LONDON (AP) – Britain’s police watchdog mentioned it’s assessing complaints from two girls over how the Metropolitan Police dealt with intercourse crime allegations they made in opposition to the late Harrods proprietor Mohamed Al Fayed.
Police have been reviewing a number of allegations of rape or sexual assault in opposition to the billionaire proprietor of the famed London division retailer. Al Fayed was by no means prosecuted and died final 12 months at 94 years outdated.
The Metropolitan Police mentioned late Friday that it referred itself to the Unbiased Workplace for Police Conduct after two girls got here ahead in current weeks with issues about how their allegations have been dealt with by officers when first reported in 2008 and 2013.
“Though we can not change the previous, we’re resolute in our purpose to supply each particular person who contacts us the best customary of service and assist,” mentioned Stephen Clayman, from the police drive’s specialist crime workforce.
The police watchdog mentioned it’ll assess the data offered earlier than deciding if additional motion is required.
Allegations in opposition to Al Fayed have grown because the BBC broadcast claims by a number of former Harrods staff in September.
Police and Harrods executives have confronted questions on why motion wasn´t taken in opposition to Al Fayed whereas he was alive. He was questioned by detectives in 2008 over the alleged sexual abuse of a 15-year-old, and in 2009 and 2015 police handed information of proof about him to prosecutors. He was by no means charged.
Clayman mentioned police are “actively reviewing” 21 intercourse crime allegations in opposition to Al Fayed that have been made to police previous to his loss of life to find out whether or not any extra investigations are doable.
The drive mentioned final month that along with these claims, 40 extra girls have made allegations of rape or sexual assault in opposition to the tycoon since September.
The Egypt-born businessman moved to Britain within the Sixties and acquired Harrods within the mid-Nineteen Eighties. Al Fayed offered Harrods in 2010 to an organization owned by the state of Qatar via its sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Funding Authority.
The present managing director of Harrods, Michael Ward, has apologized to former staff who mentioned they have been sexually assaulted by Al Fayed. Ward mentioned it’s clear Al Fayed “presided over a poisonous tradition of secrecy, intimidation, concern of repercussion and sexual misconduct.”
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