A television documentary outlining the alleged role of a Jersey-based businesswoman in identifying and supplying young female employees to Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed is being broadcast in Australia today.
First shown to British TV viewers at the start of April, the Channel 4 Dispatches programme Delivered to a Predator highlighted the role of a former senior manager in introducing junior employees to Al Fayed, who is alleged to have subsequently sexually abused, and in some cases raped, many of them.
The “fixer” was named as Kelly Walker-Duncalf, who worked for Harrods for 16 years until 2013 but has subsequently moved to Jersey and uses her married name, Kelly Gilmour.
A number of Australians were among those who alleged they were introduced to Al Fayed by Ms Walker-Duncalf and later suffered sexual abuse, prompting the move by Sydney-based station SBS to broadcast the Dispatches programme on national television in Australia tonight.
Several women named Ms Walker-Duncalf as someone who enabled Mr Al Fayed’s alleged attacks having identified employees to whom the store owner would be introduced.
Sexual abuse, and in some cases rape, followed these introductions in many cases, victims told the programme.
In a statement provided at the time of the UK broadcast, a spokesperson for the Jersey resident said: “Ms Walker-Duncalf denies the allegations made against her in the Dispatches documentary.
“At no point did she ‘facilitate’ or ‘enable’ sexual abuse perpetrated by Mr Al Fayed (or anyone else).”
Channel 4 news presenter Cathy Newman, who fronted the episode, flew to the island in a bid to speak to Ms Walker-Duncalf and was shown in brief telephone conversation with her while in a car near Corbière Lighthouse – but no details of the exchange were broadcast.
Companies House documents for Ms Walker-Duncalf’s fashion recruitment consultancy, KWD Solutions, show her permanent residence to be in Jersey, and that she changed her name on the company documents to Kelly Gilmour, the name by which she is known locally, in 2018.
The former employees who have made claims about abuse suffered during the Al Fayed era are continuing a legal battle to obtain compensation from the new owners of Harrods.
Barrister Dean Armstrong of Justice for Harrods Survivors said: “Our work representing survivors of Mohamed Al Fayed’s abuse is focused on holding to account those within Harrods and Fayed’s other businesses who facilitated that abuse.
“For our survivors, justice means exposing the entire edifice that enabled their harm – we will not rest until the dozens of other enablers we’ve heard about are exposed in a similar fashion.”
In a statement given to Dispatches, a Metropolitan Police spokesperson said the force continued to support all victims and urged anyone with information to come forward, adding: “Given the live investigation into those who could have facilitated or enabled Mohamed Al Fayed’s offending continues, we cannot comment further at this time.”