I worked for a monster

The allegations made against my former boss Mohammed Al Fayed come as no real surprise to me.

I worked at Harrods twice - at the ends of 1996 and 1997 - both times in the lead up to Christmas. I loved working there but there is no denying there was a strange undercurrent of fear and paranoia that permeated that work place.

I saw Mohammed Al Fayed fairly frequently but only met “The Chairman” once, when he came for a “walk about” around the famous Food Halls. He shook my hand and I introduced myself and when he asked, I told him I was from New Zealand. Fortunately for me he had an eye for petite, young blondes and red heads. During that “walk about” he invited one of my colleagues in the Gift Box and Hampers department  (a pretty, red head, from Ireland) to come and work as one of his PAs at his Park Avenue residence. I remember our manager warning her that the huge increase in pay and the offer of international travel was likely to be too good to be true. There were rumours circulating about what was expected of his personal assistants. There were also rumours that our phones were tapped and we were probably bugged, so be careful what you say. We were certainly being watched. The CCTV in that store could follow an individual from room to room.

I can only imagine what happened to my pretty, red headed, former colleague.

There were a couple of things that struck me about Mohammed Al Fayed. The first, he was old, even in 1996. The second, he was very paranoid. You always knew when he was about to appear on the shop floor because his security would come ahead of him and clear the vicinity. The other inescapable fact was he was married to a gorgeous, blonde, Finnish, former model named Heini.

My only other observation was he was desperate to fit in. He was an incredibly wealthy man but he was neither English nor aristocracy. He looked like the cat that got the cream when he accompanied Princess Diana around the store as she did her Christmas shopping in 1996. He was not part of that set and you could tell he really wanted to be.

A condition of my employment at Harrods was a clean HIV test. I did think it was weird at the time, but now it makes me feel sick to my stomach.

So far 37 women have come forward. They intend to sue the store because they say Harrods covered up the abuse and allowed it to take place. I quote the KC acting for those women “We will say it plainly: Mohammed Al Fayed was a monster. I have never seen a case as horrific as this.”