What do you think?
Rate this book
The Monster of Harrods: Al-Fayed, and the Secret, Shameful History of a British Institution
‘Sensational new book’ – MAIL ON SUNDAY
‘Bombshell book’ – THE SUN
‘Tell-all book’ – MAIL ON SUNDAY
'Explosive new book' – DAILY MAIL
'Kervin is a master storyteller' – THE LONDON STANDARD
AN UNFLINCHING EXPOSÉ OF MOHAMED AL-FAYED'S 25-YEAR REIGN OF TERROR AT HARRODS
DECADES OF ABUSE.
DOZENS OF VICTIMS.
NO CONSEQUENCES.
To the public, he was the eccentric owner of one of the world’s great department stores. But behind closed doors, Al-Fayed ruled with cruelty, humiliation and unchecked abuse.
Why were his crimes ignored?Why did those in power look the other way?
This explosive investigation lays bare the power, corruption and complicity at the heart of an iconic British institution.
Drawing on firsthand interviews with former staff, allies, executives and police officers, The Monster of Harrods exposes chilling accounts of misconduct, many revealed here for the first time. Through court records, testimonies and unpublished material, the book
The irreparable damage to victims’ livesThe NDAs, threats and systemic failures that kept them silentThe staggering indifference of those who knew but did nothing
This isn’t just about one man’s abuse of power – it’s about the culture that enabled him. The Monster of Harrods presents damning new evidence, and asks urgent questions of the people and institutions who stood by.
Ultimately, this is a book about courage – the courage of the survivors who have stepped forward to reclaim their narratives from a man who tried to reduce them to objects. Their testimony stands as both an indictment of the past and a warning for the future.
Their bravery demands nothing less than our complete attention.
'The extraordinary courage of these survivors, who, despite everything, were willing to relive their trauma in hope of finally being heard, should not be underestimated. Many have waited decades for acknowledgement, carrying their wounds in silence while their abuser was celebrated.'
‘Bombshell book’ – THE SUN
‘Tell-all book’ – MAIL ON SUNDAY
'Explosive new book' – DAILY MAIL
'Kervin is a master storyteller' – THE LONDON STANDARD
AN UNFLINCHING EXPOSÉ OF MOHAMED AL-FAYED'S 25-YEAR REIGN OF TERROR AT HARRODS
DECADES OF ABUSE.
DOZENS OF VICTIMS.
NO CONSEQUENCES.
To the public, he was the eccentric owner of one of the world’s great department stores. But behind closed doors, Al-Fayed ruled with cruelty, humiliation and unchecked abuse.
Why were his crimes ignored?Why did those in power look the other way?
This explosive investigation lays bare the power, corruption and complicity at the heart of an iconic British institution.
Drawing on firsthand interviews with former staff, allies, executives and police officers, The Monster of Harrods exposes chilling accounts of misconduct, many revealed here for the first time. Through court records, testimonies and unpublished material, the book
The irreparable damage to victims’ livesThe NDAs, threats and systemic failures that kept them silentThe staggering indifference of those who knew but did nothing
This isn’t just about one man’s abuse of power – it’s about the culture that enabled him. The Monster of Harrods presents damning new evidence, and asks urgent questions of the people and institutions who stood by.
Ultimately, this is a book about courage – the courage of the survivors who have stepped forward to reclaim their narratives from a man who tried to reduce them to objects. Their testimony stands as both an indictment of the past and a warning for the future.
Their bravery demands nothing less than our complete attention.
'The extraordinary courage of these survivors, who, despite everything, were willing to relive their trauma in hope of finally being heard, should not be underestimated. Many have waited decades for acknowledgement, carrying their wounds in silence while their abuser was celebrated.'
341 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 5, 2025
8 people are currently reading
46 people want to read
About the author
Alison Kervin
24 books29 followersAlison Kervin is the Sports Editor of the Mail on Sunday newspaper. She is the first female Sports Editor of a national newspaper in England.
