who may have “facilitated” his alleged crimes.
Omar, who resigned from Harrods in 2009, continued: “I am sad that victims of these horrific alleged crimes were not able to address them in a timely manner. Maybe then they could have had some form of closure. There might have been some comeuppance, consequences.
“My father embodied systemic issues – racism and homophobia, among them – and we need to air them as caring human beings.”
The Metropolitan Police said in a statement: “No criminal charges were brought against Mohamed Al Fayed while he was alive and we recognise the impact this has had on many victims.
“From the review so far, it is apparent that past investigations were extensive and conducted by specialist teams who sought charging decisions from the CPS on two occasions.
“However, we know that contact with and support for some victims at the time could have been improved. Only after completing this comprehensive review will we fully understand what could have been done differently.”
Harrods’ current owners have said they are “utterly appalled” by the allegations and are carrying out an internal review into whether current staff were involved in the allegations “directly or indirectly”.
Fulham FC has previously said it absolutely condemns abuse in all forms, adding: “We remain in the process of establishing whether anyone at the club is or would have been impacted by Mohamed Al Fayed in any manner as described in recent reports.”
Rape Crisis offers support for those affected by rape and sexual abuse. You can call them on 0808 802 9999 in England and Wales, 0808 801 0302 in Scotland, and 0800 0246 991 in Northern Ireland, or visit their website at www.rapecrisis.org.uk. If you are in the US, you can call Rainn on 800-656-HOPE (4673).