EXCLUSIVEMohamed Al-Fayed grins from behind wheel of Met Police car he sponsored... a year AFTER he was accused of raping and sexually assaulting dozens of women
Predator Mohamed Al-Fayed sponsored a Metropolitan Police car a year after he was publicly accused of raping and sexually assaulting dozens of women, MailOnline can reveal.
Predator Mohamed Al-Fayed sponsored a Metropolitan Police car a year after he was publicly accused of raping and sexually assaulting dozens of women, MailOnline can reveal.
In pictures likely to cause major embarrassment to Scotland Yard, the depraved billionaire grins from behind the wheel of the blue and white marked Rover wearing a police-issue peaked cap.
The drivers door bears the inscription, This car is sponsored by Harrods, in the stores distinctive script.
MailOnline discovered the long-forgotten photos days after a BBC documentary showed the Egyptian-born businessman and TV star to be a prolific sexual predator who for more than three decades used wealth and status to abuse girls and women on his payroll.
More than 20 told the Corporation how hed assaulted them, with four saying theyd been raped.
Mohamed Al Fayed is accused of raping multiple women during his time as Harrods owner from 1984 to 2010
In this picture the disgraced businessman can be seen grinning from behind the wheel of a blue and white marked Rover that he sponsored
The drivers door of the vehicle (pictured) bears the inscription, This car is sponsored by Harrods, in the stores distinctive script
It comes as a former Metropolitan Police officer who was recruited to work as a Harrods security guard reveals the uncomfortably close relationship Fayed had with law enforcement.
Deborah Bull, 64, said: I would say the car would be sat outside Harrods most days and the officers in the vehicle would come into security or the store. I saw them on a couple of occasions having a cup of tea in the security office.
If it wasnt his idea Al-Fayed was certainly on in, his head of security John MacNamara was an ex-Met copper and they wouldve laughed at something like this.
In a statement during the 1996 publicity stunt, Fayed said he was gifting the vehicle because we all have a stake in making our city a safer and better place.
Two years before the picture was taken, MacNamara, dubbed Mac the Knife - a former Met Superintendant - allegedly had a woman arrested after learning she planned to accuse Fayed of sexual assault at a tribunal.
MacNamara was allegedly at the heart of Al Fayeds chilling campaign to silence his victims.
He was described by one former Harrods colleague as a nasty piece of work.
The ex-security guard told the BBC: He would threaten people and use his power as an ex-copper. I know for a fact MacNamara knocked on someones door personally and threatened a girl.
Deborah Bull, 64, was a member of Harrods Green Team between 1996 and 1997
Mohamed Al Fayed dons a Victoria emerald and diamond tiara as he launches Harrods New Year sale in 2001
Mohamed Al Fayed with the Queen in 1997. His business connections and charity work saw him mixing with high society despite his complaints about what he saw as establishment bias
In 1995 - a year before Fayed bought the police a car - Vanity Fair published an article alleging racism, staff surveillance and sexual misconduct by him against Harrods staff.
Deborah told MailOnline that she first started working at the department store in 1996 after she was headhunted by a security recruitment firm.
She said: I was approached by a recruitment agency called Met Shield, which are ex police officers that recruit that sort of work. They approached me and said: look, we think youd be amazing for this job.
They wouldnt tell me what the company was, but they said: look, when you agree to come for an interview, then well tell you where it is.
The money was amazing, and it looked good on paper, from what I could see. So I went for the interview, and obviously I found out it was Harrods security.
I got the job the following week, and it happened very, very quickly, which was good in a way, but I was sort of taken aback.
She described her time working for the Egyptian billionaire as a living hell during which she was physically abused by other security staff, 99% of which were men.
Deborah told MailOnline about the sinister and horrible atmosphere at Harrods, recalling one incident where a woman was allegedly indecently assaulted by Al-Fayed inside his soundproofed office.
The mother-of-three quit in 1997, the year after joining and re-joined the Met from 2002 to 2009.
Late billionaire Mohamed Al-Fayed has been described as a monster amid claims he raped multiple women working for him at Harrods
Some the sexual assaults Fayed is accused of took place inside his office in Harrods (pictured)
Some are also said to have been carried out at his Park Lane property in London (pictured)
She decided to take the company to a tribunal, after seeking advice from lawyers who told her had a claim for sexual harassment and discrimination, following the physical and verbal abuse she received from male colleagues.
It was only years later that she appeared in court for the tribunal hearing, during which, she claimed Al-Fayed and his team had put her under surveillance.
During that time, I found out that theyd been following me, taking photographs of me and my daughter, and bugged my house phone.
She claimed she was also tailed by members of the security team who also took photos of her and her family when they went to the supermarket.
So many of us lived in fear and we kept it secret for so long as nobody thought we were telling the truth, she said.
I have never gone back into Harrods since I left in 1997, I was too terrified to go back there.
But thank goodness we are now in a position to be able to talk about it.
