Pelham Spong, an American woman, has complained about the Metropolitan Police’s response to her sexual assault allegations against Mohamed Al Fayed, according to a complaint shared with BBC News. Al Fayed had reportedly assaulted Spong a decade ago, while she was applying for a job as a PA to him in Paris. Spong later reported the incident in 2017, but the investigation was shut down as the police were unable to get a response from the suspect owing to his state of health. Spong’s lawyers have argued that the police should have been more thorough in checking the medical evidence provided to them and challenging Al Fayed’s claim that he was too ill to respond.
The police’s failure to thoroughly investigate the allegations reflects an “apathy towards victims” or an “institutional desire to insulate Mr Al Fayed from prosecution”, said Spong’s complaint to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC). In response, the Met said that its review of allegations relating to Mohamed Al Fayed remained ongoing and it would share its findings as soon as possible. Ms Spong is being represented by high profile US lawyer Sigrid McCawley who led legal actions against Jeffrey Epstein.
Al Fayed’s son Omar recently alleged that his father had pretended to suffer from dementia to evade prosecution for sexual crimes. Spong’s lawyers argue that the police failed to obtain formal statements from doctors, a recruitment consultant, and other Harrods staff who could corroborate Spong’s claims. The complaint concludes that these investigative failures, when viewed alongside the prior accounts from other women of similar sexual misconduct of Al Fayed, suggest a concerning pattern of systemic inaction by the Met.
Ms Spong’s lawyers hope that this complaint will start a legal campaign led by US victims to raise a wider investigation into the response to the Al Fayed abuse scandal. The IOPC has the power to either reject or investigate the complaint or recommend police officers to face misconduct proceedings or prosecution
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