Met 'truly sorry' for distress to Al Fayed victims

Pelham Spong applied for a job as a personal assistant to Al Fayed in 2008 while she was living in Paris

The Metropolitan Police has written to alleged victims of the late businessman Mohamed Al Fayed apologising for the distress they have suffered because he will never face justice.

And in an unusual move, Scotland Yard also plans to send the women a video statement later this week to provide an update on its ongoing investigation.

The force has promised to answer questions about the investigation into what it has said are 40 allegations, including rape and sexual assault.

These relate to the former Harrods boss - who died in 2023, aged 94 - as well as others who may have enabled his abuse.

In the letter, Detective Chief Superintendent Angela Craggs, now leading the investigation, said she was "acutely aware the case is especially distressing to all those who have suffered".

"Not least due to the fact that the main suspect will now never directly face justice for his crimes, and for this I am truly sorry," she wrote.

But some of Al Fayed's accusers have suggested the Met needs to do more.

Speaking on behalf of a group of survivors, Pelham Spong, who says she was sexually assaulted by Al Fayed in her 20s, questioned whether Met is giving the case the "gravitas and attention" it deserves.

She told the BBC it was "difficult to place a huge amount of trust" in the police investigation.

Some 21 women accused the tycoon between 2005 and 2023, but he was never charged. One focus of the Met's inquiry is assessing whether anybody still alive enabled his activities, but there have been no charges.

Mohamed Al Fayed was never charged during his lifetime

Scotland Yard plans to send alleged victims a video statement on Friday, saying it wanted to ensure that potential victims were "at the heart" of the Met's response. The force hasn't provided a substantial update about the investigation since late last year.

The Met decided against holding a meeting, online or in-person, to update the women because of concerns about anonymity and the potential to harm testimony for any future trial.

DCS Craggs' letter describes the inquiry as a "large-scale investigation into the allegations made against Al Fayed and those who may be involved in his offending", which is being run by complex investigations team at the Met.

She wrote: "Some of you may have heard, and perhaps experienced dissatisfaction in previous investigations into Al Fayed by the Met and hence may have little confidence in us."

To address that she has asked for questions from the alleged victims, which will be answered in Friday's video statement.

Ms Spong, who lives in the US state of South Carolina and reported her 2008 encounter with Al Fayed in 2017, said: "My fear is that most of our questions will remain unanswered, and we'll merely be given vague promises of change and accountability with no real action.

"It is hard to know what to expect and it is difficult to place a huge amount of trust in the process when the police have ignored and silenced so many victims for several decades."

In 2017, detectives investigating some of the claims against Al Fayed while he was still alive were "unable to obtain an account from the suspect owing to his poor state of health", according to an email they sent to Ms Spong. The case was subsequently closed.

Ms Spong has complained to the Independent Office for Police Conduct, the police complaints watchdog for England and Wales, that the Met failed to challenge this response from Al Fayed's lawyers.

The Met's inquiry has grown rapidly since the BBC broadcast the documentary "Predator at Harrods" in September 2024, which brought the wider claims against him into the open. The tycoon owned Harrods between 1985 and 2010.

The force has refused to put a timescale on its investigation. In February, Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said it was a live investigation, and he was not going to give a running commentary.

Separate civil cases involving hundreds of women are ongoing.

A spokesperson for the Met Police said, as well as the video briefing, one-to-one liaison between officers and alleged victims will continue.

"We continue to support all victims and we urge anyone with information, whether they were directly affected by Mohamed Al Fayed's actions or aware of others who may have been involved, or committed offences to come forward," the statement added.

"We cannot comment further at this time, but will provide an update as soon as we are able to and where this won't jeopardise criminal or other proceedings."