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

Warning: This nonfiction contains upsetting content

A pistillate who says she was trafficked to Mohamed Al Fayed and raped by his subordinate is furious aft the Metropolitan Police sent her idiosyncratic details to the incorrect person.

Joanna Brittan gave a connection to Devon & Cornwall constabulary successful 2017, which was past transferred to the Met Police, detailing however she was trafficked to the erstwhile Harrods proprietor and suffered intersexual maltreatment by 1 of his concern associates.

She aboriginal discovered the Met had sent handwritten notes of her account, arsenic good arsenic her address, interaction fig and day of commencement to different alleged unfortunate who lived successful Australia successful error.

The BBC understands the information breach, caused by quality error, has been reported to the Information Commissioner's Office and a one-off outgo was offered to Brittan.

'Shambolic, incompetent and complicit'

The unit launched an probe into Al Fayed's maltreatment successful November 2024, contempt 21 women coming guardant earlier his decease successful 2023. Al Fayed died without facing immoderate charges.

Brittan, from Devon, who spoke to the BBC aft waiving her automatic lifelong close to anonymity, described the Met arsenic "shambolic, incompetent and complicit".

The information breach happened aft she had asked for her archetypal connection to beryllium sent backmost to her due to the fact that her lawyers had requested it.

Last month, she was told by the Home Office determination were "reasonable grounds" to judge she had been a unfortunate of modern slavery and trafficking and that it would analyse her lawsuit further.

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

"It does not springiness you assurance successful the processes that beryllium for survivors, neither does it springiness maine assurance successful narration to the existent operation," Sanghera said.

The BBC understands the archetypal study by Brittan successful 2017 was taken guardant arsenic a rape allegation against Ahmed Obaidly, a United Arab Emirates diplomat and subordinate of Al Fayed, and she gave caller and further accusation successful a video-recorded interrogation successful 2020.

It's understood Brittan was aboriginal informed that an probe into allegations concerning Obaidly could not beryllium progressed due to the fact that helium had died successful 2015.

It's thought transgression allegations Brittan made against Al Fayed present signifier portion of Operation Cornpoppy - the ongoing, progressive probe into individuals who whitethorn person enabled oregon facilitated offending by the erstwhile Harrods owner.

Brittan is 1 of much than 200 alleged Al Fayed survivors who volition instrumentality portion successful a virtual gathering with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer connected Wednesday afternoon.

Lucy Duckworth, argumentation pb for The Survivors Trust who volition seat the meeting, said it "represents a important and hard-earned milestone for survivors".

She added: "This indispensable beryllium a turning constituent and we request to commencement joining the dots. We request to face ourselves and policymakers with the wider systemic failures that allowed maltreatment connected this standard to hap and persist."

Last period it was confirmed that a serving Metropolitan Police serviceman and 4 erstwhile officers were being investigated for imaginable misconduct implicit the handling of reports of intersexual maltreatment made against Mohamed Al Fayed.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said it was yet to determine whether immoderate existent oregon erstwhile officers person – oregon would person had if they were inactive serving – a disciplinary lawsuit to answer.

The Met said its teams had "transformed the mode we analyse rape and intersexual offences".

"We proceed to enactment each victims and we impulse anyone with information, whether they were straight affected by Mohamed Al Fayed's actions oregon alert of others who whitethorn person been involved, oregon committed offences to travel forward."