we will have the headlines for you at — we will have the headlines for you at the _ we will have the headlines for you at the top _ we will have the headlines for you at the top of— we will have the headlines for you at the top of the - we will have the headlines for you at the top of the hour - you at the top of the hour after— you at the top of the hour after this— you at the top of the hour after this programme. - yeah, i went back to harrods about a year ago. probably the first time since i left. i knew if i could walk through and come out the other side, i'd be in a good place to be talking to you. when i walked through the doors to start myjob there, i was excited. at no point in time did i ever anticipate being on the receiving end of an attempted rape.

ijoined harrods because i wanted to be a buyer and i ended up working for an absolute monster. i think he damaged me in some way. - he's just left a scar. reporter: the billionaire - businessman mohamed al fayed who went from selling soft drinks in egypt to owning harrods and the paris ritz, has died at the age of 94. reporter: egyptian businessman mohamed al fayed was best - known for his links to the british royal family. his son dodi was killed alongside princess diana in paris in 1997. reporter: he was the self-made billionaire determined to get - into british society and became known to a new generation - through the most recent series of the crown. - diana. mohamed, but you must call me mou mou. to be honest, this made me really hot and bothered. i think he comes across, erm, pleasant. we all know he's not. itjust makes him look sort

of funny and gregarious, and he could turn that on, but it's all... he wasn't. he was... ..vile. and that makes me angry. people shouldn't remember him like that. it's not how he was. i've been waiting for 25 years for someone to believe me. i to talk about the awful things that he did. - i have spoken up about my time there on numerous occasions. most of the time it has been shut down. he tried to rape me more than once. and he pushed me in and onto and he pushed me in and onto the bed so that i couldn't move the bed so that i couldn't move and held both my wrists. and held both my wrists. i was face down on the bed - i was face down on the bed - and he pressed himself on me. and he pressed himself on me. get him off, get him get him off, get him off, get him off! off, get him off!

i was a child when this happened, you know. i he was 79, nearly 80, and i was 15. - i think mohamed al fayed is a rapist. . i think he's a serial rapist. mohamed al fayed should be on trial, but he's not, he's in the ground, being eulogised by the most popular television programme out there. i knew, and i think if i know, everybody knew. anyone who says they didn't, they're lying, i'm sorry. the spider's web of corruption and abuse in this company was unbelievable and very dark. without question, harrods failed these ladies. the lawyers organised - for a shredding truck to come

al fayed came in, i he gave her the nod, and i was offered the job. but before i took the job, . i needed to have a medical. everyone had them, - and it'sjust an extra perk of the job, i was told. we were told to go for a medical check—up with dr ann coxon in harley street. this is from a dr wendy snell, who was the harrods doctor at the time. it says, "the gynaecological swabs, including chlamydia, also showed no signs of infection, a very reassuring finding. " so, i don't know who that's reassuring for. i have exactly the same feeling now of regret, frustration about al fayed that

i had aboutjimmy savile. the late �*805 were a fascinating time for journalism and, of course, the royal family were the focus of huge, huge attention, particularly princess diana. and colourful characters like al fayed were also fascinating. when i was at the news of the world, this would be about 1986, �*87, there had been rumours about him molesting or harassing young female employees. there was most definitely there was most definitely a culture of fear a culture of fear across the whole store, across the whole store, from the lowliest of the low from the lowliest of the low to the most senior person. to the most senior person. even if there's no work, i the majority of the security. the majority of the security. guards were all either special guards were all either special forces or army or ex—police. forces or army or ex—police. it was well known in it was well known in harrods that the phones harrods that the phones might be tapped. might be tapped. i was told to sit there and, i was told to sit there and,

even if there's no work, i kind of look like you're working, cos in that i flowerpot across the hallway, there's a camera. _ that's why none of the other girls, we couldn't talk to each other properly about it, because we all thought we were being bugged. the abuse against women, i mean, i was aware of it when i was on the shop floor. i knew, and i think if i know, everybody knew. anyone who says they didn't, they're lying, i'm sorry. i can understand why some colleagues i have or people that i work with who don't want to speak up about these events. they are afraid of, if they don't show total loyalty to a principle, then it's going to affect their future employment. but they all know deep down in their hearts that what occurred was tragic for those victims. we have a control room in the basement with security cameras, but they only observe the corridors up to mr al fayed's private residence doors, so we would only see the girls going in to

