In June of this year, a survivor known as Justine received a formal letter from the British government. It stated, in official language, that she had been a victim of modern slavery. She described the moment as "shellshocked" — not because the conclusion surprised her, but because seeing institutional confirmation in writing carried a weight that years of personal testimony had not. She is one of at least five women now formally recognised by the Home Office as victims of human trafficking connected to Mohamed Al Fayed, the late Egyptian-born billionaire who owned Harrods from 1985 until 2010.

The scale of what investigators are examining is considerable. More than 400 allegations of sexual misconduct have been lodged against Al Fayed, covering the period from 1977 to 2014 and including claims of rape, trafficking, false imprisonment, drugging, and forced abortions. He died in 2023 at the age of 94 without ever facing charges. The Metropolitan Police's Operation Cornpoppy, opened 21 months ago, is now focused not only on Al Fayed's conduct but on the network of associates who are alleged to have supplied him with a steady stream of women.

To date, four individuals have been formally questioned. Survivor Isabella, who worked in Harrods' chairman's office in 2001, described an operation that extended far beyond any single building or country. "It was his yachts, his aviation business, the Ritz Paris, his properties all over France and Monaco," she told the Press Association, adding that the reach extended to the United States and the UAE. One victim, Pelham Spong, 40, from South Carolina, alleged she was trafficked in Paris in 2008 and offered €65,000 a year to sleep with him.