Hunting men to uncover sexual abuse by Mohamed Al Fayed

A man has described how he helped uncover “seismic” rape and sexual assault allegations against Mohamed Al Fayed after his fiancée told him she was a victim of the Harrods billionaire.

Keaton Stone spent years speaking to women around the world and compiling a “damning” dossier of evidence.

In 2023 he went to the BBC and helped produce the documentary Al Fayed: Predator at Harrods.

His current wife, Sophia Stone, was the businessman’s personal assistant after he joined Harrods when he was 19.

Ms Stone revealed to her husband in 2018 that she had been groomed, sexually assaulted and almost raped by Al Fayed.

It came to light when he helped rewrite his wife’s resume. When he realized she had worked for Al Fayed, he put it at the top of her resume.

“Harrods for me, I guess we all thought it was this great, prestigious store, so I made a lot of it,” Stone said.

“When I finally presented this to her, I thought she would be totally okay with it – that wasn’t the reaction I was expecting.

“She completely collapsed, crying, shaking, [saying] “Why do you have his name on there, get him out, get him out.” That horrible, visceral, disturbed reaction.

“That’s when I knew something wasn’t right.”

Her description of what happened became the catalyst for a six-year journey that ultimately resulted in an exposé and the documentary.

Mr Stone, who acted as a consultant for the scheme, said: “She found it very difficult to tell me. She still finds it so traumatic.”

She told her fiancé that Al Fayed attempted to rape her several times while she worked for the company between 1988 and 1991, almost succeeding once.

There was also “constant harassment and sexual assault” both in the office and wherever she accompanied him, including private helicopters and planes.

Mr Stone added: “I would like to be clear: why haven’t these people left? They couldn’t leave, they couldn’t leave, they were threatened, they were silenced, they were afraid.”

“For this reason [Sophia] couldn’t walk.

“It wasn’t a happy escape because what happened happened and it traumatized her to this day.”

He added that Al Fayed’s actions against the numerous women who shared their experiences were “absolutely beyond despicable and depraved.”

The couple moved and lived in Birmingham and London before finally settling in the small town of Lichfield in Staffordshire.

There, first in a guest room, then in an office in her garden, Mr. Stone began compiling the evidence.

He said his wife buried what happened to her for a long time, which he said is the case with many survivors around the world.

“Most of them put it deep in a box and buried it,” he said.

When he contacted former Al Fayed employees, he said: “I can’t tell you how many times someone has said something like, ‘You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting for this email or text. I’” “I’ve waited 25 years for someone to ask me that.”

“There had been attempts to bring something about him to light before, [but] They never landed and he was able to bat them away.

Since the documentary, the team has been “inundated” with more survivors and Mr Stone believes there are now more than 100 of them.

Al Fayed died in August 2023.

“He knew something was happening, he was aware of it,” Mr Stone said.

“The overwhelming desire was to expose him and bring him to justice while he was still alive.

“We definitely didn’t want another one [Jimmy] Savile situation – we wanted him in prison.

“How big it was meant it took just as long, and sadly he died, but it is still overwhelmingly important to the survivors that the world knows the truth about him.”

Mr Stone also hopes the revelations will help bring those who enabled Al Fayed’s actions to justice.

In a statement last month, Harrods admitted that at the time of Al Fayed’s takeover it had “let down our employees, who were his victims, and for this we sincerely apologize”.

It added: “Today’s Harrods is a very different organisation.”

“Sophia is tired, she’s had to live with this every day for six years,” he said.

“She is still deeply traumatized and just wants it over with. She wants to put it behind her, but she is adamant and so determined that this should come to light.”

“This must be the case for the greater good and for all other survivors – it must continue to be investigated and exposed.”