Al Fayed claims ‘poor health’ as ​​police investigate abuse

The Metropolitan Police failed to challenge Mohammed Al Fayed’s claim that he was too ill to answer to a sexual assault charge, according to an official complaint.

An American woman, Pelham Spong, told authorities in 2017 that the tycoon had assaulted her a decade earlier, but police closed the investigation, saying they were “waiting to obtain a description of the suspect due to his poor state of health.” were unable to”.

But in a complaint to the UK police watchdog shared with BBC News, Ms Spong’s lawyers say police should have worked more thoroughly in investigating the medical evidence provided to them.

The Met said its review of the allegations relating to Mohammed Al Fayed would continue and it would share its findings as soon as possible.

The complaint said this police failure reflected “indifference to the victims” or an “institutional desire to protect Mr. Al Fayed from prosecution.”

The BBC has contacted Al Fayed’s estate for comment.

Ms Spong is being represented by Sigrid McCauley, the high-profile US lawyer who led the legal action against Jeffrey Epstein. who died in a New York jail cell As he was awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

“This has gone on too long,” Ms McCauley said. “Many survivors were victims of Fayyad and informed the police.

“They got no protection. This is appalling and it has to stop.”

Ms Spong applied for a job as Al Fayed’s PA in 2008, aged 23, while living in Paris.

She later told police that while in London for an interview, Al Fayed grabbed and kissed her, making it clear that sex with the boss was a requirement of the role.

The company also demanded she undergo an intimate medical examination, the results of which, she says, were given to Al Fayed, which revealed she had been diagnosed with a minor infection.

Shortly afterwards she told friends and a recruitment consultant in an email what had happened, but she was too frightened by Al Fayed’s power to report him.

Ms Spong finally felt able to come forward after nine years and a Metropolitan Police investigation began.

In June 2018 he was emailed by a detective saying he had been provided with expert evidence about Al Fayed that would “impact” on the investigation.

Thirteen days later a senior official said the case would be closed, partly because police had been unable to obtain his response to the allegations due to the businessman’s health.

The Met said the case could not be referred to prosecutors because there was not enough evidence.

Ms Spong’s complaint to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) concluded that the decision to end the investigation was “premature and flawed”.

The complaint states: “Police … should have worked more thoroughly in assessing the substance and veracity of the medical evidence provided by Al Fayed”.

Al Fayed’s son Omar recently told Mail on Sunday Her father had pretended to suffer from dementia so he could avoid trial for sexual crimes.

Older suspects in historical abuse cases have been a common challenge for other police forces. However, three years before the Al Fayed investigation ended, a disgraced Church of England bishop, Peter Ball, Successfully prosecuted despite being over 80 years of age,

In the same year an attempt was made to prosecute the Labor peer Lord Jenner, despite four doctors agreeing that he was suffering from dementia. He died before a hearing can take place,

The Met also told Ms Spong that no medical evidence, telephone, CCTV, forensics or eyewitness accounts could be collected due to the “historical nature of this allegation”.

However he says he gave them a file of emails, letters and medical records from the application process, which he has also shared with the BBC.

These reveal the names of staff she came into contact with, including two doctors involved in the medical examination she was told she would have to undergo.

Her IOPC complaint alleges that police failed to obtain formal statements from doctors, a recruiter who recommended Ms Spong for the job, and other Harrods employees who might have been able to corroborate her claims. Were.

Ms Spong’s lawyers also believe police sought records about her job application from the wrong company – contacting the company that manages the apartment block in London where she stayed instead of Harrods.

The complaint concludes: “These investigative failings, particularly when viewed alongside the prior and concurrent accounts of other women and girls who have accused Mr Al Fayed of similar misconduct, demonstrate a pattern of systemic inaction by the Met.” A related pattern is suggested.”

Ms Spong said she had been told by police that they could continue the investigation if more women came forward with allegations against Al Fayed.

But efforts to reopen the case in 2021 stalled within months.

The Met has confirmed it was aware of 21 allegations against Al Fayed before the BBC aired its documentary last year.

Ms Spong said: “In fact, more women came forward to tell their stories of abuse to the Met, and others before me, and it made no difference. The Met did nothing.”

His lawyer, Ms McCauley, asked: “Who were the decision-makers who allowed Fayed to get a free pass here?”

“This is beyond unacceptable. They wouldn’t do this to any other suspect – they would have been prosecuted.”

Ms Spong and her lawyers hope the IOPC complaint will mark the beginning of a legal campaign by American victims to call for a broader investigation of the response to the Al Fayed abuse scandal.

Ms McCauley’s fight against Epstein led to the US Justice Department “investigating people who did not do their duty”, he said.

He described Ms Spong’s complaint as a “little pinch on the weather”, but “part of a much larger and more significant incident”.

The IOPC can either dismiss the complaint, conduct its own investigation, or refer the matter to the Met Office for investigation under the watchdog’s supervision.

It may recommend that police officers face misconduct proceedings or prosecution.

The Met said it had changed the way it investigated sexual crimes and put victims at the center of its response.

The review of previous Al Fayed investigations is looking for evidence of misconduct or corruption among officials.

The Met is also investigating those who may have enabled Al Fayed’s abusive behaviour.