At least five survivors of sexual abuse at the hands of billionaire Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed have been confirmed by the Home Office as victims of human trafficking.
Their experiences include both international and domestic trafficking, and even a case of trafficking within the Harrods building itself.
One survivor said they were recruited to a false role within Harrods, while two were hired for a legitimate role and then selected for abuse off the shop floor.
Another survivor was employed as a domestic worker for a member of the Fayed family after being recruited via a letting agency called Hyde Park Residence.
Their cases date back as early as the nineties, while the most recent took place after the 2010 sale of Harrods.
After being referred by charity Unseen UK, all five survivors have received conclusive grounds decisions from the National Referral Mechanism (NRM), the UK’s official framework for identifying victims of modern slavery, including human trafficking, forced labour and servitude.
Statutory first responders, including the police, Border Force, the National Crime Agency and local authorities must offer an NRM referral to any adult they have reasonable grounds to believe may be a victim of modern slavery.
Some non-governmental organisations (NGOs) like Unseen, the Salvation Army, Bernardo’s and the Refugee Council are also able to make referrals as non-statutory first responders.
Once a potential victim is referred to the NRM, the Single Competent Authority (SCA), a part of the Home Office, processes the referral and makes a decision on whether to officially recognise the individual as a modern slavery victim.
On April 29, 2026, the BBC reported that Rachel Louw had received a positive, conclusive grounds decision, after reporting abuse suffered at the hands of Mohamed Al Fayed and his brother Salah.
Since then, all four members of an advocacy group for Al Fayed survivors called No One Above have also received conclusive grounds decisions that they are victims of modern slavery: Justine, Elizabeth, Margo and Isabella (all pseudonyms).
While these four have been confirmed by the Press Association, it is understood that there are more survivors who have also received positive conclusive grounds decisions.
Justine worked at Harrods for more than three years in the nineties, and was trafficked and abused during this time.
She told the Press Association she felt “shell-shocked” when she received the conclusive grounds decision in June that she had been a victim of modern slavery.
“It’s not something I realised was happening to me at the time, so it’s all part of this journey that we’re on now in reliving this experience, and actually really understanding what happened to us, which is very difficult,” she said.
“But it’s a really significant thing, getting that decision, seeing it in writing that you were a victim of modern slavery and trafficking is very… it’s really shocking to read.”
Justine said that this is “concrete confirmation” from the Home Office that Al Fayed survivors were victims of human trafficking.
She added that the scope of experiences are wide: from domestic to international trafficking, from those who worked at Harrods to those not involved with Harrods at all.
Justine said this is “very significant”, because Harrods’ position has been that the abuse was just the actions of “one bad man”, and that there is nothing they can do as Al Fayed died in August 2023, which she says is “not the case at all”.
Elizabeth was also a Harrods employee and received a conclusive grounds decision that she was a victim of modern slavery in May.
“Everybody connected with this case is a trafficking victim, because it was all one system,” she said. “You can’t say that victim A wasn’t trafficked and victim B was.
“I think there’s this persistent misunderstanding, possibly within the Metropolitan Police themselves, which is scary, that trafficking only involves being moved across international borders.”
Margo was a domestic worker for the Fayed family after the sale of Harrods, and was recruited via a letting agency called Hyde Park Residence.
She received a positive conclusive grounds decision that she was a victim of human trafficking in July.
Margo told PA that she had not felt like a victim of trafficking “because really I didn’t know what trafficking was, especially domestic trafficking”.
Claiming Al Fayed’s trafficking network went “so beyond Harrods”, she said: “This was Balnagown, it was Saint-Tropez, it was Fayair, it was Fulham Football Club, it was Hyde Park Residence.
“Everywhere he went he had enablers, and everywhere he went he had the capacity to abuse. All of his residences, all of his businesses.”
Margo said she did not originally come forward because she did not work at Harrods.
“There has just been so much emphasis put on Harrods to the point where I believe that there are so many more victims that haven’t come forward because they believe that it’s solely a Harrods issue,” she said.
“I know of one other Hyde Park Residence victim, but there has to be hundreds more somewhere.”
Isabella worked in the chairman’s office at Harrods in 2001. She received her conclusive grounds decision that she was a victim of trafficking in May.
“I think one thing that the public doesn’t understand is they think this was one bad man, but he couldn’t have done what he did without Harrods processing women to him and silencing them afterwards,” she said.
“And it wasn’t just Harrods, obviously. It was any entity that Al Fayed owned or had control of.
“It was his yachts, his aviation business, the Ritz Paris, his properties all over France and Monaco, it went as far as the States and the UAE – anywhere that man touched.”
It was not just Mohamed Al Fayed either, she said, but “a wider network of perpetrators”.
More than 400 allegations of sexual misconduct have been made against Al Fayed, dating between 1977 and 2014, including sexual assault, rape, sexual exploitation and human trafficking.
The Metropolitan Police is investigating at least 156 victims who contacted them directly, including 21 who came forward before Al Fayed’s death in 2023 at the age of 94.
The investigation, known as Operation Cornpoppy, is looking at people who may have facilitated or enabled Al Fayed’s crimes. Four people have been questioned to date, 19 months after the investigation opened.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “Our heartfelt condolences go out to all those affected by this distressing case. We are fully committed to supporting victims and giving survivors the support and certainty they need to recover.
“Our (violence against women and girls) strategy sets out how the full power of the state will be deployed to deliver the largest ever crackdown on violence against women and girls in British history.”
Follow STV News on WhatsApp
Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country
