A woman has told the BBC she was subjected to a “sickening” sexual assault by former Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed after being invited to his London flat for a work meeting.

The woman, who the BBC is calling Melanie, believes police were close to arresting him over her allegations just days before he died in August 2023.

A BBC investigation published on Thursday revealed that more than 20 women said they were sexually assaulted by the billionaire. Five said they were raped.

Melanie is one of a growing number of additional ex-Harrods employees to tell the BBC they were attacked since the documentary and podcast Al-Fayed: Predator at Harrods was released.

The BBC investigation gathered evidence that during Fayed’s ownership, Harrods not only failed to intervene, but helped cover up abuse allegations.

Melanie’s testimony comes as new details emerge of failed efforts by police and prosecutors to hold Fayed to account during his life, and a legal team representing many of the women the BBC has spoken to will set out their next steps on Friday.

Warning: this story contains details some may find distressing.

Melanie worked at Harrods for a few years prior to 2010. She described being hired there as a 21-year-old as a “dream job”.

She met Fayed – who was in his late seventies at the time – at work meetings on two occasions, before being summoned to his apartment on London’s Park Lane in late 2007.

Melanie says she went to the evening meeting despite the invitation “ringing the alarm bells”.

She was shown into sitting room by a housekeeper.

Melanie continued: “He sat down next to me, talking to me for a few minutes, not very long… He had asked that I return a couple of weeks later to stay at the apartments the night before the Harrods sale, and I could go to the Harrods sale with him, and I could meet the celebrity that was opening it.

“And he would not really let me leave until I agreed to that, so I said yes to be able to leave. I did not go back.

“As I stood to leave, that’s when he put his hands on my breast and said some pretty disgusting things. And I was in complete shock. I just turned around and walked out.”

Melanie told the BBC she did not share the full details of the “sickening” experience with loved ones, and for years “felt it was my fault” because she was “naive enough to have gone”. She described Fayed as a “sleazebag” and “slimy”.

In January 2023 Melanie decided to go to the police. The BBC has seen emails showing the case was passed to the Met’s CID department, which investigates serious allegations.

Melanie says she was later told the Met planned to arrest Fayed that year, and officers tried to arrest him on two occasions.

But he was too unwell to be questioned, and he died age 94 in August 2023.

Like other women the BBC has spoken to, Melanie said there were “rumours swirling” about Fayed, and described his private office as being like a “modelling agency” full of young women.

She continued: “There was definitely a knowledge, like a secret knowledge, within the company that Fayed likes to have pretty girls in his chairman’s office. And you do wonder what that means.”

Other women who worked at Harrods have painted a picture of Fayed as a predator who abused his position to prey on staff, and used his power to deter them from speaking out.

Some former employees recounted how he would tour his department store and identify young female assistants he found attractive, before promoting them to work his private office.

Ex-staff told the BBC this abuse was an open secret at the store. One said: “We all watched each other walk through that door thinking, ‘you poor girl, it’s you today’ and feeling utterly powerless to stop it.”

As well as inside Harrods itself and his Mayfair home, women have described incidents involving Fayed on trips to Paris, St Tropez and Abu Dhabi.

One woman described him as a “monster” who “cultivated fear” among his staff, while the store’s ex-deputy director of security revealed Fayed had phones tapped and secret cameras installed to monitor his employee’s discussions.

Al-Fayed: Predator at Harrods

A BBC investigation into allegations of rape and attempted rape by Mohamed Al Fayed, the former owner of Harrods. Did the luxury store protect a billionaire predator?

Watch Al-Fayed: Predator at Harrods on BBC iPlayer now.

Melanie was not the only woman who tried to bring Fayed to justice.

The Metropolitan Police confirmed it was “aware of various allegations of sexual offences made over a number of years” against Fayed.

It said each of the allegations reported to the force had been “investigated and, where appropriate, advice from the Crown Prosecution Service was sought”.

But Fayed was never charged with a crime.

The closest he came to being uncovered appears to have been in October 2008, when he was questioned over allegations made by a girl who he first met when she was 14.

Ellie – not her real name – told the BBC that Fayed personally offered to secure her a job despite her still being a teenager, and she started working at Harrods when she had just turned 15.

She recounted how in May 2008 she was told to go to the Harrods boardroom, where she said she was attacked by Fayed.

“He started…hugging me and [getting] touchy feely, and rubbing himself against me, and then he just grabbed my face and tried to… put his tongue in my mouth.

“I mentioned that I was 15, and [said] ‘what are you doing?’, and he said I was turning into a beautiful woman and grabbed my chest.”

She said Fayed flew into a rage and started screaming at her when she pushed him off.

Ellie went to the police and Fayed was questioned by detectives – news which became public in October 2008.

On Thursday, the Met confirmed it had spoken to more than one witness and analysed telephone data in Ellie’s case. The force said it handed a file of evidence to the CPS – but prosecutors decided no further action should be taken.

The Met has declined to say whether Ellie’s case was the only one where Fayed was formally questioned, though the BBC has seen no evidence he was ever quizzed over any other allegation.

The BBC understands Ellie’s case was the only time when a file of evidence was handed to the CPS, a step which has to be taken before an individual can be charged.

On four occasions, police investigations into Fayed were advanced enough for police to consult prosecutors for legal advice.

The CPS advised the Met in 2018, 2021, and 2023 – but in those instances, police did not provide prosecutors with a full file of evidence. It is also not clear if all of those investigations relate to separate women.

It means Fayed was never forced to answer claims against him in court during his lifetime.

Melanie described the feeling of discovering Fayed had died and would never be taken in for questioning over her 2023 report as “gutting”.

But asked what she would say to Fayed if he were still alive today, Melanie told the BBC: “That you didn’t get away with it. That everybody out there knows what you’ve done… and money can’t get you out of this.”

The claims against Fayed have not come out of the blue.

The Egypt-born businessman owned Harrods between 1985 and 2010 and became a well-known figure through other high-profile acquisitions, such as the Ritz hotel in Paris and Fulham Football Club.

He came to further public prominence when his son Dodi died alongside Diana, Princess of Wales – with whom Dodi was romantically involved – in a Paris car crash.

Despite chat show appearances and his associations with celebrities and public figures, suspicions about Fayed’s predatory behaviour were investigated during his life – including by Vanity Fair in 1995, ITV in 1997 and Channel 4 in 2017.

It was only when Fayed died that many of his victims felt able to come forward.

On Friday, details of new claims are expected to emerge.

Members of the UK legal team representing many of the women featured in the BBC documentary “Al-Fayed: Predator at Harrods” are to hold a news conference on Friday morning.

The legal team will outline the case against Harrods. They will be joined by the US women’s rights lawyer Gloria Allred, who has represented victims of high-profile offenders in the past.

Fourteen of the women the BBC has spoken to have brought civil claims against Harrods’ current owners for damages.

Harrods said it has a process available to women who say they were attacked by Fayed, adding “it has been our priority to settle claims in the quickest way possible, avoiding lengthy legal proceedings for the women involved”.

Harrods reiterated its apology to its former staff after the BBC investigation was published. A spokesperson said: “We have now had the opportunity to watch the programme and once again express our sympathy to the victims featured.”

The Met said it was committed to investigating sexual offences and encouraged victims to speak to police.

It also said any new information about Fayed would be “assessed and investigated accordingly”.

Fayed’s family did not provide a statement when asked for comment.

• If you are affected by issues of sexual assault you can contact the BBC Action Line here

Listen to World of Secrets, Season 4: Al Fayed, Predator at Harrods on BBC Sounds. If you’re outside the UK, you can listen wherever you get your podcasts.