EXCLUSIVEMohamed Al-Fayed silenced Harrods staff and personal assistants he sexually assaulted and raped with NDAs and pay-offs when they complained: Ex-Harrods manager reveals everybody knew... anyone who says they didnt are lying

His carefully crafted public image was one of outspoken billionaire tycoon and a prime-time TV regular - but those who knew Mohamed Al Fayed knew the truth that he was a serial sexual predator.

The disgraced former Harrods boss sat at the heart of a spiders web of corruption and abuse with loyal acolytes covering up his abuses and highly-paid lawyers silencing victims and journalists who tried to expose him.

A new BBC documentary - Al Fayed: Predator at Harrods - released just over a year after his death spoke to female workers as young as 15 who were hand-picked from the shop floor by the sleazy billionaire to work as his personal assistants where they were groped, assaulted and raped.

Many of the women who began working directly for Fayed underwent medicals including invasive sexual health tests carried out by doctors. The results were sent directly to him.

Fayed - whose son Dodi was killed in a car crash alongside Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1997 - has become known to a new generation through Netflix series of The Crown where he is presented as pleasant and gregarious. But his victims remember him as vile.

Mohamed Al Fayed is accused of raping multiple women during his time as Harrods owner from 1984 to 2010

A new BBC documentary says the Egyptian-born businessman - who died in London aged 94 last August - was a serial sex attacker

Female Harrods workers as young as 15 who were hand-picked from the shop floor by the sleazy billionaire to work as his personal assistants where they were groped, assaulted and raped. Pictured: The Harrods department store in Knightsbridge

Security guards who protected Fayed would pass on stories of groping and non-consensual touching to other employees.

Tony Leeming, who was a manager from 1994 to 2004 said: It was well known, everybody knew about it and it was laughed about. Looking back on it now it was pretty repellant and I was a part of it.

I was aware of the abuse against women when I was on the shop floor. And I think if I knew, everybody knew. Anyone who says they didnt are lying, Im sorry.

It was known around the whole company.

The Egyptian-born tycoon - who died last August aged 94 - ran Harrods for 25 years from 1985 to 2010.

More than 20 former employees from that era came forward to tell the BBC Fayed sexually assaulted or raped them in Harrods offices, in his Park Lane apartment, at the Ritz hotel in Paris, which he also owned, or his nearby Villa Windsor property.

To protect his image, Fayed fostered a culture of fear among workers at the posh Knightsbridge department store, with women scared to talk to each other believing their phones were tapped and they were being constantly watched by hidden cameras.

Mohamed Al Fayed pictured with Princess Diana at the charity dinner for the Harefield Heart Unit held at Harrods in February 1996

The Crown featured the time Mohamed and Diana attended a polo match together in July 1987

The ex-deputy director of security, Eamon Coyle, confirmed the shop was bugged and it was his job to listen to the tapes of recorded calls.

He said: He bugged everybody that he wanted to bug.

Fayed also used his immense wealth and power and a network of people around him who helped keep his criminality under wraps.

They included shamed PR guru Max Clifford, also a sex offender who died in jail.

Secretly recorded footage shows Clifford boasting about protecting his employer, who he called a randy old sod.

When victims did come forward he used cash payoffs and legally-binding non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) to force their silence.

Among the women who spoke to the BBC was Gemma, who worked as one of Fayeds personal assistants between 2007-09.

She says his frightening behaviour culminated in her being raped during a trip to Paris.

After she was raped, she contacted a lawyer in 2009 who told Harrods she was leaving her job on the grounds of sexual harassment. Gemma did not feel able to disclose the full extent and seriousness of Fayeds assaults at the time.

Fayed also used his immense wealth and power and a network of people around him who helped keep his criminality under wraps. They included shamed PR guru Max Clifford (pictured), also a sex offender who died in jail

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

Mohamed Al Fayed dons a Victoria emerald and diamond tiara as he launches Harrods New Year sale in 2001

Harrods agreed she could leave and it would pay a sum of money in exchange for her shredding all evidence and signing an NDA. Gemma says a member of Harrods HR team was present as the shredding took place.

The programme also claims that women were threatened and intimidated by Harrods then-director of security, John Macnamara - who died in 2019 aged 83 - to stop them speaking out.

There were a number of attempts by reporters to expose Fayed before his death - notably by Vanity Fair in 1995 which published an article alleging racism, staff surveillance and sexual misconduct.

Fayed sued for libel but two years later after the magazine gathered further evidence of his sexual misconduct to use at trial he agreed to drop the case as long as all the further evidence was locked away. Fayeds settlement was negotiated by a senior Harrods executive.

In 1997, ITVs The Big Story reported further serious allegations including sexual harassment and groping - which is classed as sexual assault.

One of the women in the BBC investigation, Ellie was 15 in 2008 when she reported an assault to the police - the allegation was leaked to the press but did not result in any charge.

In 2017, Channel 4s Dispatches broadcast allegations of groping, assault and harassment, with one woman waving her right to anonymity for the first time.

But only now following his death have most women felt able to speak publically about his rapes and attempted rapes.

Gemma (pictured), who worked as his personal assistant between 2007 and 2009, says she was raped by Al Fayed during a work trip to Paris

One of his alleged victims, Gemma, who worked for Al Fayed as a personal assistant between 2007 and 2009, says his behaviour would turn more frightening during work trips abroad 

A number of victims have recently brought civil claims against Harrods for damages. The shops current owners, who are not asking women to sign NDAs, started settling these in July 2023. Many more women are also said to be considering legal action against Harrods.

Bruce Drummond, a barrister representing some of the ex-employees, said: The spiders web of corruption and abuse in this company was unbelievable and very dark.

Any place of work has a duty to ensure the safety of its employees. Without question, the company failed these ladies.

Thats why we step in. Because they just did nothing to actually prevent this. They did the opposite. They enabled it.

In a statement Harrods said: Since new information came to light in 2023 about historic allegations of sexual abuse by Al Fayed, it has been our priority to settle claims in the quickest way possible. This process is still available for any current or former Harrods employees.

While we cannot undo the past, we have been determined to do the right thing as an organisation, driven by the values we hold today, while ensuring that such behaviour can never be repeated in the future.