Police Scotland reopen Mohamed Al Fayed abuse inquiry
Police Scotland says a further investigation is ongoing into sexual assault claims against Mohamed Al Fayed, the late former Harrods owner. A Mail on Sunday report says the probe was reopened after a new witness corroborated former personal assistant Sophia Stone's account of alleged abuse at his Highlands estate.
Key Takeaways
- Police Scotland confirmed "further investigation is ongoing" into sexual assault allegations against Mohamed Al Fayed and declined further comment.
- The Scottish Mail on Sunday reported the case involving Sophia Stone was reopened after a new witness backed her account.
- Stone, now 58, joined Harrods at 19 as Al Fayed's personal assistant and reported her experience to Police Scotland in 2021.
- More than 400 sexual misconduct allegations against Al Fayed have been reported, spanning 1977 to 2014, according to STV News.
- The Metropolitan Police's Operation Cornpoppy is separately examining people who may have facilitated alleged offending.
What is Police Scotland investigating about Mohamed Al Fayed?
Police Scotland has stated that further investigation is ongoing into sexual assault claims made against Mohamed Al Fayed, the former Harrods owner who died in August 2023 at the age of 94.
According to the BBC, Al Fayed has been accused by dozens of women. Broader reporting cited by STV News says more than 400 allegations of sexual misconduct have been made against him, dating between 1977 and 2014. Those alleged offences include rape, sexual assault, human trafficking, false imprisonment, drugging, physical violence and forced abortions.
Some of the attacks are alleged to have taken place at his Balnagown Estate in Easter Ross in the Highlands. Al Fayed bought Balnagown in 1972 and also owned Sutherland's Falls of Shin Visitor Centre, which was damaged by fire in 2013.
On Sunday, a Police Scotland spokesperson said: "Further investigation is ongoing. It would be inappropriate to comment further."
Why was the Sophia Stone case reopened?
The Scottish Mail on Sunday reported that Police Scotland's investigation into Al Fayed's alleged abuse was reopened after a new witness came forward.
The paper said the force could not originally progress the case brought by Sophia Stone, now 58, because there was no evidence to corroborate her account. A new witness is now understood to have spoken to police and backed up Stone's account.
STV News reported that the force is examining Stone's claims of an alleged attempted rape during a trip to Balnagown Castle in 1991 after that new witness came forward.
Stone had been a personal assistant to the businessman after joining Harrods at 19. Her husband, Keaton, previously told the BBC she had been groomed, sexually assaulted and almost raped by Al Fayed. He said she also faced constant harassment and sexual assault in the office and everywhere she went with him, including on private helicopters and planes.
She reported her experience to Police Scotland in 2021.
The BBC reported that in 2024 the force said it had completed its inquiries into a report of a non-recent sexual assault at the Balnagown Estate. STV News separately reported that in 2025 Police Scotland closed an investigation into an allegation of rape at the Highlands estate, saying it could be reopened if new information came to light. The latest statements indicate further investigation is again under way.
How does this fit into wider Mohamed Al Fayed abuse claims?
Al Fayed's business holdings stretched well beyond Scotland, from Harrods to other high-profile assets. That concentration of wealth and influence is part of why survivors' groups and investigators have treated the allegations as a systemic story, not only a series of isolated complaints—context that also sits alongside BlasterPost's wider reporting on money and power in our Wealth Hacks & Passive Income section.
Lawyers representing the Justice for Harrods Survivors group report that 421 people have come forward about abuse that took place at Harrods, the Ritz Hotel in Paris, Fulham FC and other places owned by Al Fayed, according to STV News.
Harrods has previously said it was "utterly appalled" by the allegations and has condemned his actions "in the strongest terms," with its new owners setting up a compensation scheme for ex-employees who say they were attacked by Al Fayed, the BBC reported.
Separately, the Metropolitan Police are investigating 155 victims who contacted them directly, including 21 who came forward before Al Fayed's death in 2023. That investigation, known as Operation Cornpoppy, is looking at people who may have facilitated or enabled Al Fayed's crimes. Four people have been questioned to date, more than 18 months after the investigation opened.
A Met Police spokesperson told the Press Association the force is determined to "bring anyone who is suspected to have played a part in Mohamed Al Fayed's offending to justice."
For the primary public account of Police Scotland's latest position, see the BBC News report on the ongoing inquiry.
As of the latest statements, Police Scotland has not released further operational detail beyond confirming that investigation work continues. No new charging decisions in Scotland have been announced in the reporting cited here. Because Al Fayed died in 2023, investigators and survivors' advocates have focused on corroboration of historic claims and on living individuals who may have enabled alleged abuse.
The Highlands link remains central to the Scottish strand of the story: Balnagown Estate in Easter Ross is repeatedly named in coverage of where some alleged assaults took place, and Stone's reported 1991 trip to Balnagown Castle is the specific claim now said to have fresh corroboration. That is why a previously stalled Police Scotland file can matter again even years after earlier inquiries were closed.
Readers following Mohamed Al Fayed coverage should treat allegations as claims under investigation unless and until a court finds otherwise. What is established in current reporting is narrower but still significant: Scotland's national force says further investigation is active; a named former Harrods PA's case is said to have new witness support; and UK-wide scrutiny of alleged enablers continues under the Met's Operation Cornpoppy.