Almost half of the women who reported allegations of sexual abuse by Mohamed Al Fayed to the Metropolitan police are potential victims of human trafficking, MPs have been told. In a briefing for the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) for the survivors of Fayed and Harrods in July, senior Met officers said a review earlier this year found 70 survivors’ accounts bore the hallmarks of trafficking. Last month the Home Office confirmed that at least five survivors were victims of international and domestic trafficking.
The Met’s figures suggested the number of confirmed cases could climb much higher, said the Liberal Democrat MP Wendy Chamberlain, a co-chair of the APPG. The Labour MP Dave Robertson, the APPG’s other co-chair, said: “The number of women who were trafficked by Mohammed Fayed and his trafficking ring is certainly much higher.” Some women were trafficked from Harrods to Fayed’s private offices and residence in Park Lane while others were taken out of the UK and abused overseas, senior police officers running the Met’s investigation, Operation Cornpoppy, told the APPG. But several survivors told the Guardian that the Home Office had not recognised them as victims of trafficking because they now live abroad.
Amy, who lives in Italy, said she was trafficked from Harrods, where she initially worked on the shop floor, and her home to Fayed’s other properties. She said she was transferred to a PA role in his private residence and office at 60 Park Lane in London, where he allegedly sexually abused her, including groping her breasts and forced kissing. She said Fayed also took her in his private car and helicopter to his estate in Oxted, Surrey, where she was sexually assaulted in a lagoon-style swimming pool located behind a concealed door.
Whoever saw me leave my bedsit would say that’s not her. That’s a strong component of what trafficking is and was very calculating.” In a letter sent in June to the then minister for safeguarding and violence against women and girls, Natalie Fleet, Amy raised concerns about the apparent exclusion of survivors living outside the UK from the Home Office assessment of potential trafficking victims, the National Referral Mechanism (NRM). She received a response from the Home Office in August, which said there was not a requirement that a potential victim be resident in the UK before being referred to the NRM by the police, or another first responder organisation.
But last month Amy was informed by her contact officer at the Met that the Home Office had confirmed it would reject any referrals made for international residents. KP Law (KPL), which represents Amy and 277 other alleged survivors of Fayed’s abuse, said nearly a quarter of those women now lived overseas. Lucy Traynor, a senior associate at KPL, criticised the apparently inconsistent advice as to who was eligible to be recognised as a victim of trafficking.
The lawyer said: “We are still seeing individuals whose experiences meet the threshold for trafficking struggling to secure recognition through these systems which are designed to identify and protect victims. Amy’s case is a stark example. Despite the nature of what she experienced, she continues to face barriers to recognition outside the UK.
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