Senior Met Police cop apologises to alleged victims of ex-Harrods boss Mohammed Fayed for distress they faced
FAYED APOLOGY Senior Met Police cop apologises to alleged victims of ex-Harrods boss Mohammed Fayed for distress they faced
A SENIOR Met Police cop has apologised to alleged victims of ex-Harrods boss Mohammed Fayed for the distress they faced.
Det Chief Supt Angela Craggs, the officer leading the probe, said she sympathised — not least because he will 'never directly face justice'.
More than 100 women and teenage girls claimed the Egyptian tycoon, who died in 2023 aged 94, had sexually abused them.
The youngest was just 13 at the time and the claims span the years between 1977 and 2014.
Investigators twice sent files to the Crown Prosecution Service for a decision on possible charges. No action was taken.
The Met is reviewing 21 allegations made before Fayed's death and has referred two to the Independent Office for Police Conduct.
READ MORE ON MOHAMMED FAYED
RAPE HORROR Fayed raped me before Harrods bosses forced me into abortion, claims victim
It is also probing supposed facilitators of his alleged abuse.
In January The Sun reported that Fayed and his crimes would be examined in a TV documentary.
It came from the same team who brought us bombshell drama Mr Bates Vs The Post Office last year.
A TV insider said: 'Having a documentary made by this calibre of creative teams adds some heft to the project and is guaranteed to really scrutinise Fayed's dark history.
"Little Gem didn't just dramatise the story of the Horizon software scandal that saw hundreds of Post Office staff treated abominably by their bosses, they also made a factual show.
"This opens up the prospect of them potentially turning the story of Fayed into a drama too, one which would no doubt be snapped up by Channel 5 as well.'
'I'm haunted by what I saw' Al Fayed's security chief sheds new light on vile abuse of female staff
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Sighing, he goes on: 'I'm actually a Rod Stewart fan. I've been to see him twice. So that hurt me. Somebody like that carries a lot of weight. But there was no bullying and no harassing.' 12 Wallace, who was formally diagnosed with autism in January, says he is 'learning every day' about it Credit: Dan Charity DAVIE WON'T MIX WITH LIKES OF ME By Clemmie Moodie BBC Director-General Tim Davie failed to get in touch with Gregg Wallace after his sacking, he claims. Wallace also hit out at the decision to pay off disgraced newsreader Huw Edwards. And he accused the organisation of being out of touch with working-class people. He said: 'I haven't heard from Tim at all. 'I think people like Tim were told that if they worked hard at school, they wouldn't have to mix with people like me. 'The BBC right now, absolutely everybody's been to Guatemala and nobody's been to Lewisham. 'I don't have an uncle who works for the BBC who's doing me any favours. They gave me big shows and they were all a success. So it was a massive shock to me in 2018 to find that what I was doing could cause problems.' Wallace was dismissed by production firm Banijay and did not receive a pay-out. While not disputing this, he is angry they paid off Edwards. He added: 'Huw Edwards received a £200,000 pay off after he was arrested — I didn't get so much as a pat on the back and a tenner. 'I'm not complaining, I'm pointing out a fact. I'm not looking to play the victim.' There was also a 2018 complaint from his time on BBC One's Impossible Celebrities, where he told a female employee she was 'very bright and very pretty' and was 'rude' to the show's production runners. He says: 'I asked for a healthy lunch and they gave me a packaged sandwich I didn't want so I was a bit cross.' Another complaint referred to him asking a model what she ate in a day to stay so thin. The BBC sent him on a course which was, he claims, like 'telling someone with a heart condition to go and fix their own heart rate'. I'm scared' He adds: 'They told me about how to interact with young people. 'My problem was that I saw myself the same as them, but they weren't perceiving me the same as them. They saw me as a position of authority. So I was being too familiar and I was told I shouldn't try to talk to them about what they might be doing at the weekend or where they're going on holiday because I might be forcing them to converse with me on personal details that they might not want to give. 'And I didn't know I was autistic at the time. So all that did was just confuse the living daylights out of me. So from that point on, I just stopped talking to young people because I realised that I was working in a complaints culture. 'And if I could get in serious trouble for telling a girl she was attractive, what would happen if I went out drinking with people and said something political or sexual? 'So I just stopped talking to young people. In fact, I stopped socialising on MasterChef. It just panicked me.' From then on, there was only one allegation of inappropriate behaviour. Wallace has, he says, spent the past seven years 'hiding behind my sofa reading history books'. My biggest, biggest regret is that I ever went anywhere near a television studio - I was doing just fine as a greengrocer Gregg Wallace Since the scandal broke, he says he has been scared to go out 'in case people, who think I'm a sex pest, abuse me in the street'. He went on: 'The first time I went to the gym afterwards I was shaking. I have been so scared. I go out now in a disguise — a baseball cap and sunglasses, I don't want people to see me. I'm scared.' Wallace also admits a level of guilt for what happened to his Aussie co-star John, who had an allegation of racism upheld against him during the investigation. He storms: 'I've known John for 30 years and he is not a racist. 'And as evidence of that, I'll show you the incredible diversity of the people that he has championed, MasterChef winners, over the years. There is no way that man is a racist. No way. And my sympathies go out to John because I don't want anybody to go through what I've been through.' Following the investigation, Wallace unfollowed John and his wife Lisa Faulkner on social media. He says: 'We never really did get on that well. 'We're two very, very different characters. But we made bloody good telly together for 20 years.' Wallace says that the only positive from this is getting to spend more time with his non-verbal autistic son Sid. He admits he wished he had stayed in his former profession instead of embarking on a TV career. He says: 'My biggest, biggest regret is that I ever went anywhere near a television studio — I was doing just fine as a greengrocer." 12 Wallace also admits a level of guilt for what happened to his Aussie co-star John Credit: BBC 12 Wallace says that the only positive from this scandal is getting to spend more time with his non-verbal autistic son Sid Credit: Rex
