The Metropolitan Police was allegedly notified of sexual harassment accusations against Mohamed Al Fayed a decade earlier than the police initially acknowledged.

Samantha Jay-Ramsay’s family said she was harassed and sexually assaulted by Mr Al Fayed when she was 17 while working at Harrods department store in Knightsbridge, and reported his behavior to the Met in 1995.

The police department had previously stated that the first allegations they received came in 2005 and added that Samantha’s case may not have been transferred to the police records because some of the reports in 1995 were on paper.

Samantha died in a car accident in 2007 when she was 28 years old.

The Met said it had asked prosecutors to decide whether former Harrods and Fulham FC owner Mr Al Fayed should be charged in relation to just two of 21 women who made allegations including rape and sexual assault between 2005 and 2023.

The evidence was presented to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in 2009 and 2015, but it decided not to do either because there was “no realistic prospect of conviction”.

Samantha’s mother Wendy Ramsay and sister Emma Willis contacted solicitors Leigh Day to consider legal options and the pair claim the Met refused to help her.

They backed calls for a public inquiry into allegations of abuse by Mr Al Fayed.

Miss Willis said: “It truly infuriates me to see that if the police had dealt with this properly then his life would have been different.

“He was the only one brave enough to go to the police at the time and how many women could have been saved from his abuse if they had dealt with it properly?”

He continued: “We know 100% that if my sister were here, she would speak out.

“No one believed him or did anything about it and that’s enough to drive anyone crazy.

“He explained what happened to him 30 years ago and was allowed to continue for another 20 years. This must have been on his mind.

“I hold Al Fayed responsible. I truly believe that if it had not happened to him, his life would have been different.

“This happened just as he was turning into an adult, which wasn’t what he had to deal with as he entered adulthood.

“He did everything necessary to blow the whistle and had the guts and courage to hold Al Fayed accountable but no one cared, no one helped him.

“I don’t think Sam had the skills to handle what was happening to him at that age.”

Samantha previously told the News Of The World newspaper in 1998 that Mr Al Fayed told her he would need a medical examination and told her: “I like you to be clean. I hope you use Dettol, that’s the best.”

She then claimed he grabbed her face, kissed her and touched her inappropriately before handing over £200.

Samantha said one of Mr Al Fayed’s personal assistants berated her for making the complaint, and the former Harrods owner allegedly shouted at her and kicked her out.

His mother went to the police in Gosport, Hampshire, and passed the complaint on to the Met, but the family said nothing came of it.

Emma Jones, partner at Leigh Day specializing in public investigations, said: “The fact that her report to the police was not among the 21 reports against Al Fayed confirmed to the media and is in fact pre-dated Ten years on this raises further questions about the police’s actions in this matter and further strengthening calls for a statutory public inquiry.

“It also raises questions about how many women could have been spared abuse if Sam’s complaints had been taken seriously and dealt with properly 30 years ago, as Sam’s family say.”

Commander Stephen Clayman, of the Met, said: “While we cannot change what happened, we recognize that trust and confidence has been affected by our past approach and we are determined to do better.

“We have made significant changes and progress to deliver better outcomes for victims.”

Mr Al Fayed bought Harrods for £615 million in 1985 and sold it to the Qatar royal family for £1.5 billion in 2010, after 26 years in charge.

He passed away in 2023 at the age of 94.