Sir Keir Starmer has come under fire for failing to prosecute Mohamed Fayed for sexual assault during his time as attorney general.
In 2008, Fayed, then owner of Harrods, was questioned under caution by the Metropolitan Police after a 15-year-old girl said he sexually assaulted her in a London store.
In February 2009, while Sir Keir was director of public prosecutions (DPP), the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) announced that no charges would be brought because there was “no realistic prospect of conviction”.
Downing Street claims Sir Keir, who left his role at the CPS in 2013, had no role in the decision. But the Conservatives said it was “another failing” of the organisation under his watch, after they also failed to prosecute Jimmy Savile.
Five women alleged they were raped by Fayed, and 20 said he sexually assaulted them.
Shadow Minister for Crime and Policing, Matt Vickers, said: “Keir Starmer is always keen to take credit for the work of others in the CPS, but when something goes wrong under his watch it has always been someone else who is to blame.
“He had the chance to sue Fayed When Starmer was DPP but it was not received. These latest revelations show that this is yet another example of failure.”
Sir Keir said that while he was DPP he was “personally concerned” about any case that could affect the reputation of the CPS and that this could be “particularly because it is a sensitive case”.
Savile has previously denied claims that he was informed when a CPS investigator decided to drop the case against him while he was DPP.
A Downing Street spokesman said: “Keir was not involved in this case. It did not come to his desk.”
Fayed died last year at the age of 94 without ever being tried, despite numerous complaints made to police by different women.
Fayed had a well-known reputation for sexually assaulting his staff when the teenager reported to police in 2008 that he had sexually assaulted and kissed her against her will.
In Tom Bower’s 1998 biography, former employees described Fayed groping them at work and sexually assaulting them at his homes in London and Paris.
The girl, now in her 30s, told the BBC that she started working as a shop assistant at Harrods in 2007 when she was 14 and initially saw him as a father figure, but then he started calling her on her personal mobile phone and hugging her in the store.
She alleges that she was summoned to the Harrods boardroom in May 2008, where she was assaulted.
“He started hugging me and touching me, rubbing himself against me and grabbing my face and trying to put his tongue in my mouth,” she said.
“I said I was 15 and asked, ‘What are you doing?’ He said I had turned into a beautiful woman and grabbed my breasts.
“I pushed him and when he saw how scared and terrified I was he became enraged and started shouting at me.” After telling his family what had happened, they reported the matter to the police that same month and Fayed was questioned later that year.
The case was handled by Rene Barclay, the CPS’s then director of complex litigation, whose role was to handle cases deemed “high profile”. In 2009 he announced that no charges would be brought.
A spokesman for London Police said on Thursday: “Police received an allegation of a sexual assault which allegedly took place in London in May 2008.
“The report was thoroughly researched, including reviewing CCTV, interviewing potential witnesses and analysing telephone data.
“Following this, a case was referred to the CPS for consideration and the CPS concluded that no further action should be taken.”
The victim allegedly told the BBC that one of the reasons he was not charged was because he misrepresented the day of the attack.
The CPS said the teenager’s complaint was the only file about Fayed passed to them by police.
It provided “early investigation advice” to the Met following complaints about Fayed in 2018, 2021 and 2023 following Sir Keir’s departure from the CPS, but “a full dossier of evidence was never received in any of these cases”.
Another woman contacted police in 2013 and again in 2015 but the CPS says they had nothing to do with the incident.
In the BBC documentary Predator: Al-Fayed at Harrods, women who worked at the store from the 1980s to 2000s described attacks taking place at the company’s offices, at Fayed’s flat in Park Lane and on his trips abroad.
The broadcaster says Harrods not only intervened but helped cover up the allegations against Fayed.
‘I was completely appalled’
Harrods’ current owners said they were “utterly appalled” by the allegations, adding that the company was “very different” today.
“The spider web of corruption and misconduct at this company was unbelievable and very dark,” said Bruce Drummond, a lawyer who was part of the legal team representing several of the women.
Commander Kevin Southworth, of the Metropolitan Police Department’s Public Protection Unit, said: “We are aware of the various allegations of sexual offences made over the years in relation to the late Mohamed Al Fayed which have been made to the Met.
“Each was investigated and, in appropriate cases, advice was sought from the Crown Prosecution Service. No charges were raised from these investigations.
“As with any investigation, any further information that comes to light will be assessed and investigated accordingly.”