A woman told BBC Scotland that she was taken to the Scottish Highlands as part of human trafficking, then drugged, sexually assaulted and forcibly detained by Salah Al-Fayed, the brother of former Harrods owner Mohamed Al-Fayed.
Jill, a pseudonym used for legal reasons, said she was a young employee at Harrods when she was recruited into what she believed was an executive training program in the 1990s.
In her first talk about the abuse she says she was subjected to in Scotland, Jill said she was taken by the Al-Fayed family's private plane to Balnagaon, their estate in Easter Ross, where she was subjected to repeated attacks.
She is one of hundreds of women who have accused the Al-Fayed brothers of committing assaults.
Since the death of Mohamed Al-Fayed in 2023, hundreds of women and girls have claimed that they were sexually assaulted by him.
A number of women also accused his brother Salah, who died of pancreatic cancer in 2010, of committing assaults.
Police Scotland said they had identified three people in connection with crimes committed against a number of victims in Balnagaon, and that investigations were still ongoing.
Speaking to BBC Scotland, Jill described Salah Al-Fayed as an “extremely cruel man” who exploited her weaknesses and exercised almost complete control over her life.
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She said that she began her career at Harrods by working for Mohamed Al-Fayed in a tightly controlled office that was mostly staffed by young women, where entry procedures were strict and employees were discouraged from interacting with others.
Shortly thereafter, she was assigned to work for Salah Al-Fayed.
"I thought it might be better. Muhammad seemed suspicious to me," she said, but explained that instead, her situation quickly deteriorated.
She added that she was "taken to Scotland twice. Both times it was on their private plane."
"When you were flying there, you would land in Inverness, and their cars would take you from the airport to the property," she continued.
The Balnagaon estate has three residences, one for each sibling.
Jill describes Salah Al-Fayed's house as smaller than Mohamed Al-Fayed's house, overlooking the valley with a forest behind it, and located in an isolated place.
She claimed that by that point, Salah Al-Fayed had begun giving her banned substances. “The first time he forced me to take drugs, he tried to trick me into taking them,” she said.
She added: “He locked me in a room. He said: ‘You should take this, it is good for you.’ He lied about what it was, and when I refused, he shouted at me and forced me to take it.”
“Drugs were part of his method of assaulting me,” she said.
Jill added that he controlled what she ate, what she wore, and who she talked to, adding that most of what happened was against her will.
She explained: "I was isolated most of the time. He was a very cruel man. He knew I had some weaknesses and took advantage of them. He made me feel like a very bad person."
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Jill said that escaping that situation was difficult, and that she only gradually began to realize the extent of what she was exposed to.
She added: "By the time I was able to get away from him, I had become fully aware of what he was doing, and it took some effort for me to get away."
She continued, "I was then aware that I could not be the only one. I tried to sound the alarm, and I tried to warn people."
Salah Al-Fayed was one of three brothers from the Al-Fayed family who bought the luxury department store Harrods in Knightsbridge in 1985.
After his death, more than 20 women accused Mohamed Al-Fayed of sexual assault in a BBC documentary entitled “Predator at Harrods”, shown in 2024.
Since those allegations, more than 400 alleged victims or witnesses have come forward with lawyers.
If you have been affected by any of the issues covered in this report, information and support are available via the BBC Action Line service.
Earlier this year, Police Scotland said it was conducting further investigations into allegations linked to the Balnagaon property.
A police spokesman said in a statement: “Three people have been identified in connection with crimes committed against a number of victims. Our investigations are continuing, and it is inappropriate to comment further.”
Separately, the British Metropolitan Police is investigating allegations linked to Mohamed Al-Fayed and people suspected of facilitating his crimes.
She said that the investigation is one of the largest and most complex investigations she is currently handling.
A Metropolitan Police statement said: “Seven suspects have so far been questioned, under legal warning, on suspicion of committing crimes including aiding and abetting rape and sexual assault, assisting in the commission of sexual offences, and human trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation.”
The statement added: “So far, 168 victims have come forward. We will continue to evaluate victims’ statements in search of evidence of human trafficking.”
In a confidential memorandum shared with victims regarding a meeting between the Metropolitan Police and the cross-party parliamentary group on Al Fayed and Harrods survivors, it was reported that around 70 people had been referred to the Home Office as potential victims of human trafficking.
Jill told BBC Scotland that she is aware of other women who have claimed that Salah Al-Fayed assaulted them in Scotland, although some of them have not publicly disclosed their experiences.
She expressed her support for the calls made by some victims for a legal public investigation.
She also said she decided to speak out because of concerns that the police investigation was not looking widely enough.
"You've lost years of your life. You've had all these medical costs, your career has been affected, your family has been affected, so yes, they have to make it right," she added.
"The girl I was when I was sent to that man is no longer there," Jill said. She continued, "I don't know who she would have become or what her life would have been like."
"My whole life's work has been to recover from this. It has been a very bitter struggle that has spanned decades," she added.
