A group representing Mohamed al Fayed’s alleged victims said it had been contacted by more than 400 people, including other alleged victims and witnesses.

The Justice for Harrods Survivors group said it had been contacted by people from Harrods and Fulham FC, both of whom Fayed previously owned, as well as “various venues” associated with the businessman.

It follows a series of allegations against the businessman, who died last year, after a BBC documentary about his behavior in which several women accused him of abuse.

The allegations include serial rape, attempted rape, sexual assault and sexual abuse of minors.

Speaking at a press conference in London on Thursday, lawyers Dean Armstrong KC, Bruce Drummond and Maria Mulla said the survivors group was now dealing with 421 investigations relating to Fayed.

“We now have customers who have suffered abuse at Harrods, at Fulham Football Club, from Al Fayed and at various venues associated with (him),” Mr Armstrong said.

“We have been contacted by over 400 people… Not all survivors, some witnesses… but we are currently working with 400 people who have been affected by this abuse.”

Mr Armstrong said the first letter of complaint on behalf of an individual had been sent to Harrods, “starting the formal legal process” of the case. He said this letter would be “followed by hundreds of others.”

“Abuse on an industrial scale”

The group said the majority of complaints against Fayed came from the UK, but there are also complaints from the US, Canada, Asia, Australia and other parts of Europe .

“This is, in our view, an abuse on an industrial scale,” Mr Drummond said, adding: “An abuse that could only have been perpetrated with a system that allowed this abuse to occur. .

“That’s what is so key about this case and why this case, in many ways, is the worst case of corporate sexual abuse of women the world has ever seen.”

He said the group had “credible evidence” that Fayed committed alleged abuse at a number of locations linked to his business empire, including his residence on Park Lane in London, his property in Surrey, his plane, the Ritz hotel in Paris and on his private yacht.

“Every young woman in his orbit was a target,” Mr. Drummond said.

One of the people allegedly abused by Fayed is Paul Gascoigne’s daughter Bianca.

Speaking to Sky News earlier this month She said she was groomed and sexually assaulted by the former Harrods owner while she worked at the London department store as a teenager.

Former Fulham Women captain Ronnie Gibbons also alleged she was sexually assaulted twice.

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This is in addition to 21 women who came to the Metropolitan Police between 2005 and 2023 with allegations of sex crimes against the businessman.

Harrods previously said it was “completely appalled” by the abuse allegations and said it was a “very different organization to the one owned and controlled by Fayed between 1985 and 2010”.