Before her editing job, Alison worked as chief sports feature writer for The Times, chief sports interviewer for the Daily Telegraph and editor of Rugby World magazine.
She has a hugely varied sporting CV. A sports science graduate, she was in the England gymnastics squad before qualifying as a coach for no fewer than 10 sports. In 1991, she became the first woman to referee a rugby match at Twickenham.
In 1994 she was appointed editor of Rugby World magazine. In 1997 she became publisher of IPC sports publications, overseeing Rugby World and Golf Monthly.
In 1999 she became rugby editor of The Times, before becoming the paper’s chief sports feature writer in 2003.
She left in 2006 to embark on a series of book projects: she wrote World Cup winning Rugby coach Sir Clive Woodward’s biography, and co-wrote autobiographies with Olympic athlete Denise Lewis and England rugby stars Jason Leonard and Phil Vickery. She has also written a History of the Rugby World Cup and five novels.
From 2008-9, Alison was also chief sports interviewer for the Daily Telegraph.
Away from newspapers and magazines, Alison has written a vast array of books - from authoritative sports books, to light-hearted comedy. She has written fifteen books in total, all of which are listed in the books section of this website.
You can get in touch with Alison through the 'contact' button.
Before her editing job, Alison worked as chief sports feature writer for The Times, chief sports interviewer for the Daily Telegraph and editor of Rugby World magazine.
She has a hugely varied sporting CV. A sports science graduate, she was in the England gymnastics squad before qualifying as a coach for no fewer than 10 sports. In 1991, she became the first woman to referee a rugby match at Twickenham.
In 1994 she was appointed editor of Rugby World magazine. In 1997 she became publisher of IPC sports publications, overseeing Rugby World and Golf Monthly.
In 1999 she became rugby editor of The Times, before becoming the paper’s chief sports feature writer in 2003.
She left in 2006 to embark on a series of book projects: she wrote World Cup winning Rugby coach Sir Clive Woodward’s biography, and co-wrote autobiographies with Olympic athlete Denise Lewis and England rugby stars Jason Leonard and Phil Vickery. She has also written a History of the Rugby World Cup and five novels.
From 2008-9, Alison was also chief sports interviewer for the Daily Telegraph.
Away from newspapers and magazines, Alison has written a vast array of books - from authoritative sports books, to light-hearted comedy. She has written fifteen books in total, all of which are listed in the books section of this website.
You can get in touch with Alison through the 'contact' button.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
August 19, 2025
The indifference of the powerful to those in vulnerable situations is nothing new, but in the case of Fayed, the Met police were also heavily complicit in protecting him. This meant there was literally nowhere for his victims to turn, as the Harrods HR department routinely protected their rapist employer. Presumably, only the morally low calibre were hired for HR at Harrods, or survived there. This is typical of highly corrupt organizations.
Fayed's 'type' to sexually assault was British, slim, good looking, and blonde, with a posh accent. These were generally young women, excited to start their careers, in their teens and early twenties. As a woman, it takes time to develop that innate creep-o-meter that alerts you to dangerous situations; for this reason, being young makes you vulnerable by definition. If you've been brought up in a gentle environment, the idea that your boss in a high-end department store might rape you, or indeed drug and rape you before passing you on to his brothers and friends as you remain unconscious, doesn't really cross your mind.
Only the Epstein case compares to this as regards scale. There are many hundreds of decent women all over the UK who are traumatized for life. It's not only the rapes and assaults that leave them in this state, but the complicity of everyone around them. Female doctors who worked for Harrods did internal examinations on the women, presenting it as a perk of the job, then passed the medical results to Fayed by phone.
The survivors recount being congratulated by Fayed literally as soon as they returned to the office from Harley Street, as they were free from STIs and this pleased Fayed. As if that wasn't creepy enough in itself, he often demanded that his targets call him Papa. Many details of complicity on the part of people around Fayed detailed in the book are alarming, but that of the medical professionals strikes me as the most astonishing. These female doctors surely must have known what the women were facing, if they would call Fayed personally and break patient confidentiality. It is truly sickening how low some people will sink for money: why these doctors escaped accountability is beyond me.
