British model Bianca Gascoigne has said she was groomed and sexually assaulted by Mohamed al Fayed when she worked at Harrods as a teenager.
Warning: This article contains details readers may find distressing.
The 37-year-old, who is the daughter of England football legend Paul Gascoigne, had visited the luxury department store in Knightsbridge with her parents when she was growing up and said Al Fayed would be “charming” and bring them gifts.
Speaking publicly about it for the first time on The UK Tonight with Sarah-Jane Mee, she said this meant by the time she joined Harrods aged 16 she felt “safe” in his presence.
However, when she started working for the Egyptian businessman she claimed he would grope her and force her to kiss him during their weekly meetings.
She said she felt trapped and frightened and one night he offered her the Harrods Park Lane apartment to stay in before a flight.
In an emotional interview, Gascoigne said: “[Al Fayed] turned up at the apartment to my shock, I was just gobsmacked, I was kind of very shell-shocked.
“I just didn’t really know what to do, he came in and then he sat me down on the sofa… he got his privates out and got my hands and was trying to manoeuvre them on his parts.
“When that didn’t work he was trying to force my head on to his lap.
“And I don’t know how but I managed to wiggle away.
“And I think possibly you know, that him knowing my parents… I don’t know, that might have saved me at that moment. But it was horrific.”
A string of allegations against Al Fayed have emerged since the release of an investigation by the BBC. He died last year aged 94.
The Metropolitan Police said it had recorded 60 allegations against Al Fayed since the BBC documentary, including claims of rape and sexual assault. Those are in addition to the 21 women who went to the police between 2005 and 2023 with sex crime allegations against the businessman.
On Monday Harrods said more than 250 people are part of its process to settle compensation claims over Al Fayed’s alleged sexual misconduct.
‘I didn’t want to bring embarrassment and shame’
Gascoigne had joined Harrods as a shop floor worker but was later promoted to her “dream” job of becoming a fashion buyer.
But she said no one in her life knew what was going on – not even her mum and dad. She said the shame stopped her from telling anyone.
“Obviously, I loved my job because it’s exactly what I wanted to do – that was my dream,” she said.
“And, you know, he’s doing all these things to me. And I was close to people that he knew, and I felt like I couldn’t even tell them either, because I didn’t want to bring embarrassment and shame.”
Gascoigne worried about losing her job if she spoke out
She said while the alleged abuse was being carried out she was “trying to work out what was going on” and was worried about losing her job.
“[Al Fayed] told me that if I would say anything that I would lose my job,” she said. “So I just got really scared, at 16 turning 17, you think you know what’s going on at the time but you really don’t.
“I look back now and just feel very sorry for my 16-year-old self and wish I could protect her.”
‘He used to tell me [my father] was an embarrassment’
Gascoigne also said Al Fayed would make derogatory comments about her father, whose mental health and addiction problems are well documented, when he allegedly started grooming her shortly before she joined Harrods.
She continued: “[Al Fayed] used to tell me how much of a bad father my dad was because he used to come into the store drunk, and he used to tell me [my father] was an embarrassment.”
She said Al Fayed told her she should see himself as a “father figure” instead and she felt a “false sense of security with him early doors”.
‘I feel like I have to do this’
Gascoigne recently had a daughter and decided she wanted to speak out after seeing other alleged victims of Al Fayed come forward.
She said: “I feel like I have to do this, like I want to do this.
“I want to stand for the women and, you know, hopefully make any kind of change so that in the future my daughter won’t have to go through something like this… and these predators won’t be able to get away with what they are getting away with.”
Asked about the allegations by Sky News, Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: “I think it’s just a horrifying set of allegations and shocking that so many women, who were there at different stages in their lives are coming forward with these experiences of really severe abuse at the hands of their employer.
“I think there are questions for all of the institutions that Mohammed Al Fayed was either in charge of or involved with, about what they did, what they knew, and how they responded.
“I think apologies now are obviously very welcome, but I think there are some questions to answer about what’s gone on in the past.”
Sky News has contacted Harrods for comment.
The department store has previously said it is “utterly appalled” by similar allegations and said it is a “very different organisation to the one owned and controlled by al Fayed between 1985 and 2010.”
Watch Bianca Gascoigne’s full interview on The UK Tonight With Sarah-Jane Mee from 8pm on Sky News