Police investigating sexual assault claims against late Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed have sent a file of evidence against a suspect to prosecutors.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) will now consider whether any charges will be brought against the man, but will not provide a timescale on when a decision will be made.
Case details
“The file relates to one suspect, a man in his 80s, and relates to two indecent assaults on two women in London,” a Met Police spokesperson told the BBC.
The Metropolitan Police has been dealing with at least 156 alleged victims who contacted them directly, including 21 who came forward before the former Harrods owner died in 2023 at the age of 94 without facing any charges.
Survivor group response
A spokesman from the Fayed survivor group, No One Above, said: “We call on the Met to confirm it is securing evidence on all perpetrators and co-conspirators – including the financial and documentary evidence of how victims were recruited, screened, moved, harboured and silenced.”
More than 400 allegations of sexual misconduct have been made against Fayed, dating between 1977 and 2014, including sexual assault, rape, sexual exploitation and human trafficking.
Investigation status
The investigation, known as Operation Cornpoppy, was launched in November 2024 and is looking at people who may have facilitated or enabled Al Fayed’s crimes.
Seven people have been questioned under caution: four women in their 40s, 50s, 60s and 80s, and three men in their 60s, 70s and 80s. Harrods, the department store based in Knightsbridge, was sold by Al Fayed in 2010.