Women were bullied with NDAs and, at times, surveillance at weekends by Fayed's security team (former Met police) to ensure they weren't sleeping with boyfriends: this was a big no-no for Fayed, who wanted his rape victims to be 'pure'. Fayed often literally threw cash at the women, by way of grooming them. He humiliated them in front of colleagues, making one women imitate a donkey on all fours as he mocked her.
Like the Epstein case, you find yourself wondering why there aren't more people in jail for upholding this corrupt enterprise. It surely cannot be legal to invasively share a person's intimate medical details, even with their employer. Similarly, the bugging of women's conversations and the cameras that were placed in their hotel rooms on business trips would result in arrest if it had been anyone else.
The author quotes James Baldwin: 'Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.' This book is an important part of the difficult process of reversing the scapegoating of victims that has been so deeply ingrained in our society for the last few decades. Fayed was a vile character, clearly, and highly damaged. We all accept that people like Fayed exist in the world. Most women have met his kind. What is harder to accept in the case of Harrods is the level of complicity from those who would call themselves decent members of society.
Fayed's 'type' to sexually assault was British, slim, good looking, and blonde, with a posh accent. These were generally young women, excited to start their careers, in their teens and early twenties. As a woman, it takes time to develop that innate creep-o-meter that alerts you to dangerous situations; for this reason, being young makes you vulnerable by definition. If you've been brought up in a gentle environment, the idea that your boss in a high-end department store might rape you, or indeed drug and rape you before passing you on to his brothers and friends as you remain unconscious, doesn't really cross your mind.
Only the Epstein case compares to this as regards scale. There are many hundreds of decent women all over the UK who are traumatized for life. It's not only the rapes and assaults that leave them in this state, but the complicity of everyone around them. Female doctors who worked for Harrods did internal examinations on the women, presenting it as a perk of the job, then passed the medical results to Fayed by phone.
The survivors recount being congratulated by Fayed literally as soon as they returned to the office from Harley Street, as they were free from STIs and this pleased Fayed. As if that wasn't creepy enough in itself, he often demanded that his targets call him Papa. Many details of complicity on the part of people around Fayed detailed in the book are alarming, but that of the medical professionals strikes me as the most astonishing. These female doctors surely must have known what the women were facing, if they would call Fayed personally and break patient confidentiality. It is truly sickening how low some people will sink for money: why these doctors escaped accountability is beyond me.
Women were bullied with NDAs and, at times, surveillance at weekends by Fayed's security team (former Met police) to ensure they weren't sleeping with boyfriends: this was a big no-no for Fayed, who wanted his rape victims to be 'pure'. Fayed often literally threw cash at the women, by way of grooming them. He humiliated them in front of colleagues, making one women imitate a donkey on all fours as he mocked her.
Like the Epstein case, you find yourself wondering why there aren't more people in jail for upholding this corrupt enterprise. It surely cannot be legal to invasively share a person's intimate medical details, even with their employer. Similarly, the bugging of women's conversations and the cameras that were placed in their hotel rooms on business trips would result in arrest if it had been anyone else.
The author quotes James Baldwin: 'Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.' This book is an important part of the difficult process of reversing the scapegoating of victims that has been so deeply ingrained in our society for the last few decades. Fayed was a vile character, clearly, and highly damaged. We all accept that people like Fayed exist in the world. Most women have met his kind. What is harder to accept in the case of Harrods is the level of complicity from those who would call themselves decent members of society.
January 30, 2026
I didn’t watch the documentary so was totally unaware of what I was in for…
Wow.
Truly, shocking.
Wow.
Truly, shocking.
October 30, 2025
An interesting and well researched story of the revolting behavior by Al-Fayed.
It was well known by everyone that this was going on , but the police and the Establishment
did nothing about it .Everybody paid off down the line...money talks !
What he got away with is just mid boggling and the author is to be congratulated for
exposing it . A good read.
It was well known by everyone that this was going on , but the police and the Establishment
did nothing about it .Everybody paid off down the line...money talks !
