The managing director of Harrods says the London department store is “deeply sorry” for failing employees who say they were sexually assaulted by late owner Mohamed Al Fayed.

Multiple former employees told the BBC they had been raped or sexually assaulted by the billionaire businessman, who died last year.

The legal team representing the alleged victims of the former owner of Harrods, Mohamed Al Fayed, say the late billionaire was a “monster” whose crimes were “enabled” by the high-end department store.

Harrods "failed" its staff by not dealing with Mohamed Al Fayed's "toxic culture of secrecy, intimidation, fear of repercussion and sexual misconduct" the department store's managing director has said.

Ward is asking current and former Harrods colleagues to report further incidents of sexual abuse as the store conducts an independent review of multiple allegations against the late Mohamed Al Fayed.

One woman who said al-Fayed raped her at his apartment on Park Lane when she was a teenager branded him a “monster, a sexual predator with no moral compass whatsoever”, describing the staff at Harrods as his “playthings”. She said: “We were all so scared. He actively cultivated fear. If he said ‘jump’, employees would ask ‘how high?’.”

Around 60 women have now come forward to allege they were sexually abused by former Harrods owner Mohamed Al-Fayed, lawyers representing them said on Friday.