A monster': Abusive Fayed likened to Savile by lawyers acting for alleged survivors

The former Harrods owner Mohamed AI Fayed was a "monster" whose sexual abuse of women could be compared to the cases of Jimmy Savile, Jeffrey Epstein and Harvey Weinstein, lawyers representing dozens of alleged survivors have said.

- Kevin Rawlinson

Speaking at a press conference in London yesterday, barristers acting for 37 of the women announced their intention to bring a civil case against Harrods, the luxury London department store, where they said a system was put in place to protect Fayed during his decades of abuse.

"We will say it plainly: Mohamed AI Fayed was a monster," said Dean Armstrong KC, adding that he had "never seen a case as horrific as this".

He compared Fayed's case to that of Savile because "in this case as in that, the institution, we say, knew about the behaviour". He added: "Epstein because, in that case, as in this, there was a procurement system in place to source the women and girls as you know there are some very young victims. And Weinstein, because it was a person at the very top of the organisation who was abusing his power." The announcement of the planned civil case comes after allegations of sexual assault against Fayed were aired in a BBC documentary on Thursday. Fayed was accused of raping five women and sexually abusing at least 15 others when they worked for him at the luxury department store, according to that investigation. More than 20 women said they had been sexually assaulted by him, and that Harrods had covered up the abuse.