Mohamed Al Fayed tried to rape me in Dodi’s flat, reveals brave Harrods worker as more victims of ‘monster’ come forward
A WOMAN preyed on by Mohamed Fayed told how the sex beast tried to rape her in an apartment owned by his son, Dodi.
Another former Harrods worker revealed he threw a lobster at her in front of Ashley and Cheryl Cole — because she was not talking enough during a dinner on his yacht.
And a third woman told how the late tycoon repeatedly ripped the buttons of her blouse before she was sacked at the end of her probation period after managing to struggle out of his attacks.
Lindsay Mason, aged 20 when she was recruited to work at Harrods as a PA for Fayed, bravely told The Sun how she fought him off in son Dodi’s luxury Paris pad in 1989.
She told how she was subjected to “a very invasive medical” when she accepted the job.
Lindsay said: “I started working at Harrods and the grooming began at the end of the first week.
“Within days he started touching my hair, touching my face and the grooming continued.
“I escaped from 60 Park Lane (his Mayfair address) where he assaulted me because someone turned up.”
For the Paris trip Lindsay joined Fayed, a colleague, TV presenter Selina Scott, fashion designer Jeff Banks and late Aussie comedian Barry Humphries on a private jet.
There is no suggestion any of the stars knew of Fayed’s motives or that Lindsay was in danger.
She said Fayed gave her money to go shopping and made her and her colleague parade their clothes in a “fashion show” for his guests at his Villa Windsor apartment.
Lindsay and her colleague then had dinner with Fayed at The Ritz before she was taken to Dodi’s flat where he tried to rape her.
Lindsay said: “He attempted to rape me.
“He was very forceful, he invited me for a drink.
“Security said he wanted to see me for a drink, alongside another female colleague, in the lounge.
“When I got there she wasn’t there.
“I sat the furthest point from him and he got up to get a drink and came and sat right next to me.
“Within seconds he just flipped and it was a sustained sexual assault and an attempted rape and I managed to kick him off.
“I ran and barricaded myself in my bedroom and slept on the floor with my back to the door so I would be able to feel if he came in.
“The next morning I think I had something to drink.
“I assume I was drugged because I have no memory after I came out of the bedroom and got back to Harrods — where I was falsely imprisoned in the management’s offices.
“I tried to speak to my colleague and I tried to tell her that he tried to rape me the night before.
“I thought, that as he had tried to rape me, had drugged me and potentially trafficked me ‘it’s not going to end well’.
“I was in fear of my life, so I pretended I had an upset stomach and they let me out.
“Luckily a very high-profile person turned up and all the security was on that and I ran for my life.”
Lindsay said she met Dodi, who died in a Paris car crash in 1997 with Princess Diana, at Harrods.
I was in a panic and blocked my door with a chair and a suitcase
Katherine
She said she was unsure if he knew what his father was doing but that he was also “manipulated”.
Gemma, 42, was hired as Fayed’s senior PA when she was 24.
She was at Harrods from 2007 until 2009 and suffered persistent harassment, groping and put-downs at Fayed’s hands.
Gemma also told how he humiliated her on his yacht Sokar, moored off Monaco.
She said: “I had a lobster thrown at me in front Ashley and Cheryl Cole.
“He threw it across the table and said ‘why aren’t you talking?’.
“No one said anything and carried on as if nothing happened.
“Another time I remember walking off a yacht in St Tropez and he said to me in front of people: ‘Carry my bag you f*****g donkey’.
“It was part of his game of humiliation.
“It was a power thing.
“It would depend on how willing you had been with him.
“If you had pushed his advances away that morning you knew you were in for a rough afternoon.
“But if he’d managed to have a grope and you’d not escaped him, you would be given gifts like bottles of perfume, cashmere scarfs.
“He would threaten you all the time and say, ‘if you are not good with me, you are in trouble’.
“You would expect being fired or something.
“The security guards witnessed pretty much everything except the sexual assaults behind closed doors.
“One time I went to them for help saying he had tried to get into my room on the yacht.
