Ex-Harrods executive claims Fenwick stopped him from taking CEO job

A former senior executive at Harrods under Mohamed Al Fayed has denied claims he pulled out of becoming the boss of department store Fenwick, instead saying that the company stopped the move.

Nigel Blow, who worked at Harrods between 1992 and 2007, added that he “never heard about or witnessed” alleged sexual abuse under Mr Al Fayed.

Mr Al Fayed, the former Harrods and Fulham FC owner who died last year aged 94, is accused of multiple sexual assaults after a BBC investigation was published in September.

The claims include five accusations of rape and multiple allegations of sexual abuse.

Fenwick said in early October that Mr Blow had “informed” the company that he would no longer take up the role of chief executive, weeks before he was set to start the job.

But Mr Blow responded in a statement on Friday, claiming that Fenwick had “withdrawn” the offer, and that he was “shocked” by the decision.

He said: “I was very excited to join Fenwick and take on the significant challenge of turning the business around to profitability after a run of poor, loss-making, results in recent years.

“Disappointingly, Fenwick seems to have found me ‘guilty by association’ in light of the understandable furore concerning the reported behaviour of Harrods’ former owner Mohammed Al Fayed.

“I believe Fenwick’s action is unjustified, unfair and in breach of contract.”

Mr Blow added that he did not know any of the women who have spoken about alleged sexual abuse under Mr Al Fayed.

He said: “Like many others, I watched the recent BBC documentary about Al Fayed’s behaviour with absolute horror.

He added: “I worked at Harrods in senior roles from 2002 to 2007. I can confirm that, during my time at the business, I never heard about or witnessed any such behaviour by Mr Al Fayed.”

However, he alleged that Harrods’ employees’ offices, phones and cars were “bugged”, and that he had been “followed by Al Fayed’s security team”.

He said: “On multiple occasions I saw transcripts of my own telephone calls on Mr Al Fayed’s desk. Such behaviour prompted me to seek alternative employment from 2006.”

Until earlier this summer, Mr Blow had been chief executive of department store chain Morleys, but he resigned in July after being “tempted” by the top job at Fenwick.

His appointment was announced on July 30 and he was due to start on October 17.

Mr Blow said that in September, after the allegations against Mr Al Fayed emerged, he was questioned by Fenwick bosses about his “possible knowledge” of them.

He said he “assured them I had absolutely no knowledge of any of the allegations”.

He added that Fenwick chairman Sian Westerman told him on September 30 that the company “‘was not able to proceed’ with my employment as CEO of Fenwick… in order to safeguard the reputation of the Fenwick business”.

He added: “The decision was theirs, not mine.”

Fenwick declined to comment. Harrods has been approached for comment.