Police sent personal details to the wrong person, says alleged Al Fayed victim

Warning: This article contains upsetting content

A woman who says she was trafficked to Mohamed Al Fayed and raped by his associate is furious after the Metropolitan Police sent her personal details to the wrong person.

Joanna Brittan gave a statement to Devon & Cornwall police in 2017, which was then transferred to the Met Police, detailing how she was trafficked to the former Harrods owner and suffered sexual abuse by one of his business associates.

She later discovered the Met had sent handwritten notes of her account, as well as her address, contact number and date of birth to another alleged victim who lived in Australia in error.

The BBC understands the data breach, caused by human error, has been reported to the Information Commissioner’s Office and a one-off payment was offered to Brittan.

‘Shambolic, incompetent and complicit’

The force launched an investigation into Al Fayed’s abuse in November 2024, despite 21 women coming forward before his death in 2023. Al Fayed died without facing any charges.

Brittan, from Devon, who spoke to the BBC after waiving her automatic lifelong right to anonymity, described the Met as “shambolic, incompetent and complicit”.

The data breach happened after she had asked for her original statement to be sent back to her because her lawyers had requested it.

Last month, she was told by the Home Office there were “reasonable grounds” to believe she had been a victim of modern slavery and trafficking and that it would investigate her case further.

Jasvinder Sanghera, the Independent Survivor Advocate appointed by Harrods, who has worked with Brittan, said the incident was “absolutely appalling”.

“It does not give you confidence in the processes that exist for survivors, neither does it give me confidence in relation to the current operation,” Sanghera said.

The BBC understands the initial report by Brittan in 2017 was taken forward as a rape allegation against Ahmed Obaidly, a United Arab Emirates diplomat and associate of Al Fayed, and she gave new and additional information in a video-recorded interview in 2020.

It’s understood Brittan was later informed that an investigation into allegations concerning Obaidly could not be progressed because he had died in 2015.

It’s thought criminal allegations Brittan made against Al Fayed now form part of Operation Cornpoppy – the ongoing, active investigation into individuals who may have enabled or facilitated offending by the former Harrods owner.

Brittan is one of more than 200 alleged Al Fayed survivors who will take part in a virtual meeting with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer on Wednesday afternoon.

Lucy Duckworth, policy lead for The Survivors Trust who will chair the meeting, said it “represents a significant and hard-earned milestone for survivors”.

She added: “This must be a turning point and we need to start joining the dots. We need to confront ourselves and policymakers with the wider systemic failures that allowed abuse on this scale to occur and persist.”

Last month it was confirmed that a serving Metropolitan Police officer and four former officers were being investigated for potential misconduct over the handling of reports of sexual abuse made against Mohamed Al Fayed.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said it was yet to decide whether any current or former officers have – or would have had if they were still serving – a disciplinary case to answer.

The Met said its teams had “transformed the way we investigate rape and sexual offences”.

“We continue to support all victims and we urge anyone with information, whether they were directly affected by Mohamed Al Fayed’s actions or aware of others who may have been involved, or committed offences to come forward.”

• If you have been affected by any of the issues in this story, help and support is available at BBC Action Line

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