The close ties between Mohamed al Fayed’s Harrods shop and the Metropolitan Police “felt like a corrupt relationship,” a former chief superintendent in the force has said.
The Met Police had a “special relationship” with the luxury department store “which benefits both us and them,” Stephen Otter said he was told by another officer in 1999.
He told Sky News the force would “provide additional resources at Christmas” and in return “hampers were provided” and officers “had lots of drinks paid for”.
It comes as five women who used to work at the luxury department store have alleged they were raped by Fayed.
And more than 100 women have come forward to say they were assaulted or to give evidence to lawyers. Police are appealing for any “potential victim survivors” to come forward so they can investigate.
Mohamed al Fayed: Timeline of sex abuse claims
When Mr Otter became borough commander for the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in 1999, the Met Police had an Austin Mini Metro with a Harrods logo on it funded by Fayed.
Mohamed al Fayed was the first businessman to sponsor the Metropolitan Police by donating a Rover Kensington patrol car to the force. Pic: Dave Cheskin/PA
Mr Otter said it “looked more like a Harrods vehicle than a police vehicle. It looked like someone had put a blue light on a Harrods vehicle”.
When he went to Harrods to return the car, he met a Harrods security boss who he said pushed back the keys and told him: “Look, you don’t understand, this is an arrangement that’s been going on for a long time.
“Lots of chief superintendents have had the benefit of this relationship. And your colleagues [get] hampers at Christmas.”
He said he was told: “When you’ve been here a bit longer, you will have a better understanding of this relationship.”
Fayed became the first businessman to sponsor the Metropolitan Police by donating a Rover Kensington patrol car which he was pictured inside in 1996.
Former Met Police Chief Superintendent Stephen Otter
Mr Otter also said when he went to return the car keys Harrods had a detention centre which “was better than any detention centre I’d seen in the whole Metropolitan Police”.
‘Your officers are in here again asking for freebies’
Mr Otter said he conducted a review which found the Metropolitan Police gave Harrods a disproportionate level of support. He said: “Our policing of Harrods was like policing a Premiership match, and the risk just literally didn’t support the resources and the attention they got.”
Later he said the force got “quite a lot of complaints” from the security boss, who he said told him: “Your officers are in here again, asking for freebies.”
‘A corrupt relationship on both sides’
Asked if the Met officers were corrupt, Mr Otter said: “I think they probably were, and I think the culture was that the police were welcome to come in and have food for free.”
He added: “I just felt deeply uncomfortable with the relationship. It was a relationship in which this department store had huge amounts of power over the leaders of the areas of policing around them.
“It felt like a corrupt relationship on both sides.”
Relationship ‘played very negative part’ in investigations into Fayed
Discussing what role the corrupt relationship may have played in police investigations into Fayed, he said “it can only have played a very negative part”.
He alleged the security boss “accessed information in the Metropolitan Police through those relationships”.
“It’s that insidious infiltration in a relationship,” he said. “It benefited police officers and it benefited Fayed.
“I think most people probably didn’t realise, I hope, that actually it was also hiding and creating an opportunity for sexual predatory behaviour.”
He added: “Having a relationship with the police at a high level is so powerful.
“If you can just ring up people and say ‘can you just do a check on this person?’ That’s hugely powerful and it really does endanger the legitimacy that the British police service has.”
The Metropolitan Police declined to comment, with a spokesperson saying: “Given the length of time since the events… we aren’t able to provide a response.”