For tourists in London, Harrods is as big an attraction as Buckingham Palace and Madame Tussaud’s. Its stunning displays of sensational toys and diamond-encrusted jewellery, its food emporium, offering delicacies from across the world that only heiresses can afford, have made entering its doors more like a trip to the theatre than visiting a department store.

In the days when it was owned by Mohamed Al Fayed, those who caught a glimpse of him striding across its marble floors counted themselves lucky. Like a king greeting his awe-struck subjects, he would hug children, teenagers and mums, his smile as wide as the Thames, and – to those who did not succumb to his charm – as oily. But even as he was playing up to his image as a generous patron of good causes and a pillar of the British establishment, the Pharoah of retail was surveying the shop floor, in search of young women to prey on.

Who could have guessed that behind the scenes at Harrods was a ruthless regime of rape, sexual assault and psychological abuse? Well, quite a lot of people, it appears.

Read more by Rosemary Goring

Following the BBC documentary – Al Fayed: Predator at Harrods - it has become apparent that the shop owner’s predilection for young female employees was an open secret. One media commentator has since written that he first heard about Al Fayed’s activities 25 years ago. Since 2005, the Met has received 19 accusations, from rape and sexual assault to trafficking, relating to events between 1979 and 2013. These dates indicate that the tycoon was a sex offender before and after he owned Harrods (1985- 2010).

None of these accusations went anywhere, but their number suggest the police must have been fully aware of his dubious reputation. And then there were the staff at Harrods, many of whom had heard the rumours or seen Al Fayed hand-picking attractive women to work in his office. Members of his security detail witnessed employees leaving Al Fayed’s apartment, some in a state of distress. Doctors conducted invasive sexual examinations on specially selected staff and sent their reports directly to the boss. How did they justify this to themselves?

All of this is appalling and shocking. But is it surprising? Not in the slightest. Al Fayed’s behaviour fits the blueprint followed by the likes of Jimmy Savile: operating in plain sight, and laughing all the way to the grave. I don’t believe in the afterlife, but I wish it existed so that such men, who died believing their depravity had gone unpunished, would know their abominable acts have been brought to light and their reputation and legacy destroyed to such a degree that nobody wants to utter their names again.

The parallels between Al Fayed and Savile are striking: excessively tactile, ever-grinning, clowning public figures who courted - indeed craved – attention. Both made friends with those in the top echelon of society, and paraded their royal connections, thereby worming their way into the very heart of the establishment. With their almost unassailable social position, they were powerful figures, but they could also be profoundly threatening.

Like Jimmy Savile, Al Fayed was at the heart of the British establishmentLike Jimmy Savile, Al Fayed was at the heart of the British establishment (Image: Martyn Hayhow/PA Wire)

Al Fayed warned one of his victims to say nothing about what had happened because he knew where her parents lived. Another whom he abused has said that, until his death last year, she continued to see him as a threat. Is it any wonder that so many of the women he harmed said nothing, preferring to stay below the radar, where it felt safe?

Watching the BBC documentary, in which more than 20 former Harrods employees spoke about their sometimes terrifying experiences, it was obvious that there were likely to be many more he had attacked over the years. It seemed reasonable to assume that, as with other serial sexual offenders who considered themselves untouchable, among them Jeffrey Epstein and Harvey Weinstein, there would be a trail of victims in his wake; that wherever he went he brought trouble.

There has, for instance, been a report of a ‘non-recent sexual assault’ by Al Fayed at his former estate at Balnagown Castle in Easter Ross, which he bought in 1972. As with the 19 original complaints to the Met, nothing has come of this. The police say they have completed their inquiries but that, should new information be reported to them, they will investigate further.

The Falls of Shin Visitor Centre in Sutherland was also part of the Balnagown estate, becoming known as the ‘Harrod’s of the North’. It would not be surprising if, in the coming months, we learn more about the billionaire’s activities in Scotland, especially since, in the week since the BBC documentary, hundreds of women have come forward to make fresh accusations.

Is this just another sordid scandal in which the perpetrator has evaded justice? Certainly, Al Fayed is now beyond the law. But that is not the case for those who helped enable his behaviour, who can and, one hopes will, be held to account.

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Nevertheless, Al Fayed’s impunity in treating women abominably should make all of us reflect. How can it be that, in this supposedly enlightened age, society continues to protect, tolerate and even condone such depravity by the powerful and the rich?

We all know that it is their social position and wealth that allows them to get away with it. In this respect, the 21st-century is little different from the middle ages, with its degrading culture of droit de seigneur. It seems that whether it is HR departments in thrall to an all-powerful boss, or a police force that too easily gives up when it comes to a woman’s complaint, allegations are frequently ignored. As, in essence, are the abused.

Witnessing the courage of women speaking out about their experiences, in the hope finally of being heard, is deeply moving. But it is also troubling. Why was this not possible while their abuser was alive? What sort of system have we created in which a sexual predator, operating for decades, can go unchallenged because most of his victims are too frightened to denounce him?

It all comes down to power. The influence wielded by those of high status has blighted every society ever known. Power does not create predators, but it allows them to hunt unchecked. The only force that can be used against them is the law; and in this instance, as so often before, the victims have been grievously let down.

Rosemary Goring is a columnist and author. Her most recent book is Homecoming: The Scottish Years of Mary, Queen of Scots.