An investigation by the BBC has found that out of the 21 women who accused Mohamed Al Fayed of sexual offences while he was alive, the Metropolitan Police only sought prosecutors to decide on charging the former Harrods owner in relation to two of them. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) provided this information after the police refused to answer questions about how many women charging decisions were sought on. Additionally, the BBC discovered that a woman was also investigated for aiding and abetting rape by Al Fayed.
Last month, a BBC documentary and podcast aired former Harrods employees who testified that the billionaire sexually assaulted or raped them. Since the broadcast, at least 65 women have contacted the BBC to say that they had been abused by Al Fayed, and allegations date back to 1977 and have been made beyond Harrods.
Last week, the Metropolitan Police revealed that 40 women have accused Al Fayed of sexual offences following the documentary. The allegations span from 1979 to 2013, with 21 women having gone to the police before the film’s release. The police service is conducting an internal review into those earlier complaints, and the police watchdog has asked for anything that may need to be referred for investigation.
The CPS has stated that it made a charging decision on two counts of sexual assault in relation to one female complainant in 2009, and then in 2015, a charge decision was made in relation to allegations of rape and aiding and abetting rape by one female suspect. However, this meant that the Met did not send full files of evidence to prosecutors for 19 of the women who approached them. There are mounting questions about the quality of the previous Met enquiries, why the force did not connect the different cases or conduct a more extensive investigation, and which could have brought forward other women with evidence that may have corroborated the allegations
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