Dozens more alleged victims of Mohamed al Fayed come forward

Lawyers acting for alleged victims of Mohamed al Fayed have said more than 60 "survivors" have now come forward.

The Justice for Harrods Survivors group - planning legal action against the luxury department store - also said they expected there were "more to come".

The group said they have fielded more than 200 calls and messages from around the world about their proposed legal claim.

A string of allegations against the billionaire former Harrods and Fulham FC owner, who died last year aged 94, have emerged in recent days following an investigation by the BBC.

The claims include five accusations of rape and multiple allegations of sexual abuse.

A former Harrods employee told Sky News Fayed would "cherry pick" women from the shop floor and once they were called to his office they "couldn't say no".

In a new statement on Friday, the survivors group, which is headed by lawyers including Dean Armstrong KC, Bruce Drummond, Maria Mulla and Gloria Allred, described the response as "simply enormous".

They also said "credible evidence" of abuse had emerged from those working at al Fayed's other businesses, including Fulham FC, which he owned between 1997 and 2013.

Mohamed al Fayed: Timeline of sex abuse claims

The lawyers said in a statement: "We can confirm that we now represent 60 survivors as part of our claim, with more to come. To reiterate, our claim is becoming increasingly global in scope.

"We thank each of these brave women for placing their trust in us as we now move forward together."

"As we said last week, given our prolonged experience in dealing with the women impacted by this case, we expected that anywhere Mohamed al Fayed went, abuse would follow," they said.

"Sadly, this has proven to be true. We are now in possession of credible evidence of abuse at other al Fayed properties and businesses, including Fulham Football Club."

They added: "Once again, we stress the need for an independent and transparent process to evaluate and adjudicate these claims."

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It comes after the Metropolitan Police confirmed on Thursday it was investigating a string of new claims on top of previous reports made by 19 separate women.

The force said it would carry out "full reviews of all existing allegations" of incidents which are said to have taken place between 1979 and 2013 to ensure there are "no new lines of inquiry based on new information which has emerged".

Detectives added while it was not possible to bring criminal proceedings against someone who had died, the force would still "fully explore whether any other individuals could be pursued for any criminal offences".

The current managing director of Harrods, Michael Ward, said in a previous statement: "We have all seen the survivors bravely speak about the terrible abuse they suffered at the hands of Harrods former owner Mohamed Fayed.

"As we have already stated, we failed our colleagues and for that we are deeply sorry.

"As someone who has worked at Harrods since 2006, and therefore worked for Fayed until the change of ownership in 2010, I feel it is important to make it clear that I was not aware of his criminality and abuse.

"While it is true that rumours of his behaviour circulated in the public domain, no charges or allegations were ever put to me by the police, the Crown Prosecution Service, internal channels or others. Had they been, I would of course have acted immediately."

A spokesperson for Fulham FC told Sky News: "We remain in the process of establishing whether anyone at the club is or has been affected by the reports concerning Mr Al Fayed."

They added that anyone with information could contact the club or police.

(c) Sky News 2024: Dozens more alleged victims of Mohamed al Fayed come forward