Christine

I was taken from a role that offered what I hoped was a genuine career path - an opportunity that meant everything to me, given my modest background. Instead of building a professional future, I found myself under the authority of a ‘man’ who showed not even the most basic respect for women, someone who took pleasure in both humiliating and assaulting us all while Harrods facilitated it by turning a blind eye to our plight and leaving us with nowhere or no one to turn to.

During this time I thought I was alone.

For five years, I endured this ordeal, held in place by a deep and constant fear of retaliation from both Al Fayed and some senior figures at Harrods who enabled and sustained this environment and also my own desperate need to survive and sustain myself.

It has taken me a long time to come to terms with the reality that I was forced to tolerate such treatment - not only from one individual, but from the institution itself. The weight of that experience has had a lasting and profound impact on both my mental and physical health. I told not a soul about my experience for 29 years and instead pretended it was such a great place to work and how lucky I was.

Living in constant fear and worry has impacted my personal, professional and family life which is currently very fragile.

However, strength comes from the most surprising sources - my fellow survivors.

Today, as we all stand together on the brink of justice, I feel stronger, more determined than ever.

This feeling is thanks to the bravery and hard work that preceded these feelings.

I want to use this opportunity to express my deepest gratitude to Keaton Stone, his wife Sophia and to all the courageous women who have driven this fight forward through sheer grit and determination. Your strength has ensured that our voices are finally being heard, and that the truth can no longer be ignored.

Lastly, people that knew what Fayed was doing and did nothing, deserve what is coming.