Warning: This article contains upsetting content
A woman alleging she was trafficked to Mohamed Al Fayed and sexually assaulted by his associate has expressed anger after the Metropolitan Police mistakenly sent her personal information to another individual.
Joanna Brittan provided a statement to Devon & Cornwall Police in 2017, which was subsequently transferred to the Metropolitan Police. Her statement detailed claims of being trafficked to the former Harrods owner and experiencing sexual abuse by one of his business associates.
She later discovered that the Metropolitan Police had erroneously sent handwritten notes of her account, including her address, contact number, and date of birth, to another alleged victim residing in Australia.
The BBC understands this data breach, attributed to human error, has been reported to the Information Commissioner's Office. A one-off payment was offered to Brittan in response to the incident.
'Shambolic, incompetent and complicit'
The Metropolitan Police initiated an investigation into allegations of abuse linked to Al Fayed in November 2024, despite 21 women having come forward prior to his death in 2023. Al Fayed passed away without facing any charges.
Brittan, from Devon, who spoke to the BBC after waiving her automatic lifelong right to anonymity, described the Metropolitan Police as
"shambolic, incompetent and complicit".
The data breach occurred after Brittan requested the return of her original statement, which her legal representatives had asked for.
Last month, the Home Office informed her there were
"reasonable grounds"to believe she was a victim of modern slavery and trafficking, and that her case would be investigated further.
Jasvinder Sanghera, the Independent Survivor Advocate appointed by Harrods and who has worked with Brittan, described the incident as
"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 added.
The BBC understands that Brittan's initial report in 2017 was pursued as a rape allegation against Ahmed Obaidly, a United Arab Emirates diplomat and associate of Al Fayed. She provided additional information during a video-recorded interview in 2020.
It is understood that Brittan was later informed that an investigation into allegations concerning Obaidly could not proceed because he had died in 2015.
It is believed that the criminal allegations Brittan made against Al Fayed are now part of Operation Cornpoppy, an ongoing investigation into individuals who may have enabled or facilitated offenses by the former Harrods owner.
Brittan is among more than 200 alleged survivors of Al Fayed who are scheduled to participate in a virtual meeting with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer on Wednesday afternoon.
Lucy Duckworth, policy lead for The Survivors Trust and chair of the meeting, stated that it
"represents a significant and hard-earned milestone for survivors".
She further commented,
"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 under investigation for potential misconduct related to the handling of sexual abuse reports against Mohamed Al Fayed.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) stated it had yet to determine whether any current or former officers have, or would have had if still serving, disciplinary cases to answer.
The Metropolitan Police stated that its teams have
"transformed the way we investigate rape and sexual offences".
They added,
"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."
