Just what is sex monster Fayed’s chief lackey Michael Cole hiding? Here’s 10 vital questions
The Mohamed Fayed revelations continue with alarming pace and the sheer scale of his crimes against girls and young women, according to the victims’ lawyer, probably amount to the worst the world has yet seen. The man who went about systematically raping and assaulting Harrods employees on a near-daily basis can no longer be brought to justice, at least not on this earth.
But he had his enablers, some like him now dead, most significantly the thuggish former Met chief superintendent John McNamara and his band, and Dr Wendy Snell, whose job it was to give chosen victims a full medical, including an intimate internal examination, and pass the results directly to Fayed. She died two years ago.
But one ex-employee is still alive and he has so many questions to answer.
Step forward Michael Cole, the former BBC royal correspondent turned Harrods director of public affairs, for which read Fayed’s chief lackey. I conclude my Random Jottings elsewhere here asking that he answer the vital questions about his employer and I repeated that at the weekend in an interview with Sky News.
It came as no surprise that Sky and no doubt all other media have been trying to reach Cole without success. His silence is deafening and we can only assume that he simply will not answer for fear of the potential consequences.
That reticence is in stark and revealing contrast to his eulogies 13 months ago immediately after 94-year-old Fayed died. When he spoke to Anne Diamond on GB News it was a near-tearful performance: ‘He loved people, he loved showbusiness, it was theatre and that’s how he approached things.
‘Those people who actually knew him, who worked for him and the many, many people who were beneficiaries of his kindness and generosity loved him. He said if you do something good in life then you come back as something good. He certainly lived by that.’
Diamond joined in with, even by her standards, a staggeringly stupid question: ‘He lived a very good and long life until 94. He died the day before the 26th anniversary of the crash which killed Diana and Dodi. Do you think he simply couldn’t face another anniversary, you just can’t help wondering?’
Cole: ‘I would love to ask him that very question Anne. Karma. It does seem very strange.’ And, returning to full-on oleaginous mode: ‘He lived a great life. I met him first in his apartment in Park Lane and, while waiting, a beautiful lady in Chanel poured me a glass of Ritz champagne.’ A blonde no doubt.
The police are involved once again, having failed to get two previous investigations into Fayed’s alleged assaults through the CPS under Keir Starmer. There may even be a public enquiry. So Cole cannot hide for ever.
These are questions he must answer:
1. You were at the side of Fayed for 10 years wherever he went in the world. Did you witness any improper behaviour on his part?
2. Were you aware that he would tour Harrods to identify girls he wanted to work for him in his private office, the floor where you were based?
3. Were you aware of a slush fund administered by his in-house lawyer which paid victims £50,000 once they signed an NDA?
4.Did you know about the activities of Dr Wendy Snell?
5.Did you know of complaints from women players at Fulham FC during his ownership of the club?
6.Tom Bower’s biography of Fayed was published in 1998 and made many allegations of assault and even rape. You denounced it but what was your honest belief?
7. Did you ever put these allegations to Fayed?
8. Did you know that Fayed had a Ghislaine-style pimp, a female senior executive who toured the streets looking for attractive blondes to work at Harrods?
9. You were always quick to praise and defend Fayed. Why the current silence?
10. What exactly are you hiding?
ALAN FRAME
23 September 2024
