The Metropolitan Police only asked prosecutors to decide whether to charge Mohamed Al Fayed about two out of 21 women who accused him of sexual offences while he was alive.
It raises serious questions about the Met’s response to women who said they were abused by the former Harrods owner, who died aged 94 last year.
Scotland Yard refused to answer the BBC’s questions about how many women it sought charging decisions on, but the Crown Prosecution Service has now provided the information. It has also been established that a woman was investigated for aiding and abetting rape by Al Fayed.
Last month a BBC documentary and podcast heard testimony from former Harrods employees who said the billionaire sexually assaulted or raped them. Al Fayed was never charged while he was alive.
Since the documentary aired, at least 65 women have contacted the BBC saying they were abused by Al Fayed, with allegations stretching beyond Harrods and as far back as 1977.
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Last week, the Met revealed that 40 women have approached the force since the film to accuse Al Fayed of sexual offences. The allegations cover a period between 1979 and 2013.
The Met has also admitted that 21 women approached the force before the BBC film.
The force is conducting an internal review into these earlier complaints and the police watchdog has asked if anything needs to be referred to it for investigation.
The CPS has now told the BBC that, in 2009, it made a charging decision on two allegations of sexual assault in relation to one female complainant.
Then, in 2015, it made a charging decision on one allegation of rape and an allegation of aiding and abetting rape by one female suspect. These allegations related to a different female complainant.
It means the Met did not pass full files of evidence to prosecutors on 19 of the women who approached them, nor did the two files it did pass contain complaints from other women whose evidence could have potentially provided corroboration.
Many people will be astonished that a man could be accused of sexual offences by 21 women and not be charged. Given that 40 more women have approached the Met since the BBC film, there are mounting questions about the quality of the Met’s earlier enquiries.
These include why the Met did not link the different cases or launch a larger investigation that might have found other women who have now come forward.
The Met has previously said it also approached the CPS on three additional occasions for “early investigative advice” regarding Al Fayed. These three occasions did not involve the CPS being asked to make charging decisions on full evidence files.
Zoe Billingham, who was Her Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary between 2009 and 2021, said the revelations about the actions of police were “shocking”.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, she said: “It beggars belief that 21 women came forward to the Met with presumably very similar allegations about a wealthy man in a position of extreme power and authority and yet nothing happened, again.
“There should have been a full investigation. And this raises questions…. Were the police building a proper file for the prosecution in the first place?”
She added, “There is a broader question here – that’s the question of culture. At that time, and perhaps even now, were women coming forward with these types of allegations being taken seriously, were they being listened to or were they being fobbed off.”
In response, a Scotland Yard spokesperson said: “We are carrying out full reviews of all existing allegations reported to us about Al Fayed to ensure there are no new lines of enquiry based on new information which has emerged. This includes liaising with the Directorate of Professional Standards where
