Harrods abuse survivors have battled to get their voices heard and to bring the perpetrators to justice over more than three decades. Time and again they have come up against the power of the wealthy, the British legal system, and the indifference of police and politicians.
There were high hopes of Keir Starmer when he first came to office promising to tackle violence against women and girls. Sadly, not only do those hopes remain unfulfilled – there is no indication that Starmer’s government is any more willing than its predecessors to respond to the evidence of abuse perpetrated over many years by the rich and the powerful.
So the claims made by the Prime Minister in his speech in Hastings, East Sussex, on the 5 February, that “in this country we will not look away… we will pursue the truth” are particularly painful and infuriating for the Al Fayed abuse survivors to hear.
Isabella – not her real name – has written a series of articles for Sussex Bylines on the battle that survivors have had to get their voices heard, often against the active opposition of elements of the British establishment. Her open letter to Keir Starmer that we publish here is a passionate refutation of his claim that “we will do everything in our power and in the interests of justice — to ensure accountability is delivered”.
Keir Starmer,
Quite frankly, how dare you speak about justice while continuing to deny it to us?
Your public statements on accountability are incompatible with your continued failure to respond meaningfully to the more than 400 victims linked to Mohamed Al Fayed’s decade-long trafficking and exploitation operation.
You have been aware of the nature and scale of this abuse for a considerable period of time. Despite this, no action has followed. At no point have you publicly addressed the victims, acknowledged the substance of what has been put before you, or set out any steps your government intends to take.
A formal request for a public inquiry has been hand-delivered to 10 Downing Street. We have contacted senior figures, including Jess Phillips and Karen Bradley, and received no substantive response. We have written to you directly, in stark and detailed terms, setting out the trafficking, exploitation, and the ongoing failure of the British state to meet its legal duty to protect victims of serious crime.
A subsequent Freedom of Information request confirmed that this information was escalated internally to the highest levels of government.
It is therefore no longer credible to suggest that this matter was not brought to your attention.
This is not a question of administrative delay or oversight.
It reflects a sustained pattern of avoidance and non-engagement.
As Prime Minister — vested with the authority to act — you have not taken steps to initiate an inquiry, to establish an independent mechanism of accountability, or to otherwise address the systemic issues raised by the victims’ accounts.
The consequence is that survivors remain without a viable route to accountability for those who enabled, ignored, or suppressed abuse. They remain dependent on the very institution implicated in their harm to now seek redress.
The abuse described by victims involved humiliation, coercion, sexual assault, and rape. It followed repeated and consistent patterns of organised exploitation over many years. Yet the response permitted to stand continues to frame this as the actions of a single individual, rather than as evidence of a wider institutional failure shaped by wealth, access, and protection.
This approach mirrors the early handling of the Epstein case — characterised by denial, delay, and an artificially narrow focus that limited scrutiny rather than confronted the full truth. And it must be said plainly: the suffering of Epstein’s survivors should not be invoked as political insulation or rhetorical cover in the face of unresolved failures at home.
You have stated publicly that justice is not optional for the powerful.
In this case, access to justice has been treated as discretionary.
This is not merely a historic failure.
It is a continuing absence of action.
You were informed.
Opportunities to respond were available.
Meaningful action has not followed.
So the question remains: how can you claim to stand with survivors while those in your own country continue to be met with silence?
Shame on you.
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