Scotland Yard is facing claims that corrupt police officers helped Mohamed Al Fayed in persecuting members of his staff, including a young woman who allegedly rebuffed the Harrods owner’s sexual advances.
One detective constable, who is accused of regularly taking cash bribes to carry out Fayed’s wishes, was secretly given a mobile phone from Harrods to facilitate his illicit work, according to a former security chief at the luxury department store.
Separately, a senior commander in the Met was alleged to have received large Harrods hampers “whenever he had been a particularly great help”, and Fayed was described as “ingenious” in his use of the police to access confidential records on the Police National Computer.
One alleged victim of the corruption is said to have been a young nanny to Fayed’s children, Hermina da Silva, who was was dismissed in 1994 after apparently rejecting the billionaire’s advances. She was arrested on trumped up allegations of theft after threatening a sexual harassment case but was later released without charge.
“It’s amazing what they will do for just a few readies,” John Macnamara, Fayed’s long-time security chief and an ex-detective, was said to have remarked about the police at the time of Da Silva’s arrest.
A Met police spokesman said: “We are carrying out full reviews of all existing allegations reported to us about Al Fayed to ensure there are no new lines of enquiry based on new information which has emerged. This includes liaising with the Directorate of Professional Standards where appropriate.”
The allegations of police corruption are contained in 52-page written statement drafted in 1997 by Bob Loftus, who worked under Macnamara at Harrods, as part of Vanity Fair’s defence to a libel action pursued by Fayed against the magazine.
The case was settled out of court but a draft copy of Loftus’s statement seen by the Guardian was retained by Vanity Fair’s then British editor, Henry Porter, who claimed to this newspaper that some Met police officers had been “important enablers and it could be said that they were a factor in allowing him to continue his abuse years after we settled in 1997”.
Loftus, 83, who worked for Fayed as the director of security at Harrods between 1987 and 1996, was unable to comment due to ill health, but Eamon Coyle, 70, who was Loftus’s deputy, said he recognised the allegations contained in the statement to be true.
Coyle said: “I knew that there was a tame policeman. He was under the direct control of Macnamara. He was on tap. He was on the payroll.”
He added that it was generally understood Macnamara had significant influence in Scotland Yard at commander level.
“There were some commanders he was regularly in contact with and I assume, when solutions were found for various issues, that he had tapped them up to assist,” Coyle said. “Bob had confided that in me, because we were quite shocked, you know, that should occur. You know, it was just part and parcel of the services that he provided to Fayed.”
A BBC documentary aired last month, based on an investigation by the producer Keaton Stone, carried the testimony of five women who allege they were raped by Fayed.
The Met has since said they are investigating a number of new allegations of sexual crimes in addition to reviewing the case of 19 women who had already come forward between 2005 and Fayed’s death in 2023, at the age of 94.
Scotland Yard has said that although it was not possible to bring criminal proceedings against someone who had died, “we must ensure we fully explore whether any other individuals could be pursued for any criminal offences”.
Porter said the allegations contained in Loftus’s statement suggested the conduct of former police officers should be included in the review of potential criminality related to Fayed, who sold Harrods to the Qatar Investment Authority for £1.5bn in 2010.
According to Loftus’s statement, he was instructed in the middle of 1994 to “find an attractive young Portuguese girl who could work as a cleaner” at Fayed’s home in Oxted, Surrey.
Da Silva “proved to be acceptable” to Fayed and “quickly became a nanny because the children liked her” but she was dismissed in August that year.
Loftus writes: “She made a fuss. Macnamara told me that Mohamed Al Fayed wanted the problem sorted out. He said that, ‘We’ve done a moody, she is going to be nicked’.
“I understood this to mean that a false allegation would be made that she had committed a criminal offence and this would be a set-up to stop her from claiming that Fayed had sexually harassed her.”
Loftus claimed Macnamara told him he had arranged for a detective constable from a London police station to organise the arrest.
He wrote: “He was a policeman who had been bribed in the past to trump up charges against a bodyguard who had fallen foul of Mohamed Al Fayed. Macnamara told me: ‘It’s amazing what they will do for just a few readies’. Hermina was accused of stealing property from [Fayed’s brother’s property in] Park Lane.”
Da Silva was subsequently released without charge and given a £12,000 pay-off from Harrods.
Loftus further alleged that the police officer had been given a mobile phone but that Macnamara had said they needed to be careful because the officer was getting “greedy”.
Loftus said he recalled being told by a colleague at Harrods at Christmas time that year that the officer had turned up “looking for a bung”.
He wrote: “I understood this to mean one of the white envelopes full of cash that Mohamed Al Fayed was in the habit of giving his employees.
“I told him to make sure [he] was sorted out but to be careful and keep a record … On another occasion [he] had come into Harrods and was given a suit.”
Loftus claimed Macnamara often sought out confidential information from the police.
He wrote: “Fayed’s use of the police is ingenious. There are tight controls in place to ensure that unauthorised checks on the Police National Computer are not made explicitly… Mr Macnamara would get around this by networking and having a number of contacts all over the country.”
Loftus added that he was personally pressured by Macnamara to “use my personal contact with a senior CID [central investigation department] officer at Chelsea police station to cause an investigation to be made in order to discredit” a senior executive at Harrods who had angered Fayed.
Macnamara was alleged to have been liberal in giving out hampers to police officers, with those in the most senior ranks enjoying greater largesse.
Loftus wrote: “Macnamara would arrange that a number of chief superintendents would send their car round to receive their hamper.”
One commander was said to be a particularly “great receiver of hospitality” and would receive the gifts “whenever he had been a particularly great help to Harrods”.
A Harrods spokesperson said: “We want to offer our assistance with any new or existing inquiries the Metropolitan police receive in relation to accusations regarding the actions of Fayed. Harrods is in direct communication with the Metropolitan police to ensure we are offering our assistance with any of their relevant inquiries.”