“They passed me some chopsticks and a cloth and said ‘wrap the chopsticks in the cloth and jam them up against the door and that will stop him getting in’.”
Damaged store might not recover
By Ashley Armstrong, Business Editor
HARRODS has survived world wars, two bomb attacks and a fire — but now its fortunes may be tarnished forever.
There are concerns wealthy shoppers may not want to be seen with its distinctive green and gold bags after the posh store admitted it failed to protect staff from predator Mohamed Fayed.
Retail consultant Mary Portas told The Sun: “The rumours were rife and he was a horror. I hope the store isn’t affected but those who surrounded and suppressed this are held to account.”
Harrods has a problem drawing a line under its former owner as echoes of Fayed remain literally all over the shop.
His garish Egyptian escalator, commissioned in 1997, still dominates the Knightsbridge department store from ground to fifth floor.
Ex-Fayed lieutenant Michael Ward has been managing director since 2005 — five years before his boss sold out for £1.5billion to the Qatari Royal Family.
Despite his sincere apology to staff, it might be understandable the Qataris would want a change of face.
Accounts this month revealed the Qataris handed themselves a £180million dividend last year, despite a 35 per cent fall in profits to £111.5million on the back of pensions changes.
In a sign of its attractiveness, sales rose by 8.2 per cent to £1billion in the past year, while other luxury stores such as Harvey Nichols struggled.
Gemma followed the advice after Fayed took the key to her room.
She added: “I did it and it worked.
“He tried to get in and failed.”
In 2009 the Crown Prosecution Service — then headed by now PM Sir Keir Starmer — decided not to charge Fayed over the alleged sexual assault of a 15-year-old girl.
Gemma was called into an office at Harrods to speak to police, and was told by bosses to say how nice the chairman was with her.
I had a lobster thrown at me in front Ashley and Cheryl Cole
Gemma
She said: “They made me sit there next to the Harrods lawyer.
“He was almost pushing my leg and telling me what to say.
“I was scared for my safety and what I was experiencing.”
Katherine, now 51, was hired to work as a senior PA in 2005.
She said: “From day one I had to wear a smart black suit.
“He said ‘this isn’t going to work’.
“Then he said ‘this is distracting’ towards my chest and ripped my buttons open.
“Then he sent me out with a wad of cash to buy suits from Zara or H+M.
“I cried because I was so humiliated.
“I came in the next day in a new black suit and the same thing happened.
“It happened every day for a week.
“I had no one to talk to and thought, ‘I’m sure they know this experience’.
“Then I went to Paris with him and luckily another PA was there.
“When I went to bed that night there was no lock in the door.
“I was in a panic and blocked my door with a chair and a suitcase.
“The next day he went right up to my face and said ‘never block a f*****g door in my house again — do I make myself clear’.
“He had tried it and I am very grateful that I did that, especially after hearing the stories of other women.
“In London I fought him off when he tried to attack me in an office.
“The next day my desk was gone.
“It was the last day of my probation period and HR said that while my work was excellent, I was not bonding with him personally. And that was my last day.”
Gemma said: “I hope women can, in future, go to work without feeling scared.
“Although he is dead, we are taking on one of the most powerful businessmen in the world.”
CASE 'A KEIR MISS'
By Jack Elsom, Chief Political Correspondent
SIR Keir Starmer has been dragged into the Fayed scandal after prosecutors failed to bring charges on his watch.
The PM was director of public prosecutions in 2009 when it was decided not to bring the tycoon to court.
He had been quizzed under caution a year earlier after a girl, 15, alleged he sexually assaulted her in Harrods. A No 10 source said yesterday: “Keir didn’t handle this case. It did not cross his desk.”
But Dai Davies, ex-head of Royal Protection, said: “I’d be surprised if somebody hadn’t tipped him a wink.”
Shadow crime minister Matt Vickers added: “Starmer is always eager to take credit for other people’s work at the CPS, but whenever something went wrong under his watch it was someone else’s fault.
“These revelations show this was yet another instance of failure.”
The CPS said in 2009 it would not be charging Fayed because there was no realistic prospect of conviction.