What he got away with is just mid boggling and the author is to be congratulated for
exposing it . A good read.
December 4, 2025
Muslim male targets white young females in sexual assaults and authorities turn a blind eye. Sound familiar? Well this time he is a multi millionaire and uses his wealth to cover and obstruct. This book makes horrific reading, it could have been so much better as it goes through lots of the victims stories and it is the same modus operandi time and time again. Hopefully the victims once the Police investigation is complete target the Fayed wealth and seek some form of financial recompense.
December 15, 2025
Very interesting book which lays bare the horrific spread, chronology, and pattern of Fayeds behaviour over several decades. I didn’t appreciate the scale of his crimes beforehand.
It’s a testament to sheer amount of examples that the book becomes depressingly repetitive.
A key recurrence was how so many young women didn’t speak about what happened to them, felt unable to resist their assaults at the time, and didn’t disclose the full accounting for many years after they occurred, even to their own families, loving parents, and eventual partners.
I felt this was a meaningful pattern that the author could have gone deeper on. There is clearly something culturally and locally psychologically at play that facilitates abuses like Fayed.
The contrast was evident in the example of a Swedish woman who was combative, and rejective of his advances, seemingly flummoxed as to why this wasn’t the default for the other women.
I can’t help but feel that you can put all the organisational oversight in the world into practice, but unless you foster a culture and attitude in young girls to know how to speak out, and recognise signs of predation, there will always be abuse like this for a psychological manipulator who has figured out how to hack these mental systems.
It’s a testament to sheer amount of examples that the book becomes depressingly repetitive.
A key recurrence was how so many young women didn’t speak about what happened to them, felt unable to resist their assaults at the time, and didn’t disclose the full accounting for many years after they occurred, even to their own families, loving parents, and eventual partners.
I felt this was a meaningful pattern that the author could have gone deeper on. There is clearly something culturally and locally psychologically at play that facilitates abuses like Fayed.
The contrast was evident in the example of a Swedish woman who was combative, and rejective of his advances, seemingly flummoxed as to why this wasn’t the default for the other women.
I can’t help but feel that you can put all the organisational oversight in the world into practice, but unless you foster a culture and attitude in young girls to know how to speak out, and recognise signs of predation, there will always be abuse like this for a psychological manipulator who has figured out how to hack these mental systems.
January 31, 2026
This book was well titled. Fayed was a monster, a sexual predator with his prey lined up on Harrods shop floor, particularly at the beauty counter.
He surrounded himself with enablers, including the metropolitan police and store security so that he could carry out his abuse over many years from his office in Harrods or his apartment or his boat or the Ritz in Paris. And just like Jeffrey Epstein he had a female accomplice who procured vulnerable young women of the street for him. A fascinating look into the crimes of a predator.
He surrounded himself with enablers, including the metropolitan police and store security so that he could carry out his abuse over many years from his office in Harrods or his apartment or his boat or the Ritz in Paris. And just like Jeffrey Epstein he had a female accomplice who procured vulnerable young women of the street for him. A fascinating look into the crimes of a predator.
January 21, 2026
This book was difficult to read at times due to the graphic descriptions of the attacks, but I am glad the story came out and hope the victims have some semblance of peace. This has made me forever a Selfridges girl...
November 12, 2025
A pretty horrific story with police, security, bribery, media handling able to suppress the accounts of sexual assault and rape.
December 2, 2025
This was a hard read, the name fits it well....
August 3, 2025
It’s not like there are no non-fiction books on topics that would leave me feeling uplifted and entertained. It’s just that there are so many more published on topics that leave me sad and angry.
What I knew about Fayed came mostly from his depiction on The Crown, where he came across as a slightly sad man who just wanted to be accepted in his adopted homeland.
This book tells a very different story, and pulls no punches. It definitely answers the question “Have we learned lessons from the past and adjusted our behaviors so that rich powerful men are no longer above the law?”
If you are the kind of person who wants trigger warnings-- just skip this book.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews