A flight attendant on Mohamed Al Fayed’s private jet has revealed she was sexually assaulted by the monster at 30,000ft while his bodyguards looked on.
Former Harrods stewardess Jerri MacDonald bravely came forward to give her account of being preyed upon by the depraved tycoon.
Waiving her right to anonymity and speaking exclusively to MailOnline, she revealed flying with the billionaire boss ‘scared the hell out of me’ because it was impossible to escape his clutches while everybody else on the plane turned a blind eye.
During a flight from London to Paris aboard Fayed’s £35million Gulfstream IV in February 2007, the then 28-year-old said he molested her after making a lewd comment about her uniform.
She said: ‘It used to scare the hell out of me because on his private jet you can’t get away.
‘This one time when I was walking down the cabin he grabbed my crotch and started shouting at me ‘your suit is too tight, I can see your p****’.
Former Harrods stewardess Jerri MacDonald bravely came forward to give her account of being preyed upon by the depraved tycoon
Jerri revealed flying with the billionaire boss ‘scared the hell out of me’ because it was impossible to escape his clutches while everybody else on the plane turned a blind eye
Brave survivors have united to detail Al Fayed’s harrowing abuse in the 25 years he owned the department store
During a flight from London to Paris aboard Fayed’s £35million Gulfstream IV in February 2007, the then 28-year-old said he molested her after making a lewd comment about her uniform.
‘It was only a small jet so everybody could see everything, it felt like the bodyguards just turned a blind eye.
‘When you’re on the jet he would beckon you over and try to talk to you, he would say when we land I want you to come with me, I have business for you. Then you are taken away from the crew and you’re in his hands.
‘There was this revolving door of girls on the plane, the pilots must obviously know what was happening. These were guys in their 50s and 60s, they would have had daughters my age but felt no duty of care.
‘The bodyguards were really intimidating, you felt they were on this team of their own and were fully aware of what was happening but there was never a look or acknowledgement of what was happening.’
Soon after the incident she tried to confide in a female colleague about the assault but was told ‘it’s part of the job’.
Jerri gave up a job as a commercial stewardess and moved from her childhood home in Cheshire to Essex to work for Al-Fayed’s Fayair in December 2006 – doubling her pay to £30,000 – but five months later she was fired after repeatedly refusing his advances.
Jerri, now 46, said the predatory behaviour began in the first interview when she was advised to ‘stay single’ because ‘that’s how the boss likes it’.
A second interview with Fayed himself lasted less than a minute in which she had to stand in front of him and turn 360 degrees before being hired on the spot.
Days later, after completing her first flight to Paris, she was separated from the rest of the crew and ordered into Fayed’s Mercedes Benz to be driven to the Ritz, which he owned.
She said: ‘The first time I ever flew, the other crew members went off to the hotel but I was told you’re going with the chairman.
‘I was taken to the Ritz while he had work to do but there was nothing for me to do, I was just there to be preyed upon when he wanted to.
Jerri gave up a job as a commercial stewardess and moved from her childhood home in Cheshire to Essex to work for Al-Fayed’s Fayair in December 2006 – doubling her pay to £30,000 – but five months later she was fired after repeatedly refusing his advances
Jerri, now 46, said the predatory behaviour began in the first interview when she was advised to ‘stay single’ because ‘that’s how the boss likes it’
‘I remember thinking why the hell am I here, then the secretary got a phone call and said Mr Al-Fayed would like to see you.
‘He would just try and kiss you, touch you, hug you and I’d have to stay overnight in the Villa Windsor. I wasn’t raped by him but I was touched.
‘He has this pattern of behaviour where he gives you a hug or kiss on cheek and you think that’s a bit weird but whatever then next time it’s a longer hug. I remember I was sat in one of the offices. He walked up behind me and his hand went straight down my blouse.
‘I grabbed his wrist and firmly took it out again – it was never something I was ok with – so I pushed him away and tried to make a joke out of it saying ‘I have a boyfriend’ because I thought he would get angry and I feared for my job if I just said no.
‘That evening he tried to get in the bedroom and was ringing the phone, I always had a feeling I was being watched.’
But following another attempted assault at his Park Lane offices, Fayed became furious at being turned down and kicked her out. A week later she received a phone call to say she was fired.
She added: ‘He phoned me himself and asked me to come into the office to do some work, when I arrived I was taken straight up to his top floor apartment by security.
‘He offered me champagne and strawberries then the next minute he put his arm around me and kissed me. I pushed his shoulder away and that’s when he got angry.
‘He normally has this jovial persona but he just flipped when he realised I wasn’t going to do what he wanted he started swearing and ‘F***ing stupid girl, you won’t amount to anything, you should’ve taken what I’m offering, I don’t want you to work for me’.
‘I was turfed out, it was around 11pm and I was just left on the street. I knew at that point I had to leave and it was just making arrangements.
‘A couple of days later I went back to Cheshire to see my parents and the operations director rang me to say they needed me to fly from Essex. He said the Chairman won’t be happy, your contract is terminated.’
Jerri’s second interview with Fayed himself lasted less than a minute in which she had to stand in front of him and turn 360 degrees before being hired on the spot
Mohamed Al Fayed with the Queen in 1997. His business connections and charity work saw him mixing with high society despite his complaints about what he saw as establishment bias
Despite being given a poor reference, Jerri worked in private aviation for a further 15 years and never had a similar experience with anybody else
Days after completing her first flight to Paris, Jerri was separated from the rest of the crew and ordered into Fayed’s Mercedes Benz to be driven to the Ritz, which he owned
Despite being given a poor reference, Jerri worked in private aviation for a further 15 years and never had a similar experience with anybody else.
Five women told the BBC they were raped by Fayed, who died last year at the age of 94, with at least 15 others alleging they were sexually assaulted in his London offices, the Ritz Hotel and his Villa Windsor mansion in Paris.
A legal team representing alleged victims confirmed on Saturday morning they have had over 150 new inquiries since the airing of a BBC documentary on Fayed.
At least three other flight attendants – not including Jerri – have contacted lawyers saying they were molested mid-air by the former Harrods tycoon.
Other crew members are said to be on the verge of coming forward.
A source said: ‘Every assault perpetrated by this man was wicked, but there is something uniquely horrendous about being subjected to his predatory advances while thousands of feet in the air and with no prospect of escape.’
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