Woman accuses Salah Fayed of sexual abuse at Highland estate

A former Harrods employee has told BBC Scotland that Salah Fayed, the brother of the department store’s former owner Mohamed Al Fayed, forced her to take drugs and repeatedly sexually abused her at the family’s Highland estate in the 1990s.

The woman, whom the BBC calls Jill to protect her identity, said she believed she had been recruited to an executive training scheme at Harrods. She was later assigned to work for Salah Fayed.

Jill said she was flown twice to Scotland on the family’s private jet and driven to Balnagown, the estate in Easter Ross. She alleged that Salah locked her in a room and forced her to take drugs. “The drugs were part of his method of assaulting me,” she told the BBC.

She said she had contacted the Metropolitan Police, was pursuing legal action and supported calls from some alleged victims for a statutory public inquiry. She told the BBC she was speaking out because she feared police investigations were not looking far enough.

Police Scotland told the BBC that three people had been identified in connection with offences against a number of victims at Balnagown and that inquiries were continuing. The BBC did not identify the three or link them to Jill’s account.

The Press and Journal reported in July that Police Scotland was carrying out further investigations into allegations connected to the estate. An earlier investigation into a historical sexual assault report at Balnagown had been closed, the newspaper said.

Salah Fayed died in 2010 and Mohamed Al Fayed died in 2023. Since Mohamed’s death, hundreds of women and girls have alleged that he sexually abused them; other women have also accused Salah of abuse, the BBC reported.

Harrods, which is no longer owned by the Fayed family, told the BBC it recognised the bravery of those who had come forward and supported their pursuit of justice. Its redress scheme for alleged victims of Mohamed Al Fayed closed on 31 March 2026. The BBC said it had twice approached Balnagown Estate for comment but had received no reply.