Mohamed Al Fayed, the former owner of the store and Fulham FC, who died last year aged 94, is accused of multiple sexual assaults after a BBC investigation was published last month
Nearly 300 women have now come forward to accuse Mohamed Al Fayed of sexual abuse, lawyers have revealed.
Justice for Harrods Survivors said the number of women “feeling safe to come forward” was “increasing on a daily basis”. Al Fayed, the former owner of the store and Fulham FC, who died last year aged 94, is accused of multiple sexual assaults after a BBC investigation was published last month.
The claims include five accusations of rape and multiple allegations of sexual abuse. A spokesman for Justice for Harrods Survivors said on Tuesday that it “now retains 71 clients and is processing a further 220 inquiries”.
Last week, the group, consisting of barristers Dean Armstrong KC, Bruce Drummond, Maria Mulla, and Gloria Allred, said it represented “60 survivors as part of our claim, with more to come”.
Justice for Harrods Survivors said on Tuesday it was “welcome” Harrods had said it would not be enforcing any non-disclosure agreements signed by former staff.
In a statement, Harrods said: “There are no NDAs attached to settlements made under the current ownership and Harrods would not seek to enforce any NDAs that relate to alleged historical sexual abuse by Fayed that were entered into during the period of his, Fayed’s, ownership.”
The Met Police revealed last week that Al Fayed escaped charges despite 19 women and girls coming forward to make allegations against him when he was alive. The force said it would carry out “full reviews of all existing allegations” of incidents said to have taken place between 1979 and 2013 to ensure there are “no new lines of inquiry based on new information which has emerged”.
The Met said it was contacting lawyers representing alleged victims to “ensure they have the opportunity to speak with us and report any offences”.