the door and then close the door behind him. i did question it. i said, "that's strange behaviour." but they said, "well, if you're not happy with that, you know where the door is." i worked for mohamed al fayed from the mid '80s to the early '90s — six years in total. you would normally, for a principal, if you're there, yourjob is to protect his life. i can say for myself and a few others that you wouldn't stand in front of a gun for al fayed. if he was seeing girls, it would be in park lane. one instance, two girls came into the building and we were told to send them up to the top floor. and then later on, they came down and came out of the lift, and one of them was really upset and crying, and i took

out in his dressing gown and pyjamas and wanted us to sit on his lap and everything else", and the poor kid was in bits. exasperated sigh. now you would think, you know, you want to smack him... ..in the mouth... ..but then you never saw it happen because it was in his personal apartment, so what could you do? and who do you go to? he... there were tonnes of women that would have had sex with him - because he was a very wealthy and very powerful man. - still, he chose to pursue people that he terrified. | and he came in the bathroom and started to touch me, he turned me around, he pushed me against the wall and his hands came around my throat. before, i'd always felt the worst thing that could ever happen was him raping me. that day, i felt like the worst thing that could happen is that he could stop me breathing.

mohamed owned lots of properties, many abroad. he owned the ritz in paris and the villa windsor in bois de boulogne, and he'd often go over there for trips to visit his properties. he asked me to come along. iwas, again, very nervous, but you couldn't say no. he wanted me to fly over to paris that evening, go and interview some of the chefs at the paris ritz. and we got to the ritz and the security officer said, "mr mohamed has left for the day. he's at the house in the bois." the house in the bois de boulogne was a house that mohamed bought and restored to its former glory. seeing the villa windsor on the crown evoked so many memories.

when i saw the state i the villa was in, i said, "money is no object." restoring it will be my honour and pleasure. i itjust takes me back to when he took me there, and they're not good memories. i came in up the steps into the hallway and i was taken into the salon and the door closed. mr mohamed was there. he asked me to come and sit on the sofa with him. i started to wonder when he was going to have the conversation with me about the interviews the next day and it didn't happen, so i instigated that conversation and he kept deflecting me away from that and saying, "don't worry about this. you will stay with me tonight." and i stood up and said, "i'm not staying."

where he was standing was in quite close proximity to the wall behind that had a doorway that was open and he took my right wrist and he pulled me through that doorway, and it was a bedroom, and there was a bed, and he pushed me in and onto the bed and then put his... ..his right leg over my hips so that i couldn't move, and held both my wrists. and... ..i was terrified. this time i was even more scared cos i wasn't at home, i was in france, i was in villa windsor, and he'd come upstairs into my room. i was absolutely terrified. i was under the covers. he was wearing his dressing gown, undone like that. he got into bed with me, he was trying to kiss me and push himself on me, and, again, ijust don't know how i did it, ijust kicked him off. i kicked and kicked and kicked and kicked and screamed and,

again, i got him off and i wasjust... ..just terrified. when mohamed was assaulting me, because of the force of the situation... ..i believed he was attempting to rape me. the first thing that came into my head to try and get away was, "we can't do this because i need to have a shower." he released his grip. i got out of the room as quickly as i possibly could, i turned the shower on so it sounded like i was showering, to sort of cover any noise i might be making, i put every item of clothing on that i had so that if i slept through the night and he tried to come in, it would take him a lot longer to get to what he wanted. then... ..i might have a chance to get away. she sighs. i hadn't asked, - "where am i staying?", because surely harrods would have booked usi

