Al Fayed sex attack claims probed

12 April 2012

Specialist sex crimes investigators are looking into an allegation that Mohamed al Fayed sexually assaulted a teenage girl.

The Harrods owner vehemently denied the claim after he was interviewed by police under caution.

Scotland Yard said the inquiry is being led by Operation Sapphire, a specialist unit set up in 2001 to investigate sexual offences.

Mr al Fayed voluntarily went to a west London police station on Wednesday morning to answer questions about the alleged incident in May.

His spokeswoman, Katharine Witty, said he was "confident" his name would be cleared.

Mr al Fayed was not forced to attend the police interview, which lasted less than half an hour.

It is understood the allegation relates to a complaint by a 15-year-old girl that the multi-millionaire businessman sexually assaulted her at Harrods.

The teenager told police Mr al Fayed kissed her after she met him at the exclusive Knightsbridge store while shopping with her mother, the Mail on Sunday reported earlier this year.

In a statement outside Harrods on Wednesday, Ms Witty said: "We confirm that Mohamed al Fayed voluntarily attended an interview with police to categorically refute an allegation widely reported in the media. Mr al Fayed vehemently denies this allegation and is confident that his name will be cleared."

A Metropolitan Police spokeswoman said: "A man attended a west London police station by prior arrangement and was questioned under caution this morning. The man was questioned in relation to an allegation of sexual assault on a girl under 16 at a business premises in central London. The allegation was received in May 2008."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in