A former Harrods employee who says she survived an attempted rape at Balnagown Castle in 1991 tells The Mail on Sunday she backs the renewed investigation — though she learned of it from a journalist rather than the force
Police Scotland has reopened its investigation into allegations that Mohamed Al Fayed sexually assaulted a Harrods employee at his Highland estate, The Mail on Sunday has revealed. The renewed inquiry centres on claims by Sophia Stone, now 58, who says the late billionaire attempted to rape her during a 1991 trip to Balnagown Castle in Ross-shire — a report the force closed after she came forward in 2021, citing a lack of corroboration. The Mail on Sunday understands a new witness emerged earlier this year to support her account, prompting detectives to look again at abuse reports at the estate stretching back more than 30 years.
Why the case has been revived
When Police Scotland shut its original investigation, the force indicated that its enquiries were complete but that the case could be revisited if further information came to light. That moment now appears to have arrived. The fresh witness is believed to be a fellow Harrods worker who was on the same 1991 trip, according to the newspaper, and two MPs from the All-Party Parliamentary Group examining the Al Fayed scandal wrote to the force in November pressing for the matter to be reinvestigated.
Ms Stone welcomed the development, although she said nobody from the force had told her about it. “I’m pleased to hear Police Scotland is looking at my case again,” she said, describing the original closure as “devastating” and admitting she was “a little taken aback to learn about it from a journalist” while hearing nothing officially about what is happening.
A Police Scotland spokeswoman said: “Further investigation is ongoing. It would be inappropriate to comment further.”
The allegation at Balnagown
Ms Stone joined Harrods in 1988 at the age of 19 with ambitions of becoming a fashion buyer. By her account, the Egyptian businessman noticed her on the shop floor and promoted her to his personal assistant, a role in which she says she was routinely sexually harassed. During a visit to Balnagown — the estate Al Fayed bought in 1972 — she says he entered her bedroom, removed his dressing gown and forced himself on top of her, kissing her while “pushing me down and trying to pull my pyjama bottoms off”. She said she felt “physically sick” afterwards and that the episode has affected her life ever since.
By the time she reported it in 2021, the Metropolitan Police had already received dozens of complaints of a similar nature about the Harrods boss. He died two years later, in 2023, meaning survivors never saw him held to account. A second woman has separately claimed she was sexually assaulted at the estate decades ago by a different member of the Fayed family.
‘Fayed did not act entirely alone’
Ms Stone, who now works as a receptionist in Staffordshire, argues that his death should not end the pursuit of those around him. “It’s important to continue fighting for justice because Fayed did not act entirely alone,” she said, pointing to people who “helped him, enabled him or helped conceal what he was doing” across his businesses and residences — from Harrods and Park Lane to Balnagown Castle. Those individuals, she said, have moved on with their lives while survivors have carried the consequences, in many cases for decades, and until there is accountability there has been no justice.
Her husband, Keaton Stone, began digging into Al Fayed’s conduct after his wife disclosed what she had experienced. His investigation has since led to more than 400 women coming forward, and he has founded the campaign group Justice For Fayed & Harrods Survivors, which works with MPs alongside the fellow survivors’ organisation No One Above. “It’s a relief the police are looking at Sophia’s case again,” he said, adding that he hoped arrests would follow because Al Fayed “didn’t schedule, deliver or manage his prolific abuse over decades all on his own”.
Scrutiny of the Met and its officers
The Scottish development sits alongside a much larger Metropolitan Police operation, which remains active despite Al Fayed’s death and is explicitly targeting people suspected of facilitating or enabling his offending rather than solely examining allegations against the man himself. By March 2026, detectives said 154 victim-survivors had come forward, and four suspects — three women and a man in his 60s — had been interviewed under caution on suspicion of offences including aiding and abetting rape and sexual assault, assisting sexual offences and human trafficking for sexual exploitation. The man was questioned earlier this year over allegations including trafficking and facilitating rape. No arrests have been made.
The Met’s own conduct is also under examination. The Independent Office for Police Conduct is investigating the force’s handling of historical complaints against Al Fayed, with one serving officer and four former officers notified that they are under investigation for potential misconduct relating to reports made by four alleged victims. Survivors have lodged further complaints with the watchdog over the Met’s handling of the allegations, separate from that misconduct inquiry.
The APPG pressing for renewed action was established specifically to monitor the Met investigation and to campaign for a wider public inquiry, after survivors argued that earlier investigations had failed to deliver accountability. Wendy Chamberlain, the Liberal Democrat MP for North East Fife and co-chair of the APPG for the Survivors of Fayed and Harrods, said she had heard directly from survivors about their “lack of faith in investigations into Fayed and those who enabled his crimes”. She added: “I’m pleased that there is an active Police Scotland investigation underway,” expressing hope that it delivers the accountability survivors are demanding.