a hotel room and made sure l of our safety, not delivered us like lambs to the slaughter to al fayed's house. - you know, he threw himself on top of me, his hands - were all over me, and, you know. _ i was wearing a dress. he was very, very forceful. i, thank god, reacted - and kicked him off, ran down the hallway into my room . in sheer terror because ijust didn't know what would happen, you know. - then, about a week later, i got a letter in the post. from harrods telling me that i had had my employment. terminated because i didn't use the right staff door. _ yeah. nothing to do with the sexual abuse. | shortly after that, there was an evening when my then boyfriend

and i had been out for a dinner. we came round the corner, heading back to our car, and one of mohamed's close security guards was just standing in the street, looking straight at me, and i said, "oh, hello. what are you doing here?" he said, "ah, that's the question. what are you doing here?" and i believed that because i had said no to mohamed, they were just keeping tabs on me to make sure i wasn't telling anybody, which made me even more fearful. the spider's web of corruption and abuse in this company was unbelievable and very dark. any place of work has a duty to ensure the safety of its employees. when you take that to a classic place like harrods, without question the company failed these ladies.

that's why we step in, because theyjust did nothing to actually prevent this. they did the opposite. they enabled it. we're one of a number of representatives that are acting for survivors of this horrific case. how are we? very well, very well. we've got now over 15 survivors and it's growing every day. if what these ladies say is right and we've no reason to dispute it, then fayed clearly was an absolute menace to society. he was a serial sex abuser. a serial sex abuser. first of all, we're going towards... | ..a claim for an unsafe system of work. - yeah. you're in possession - of material to suggest that

the extent of the knowledge i of those who were significant in harrods did rather. make it, effectively... ..at least an acquiescence to what was going on. - yeah. one of the questions is, whyi was nothing said at the time? limited opportunities. they couldn't go to hr i because that was internal and was controlled by- the senior figures at harrods. it's quite understandable that people would think, "well, i there's nowhere for me to go." there's really only one area where you do goi if you seek redress. and that's the press. and that's the press, to say, actually, this is something . very badly wrong here. i had quite a number of conversations with maureen orth and started to talk about the safety

in numbers thing, this, kind of, "you're not alone", so i agreed to give a statement but to do it anonymously. john macnamara was head of security at the time. - his background was with the metropolitan police. j but he was a nasty piece of work. you know, would threaten people and things, and use his power as an ex—copper. john mcnamara contacted me before the article was published, at a point where i was living at a different address, different telephone number and different work, and i had no idea how he'd found me, and said i wasn't to be involved in that article. that if i went against his advice, thatjust to be aware that he knew where my parents lived. it turned me cold. and after i spoke to maureen, i've never spoken to anybody else forfear ofjust what it might bring.

mohamed al fayed never influenced anything - that we published, much. as he sometimes tried to. but al fayed cultivated influential people. - made them generous offers of free items from harrods. and he also tried l that onjournalists. but if it had come back out in the mid '80s, i groping, propositioning, he would never have got anywhere near that he did get to the royal family. _ reporter: for british royal watchers, it has been - another day afloat off the coast of saint—tropez. their focus, mohamed al fayed's villa, where the princess and her sons are holiday guests _ watching that clip of saint—tropez brought back a lot of memories of my two summers i spent there. say hi, boys.

i think it was a very good replica villa that they found for the location. your royal highness. mou mou. yeah, it was a beautiful place, for sure, but, for me, it had some bad memories. prior to going to saint—tropez, i was told that i needed to go and have another check—up and have another check—up with dr coxon. with dr coxon. and when i got to the villa, and when i got to the villa, i could see that mohamed, i could see that mohamed, he was absolutely livid. he was absolutely livid. he came up to me with a bottle he came up to me with a bottle of dettol disinfectant of dettol disinfectant in his hand, and his first in his hand, and his first words to me were, "who words to me were, "who have you been bleep?!�* have you been bleep?!�* i didn't know what he i didn't know what he was talking about. was talking about. "i got the medical report back "i got the medical report back from dr coxon and it from dr coxon and it shows that you have...", shows that you have...", you know, "..an std." you know, "..an std." he said "you have a dirty i he said "you have a dirty i bleep_ bleep. bleep_ bleep.

you need to bathe in this." you need to bathe in this." he then handed me a packet of pills. he said, "you need to take these pills, one every night, to clear up your infection." i certainly didn't take the pills and i certainly didn't put dettol in my bath. and it wasn't until a few days later when i called home to my mum, who at the time was working in a london hospital, and ijust asked her sort of casually if she knew what these pills were, and she was like, "yeah, they're a major sedative tranquillizer type drug."

certainly i think that was his intention. i was united kingdom editor of vanity fair in the '90s. my role was to support everything in the story. i've never talked about it before, no. this is the stuff that got stranded with me, and this isjust a tiny fraction of what we have. and there were massive and massive amounts of interviews, statements, affidavits, supporting evidence. within those affidavits, there is evidence of serial criminality. i was approached by vanity fair back in the 1990s. _

they tracked me down, i think, i because whoever was on the door at park lane when i left must have seen the state - i was in and remembered me or remembered my name. i that evening, i'd already- talked to him about the idea of wanting to be an actress. when i walked in, we sat down and he started - talking about how dodi - was about to start producing the prequel to hook and he gave me the script and he said, - "read that passage from - the script straight to camera and then i'll send it on to dodi." . in context, it was fine, but out of context - it was, "take me. take me, please. " he comes around from behind the camera and he grabs me i and he kisses me on the mouth and i push him away, _ andido... i sort of say, - "what are you doing?" he said, "right, if you won't. sleep with me, i'm not helping you with your acting career."

and i thought, "get out. i've got to get out." i was able to get my things and get out. i one afternoon, i got a phone call from somebody. mr al fayed wanted to ask me if i would... ..bear witness to his good character... ..in a court proceedings that he had taken out against the journalist. and i said, "if you think i'm going to bear witness to his good character, you've got another think coming", and hoped that that was that... ..but received a courier package a few days later that included... ..a statement that i had supposedly given, witnessing mohamed's good character, signed by me, and i had not given that statement and i had

not signed a statement, at which point i was absolutely terrified because i thought, if this can happen, what else could happen to me? we had a lot of evidence. we were in a really strong position. they couldn't do anything about maureen's article. everything we found out in support is much, much, sort of, more damaging than maureen's article. and to have women in court saying, "actually, he came over in his dressing gown and offered me £100 for this or that sexual favour," it was completely... he couldn't have had that. this is bbc television from london. diana, princess of wales, has died after a car crash in paris. the french government announced her death just before five o'clock this morning. diana, princess of wales, had been a passenger in a car which crashed in a tunnel next to the river seine. herfriend dodi fayed and their driver were also killed. everyone was traumatised by

the appalling events in paris. nobody was thinking about this libel case after what had happened. this is the letter reporting a settlement offer in the al fayed case. they are prepared to drop the case, and then, what they wanted, and here's the key thing, we would destroy everything we've discovered — evidence, affidavits and correspondence. we would never refer to the case again. we'd won the game. we had got a case which could go to court and would have beaten him, and the only thing they want to do is destroy everything that we'd found out in those two years. and that is the crucial proposal, which we accepted. i was really cross that we'd been silenced. i mentioned that i was 15 and, "what are you doing?" and he said i was turning into a beautiful woman,

and grabbed my chest. i pushed him off, and he saw i was freaked out and scared, and he just went into a rage and just started screaming at me and just... sorry. i was a child when this happened. you know, he was nearly 80 and i was 15. i spoke to my parents and we all thought the best people maybe to talk to were the police. i was reporting child sex abuse within a working place and, erm, that's when it all went bad. there was a leak within the police force which led to them going to the press.

live from london. this is bbc news. israeli strikes into lebanon continue targeting hezbollah. the capital rocked by a massive explosion. it's just gone 7am in beirut. as those strikes continue to pound, thousands more are forced to flee their homes. and, as i was saying... picking up where he left off — donald trump returns to the very stage in butler, pennsylvania where he survived an assassination attempt. and a major rescue effort off samoa, as a new zealand navy ship runs aground, catches fire and sinks. hello, i'm rajini vaidyanathan.

the lebanese capital, beirut, is said to have suffered one of its most intense waves of israeli