Mohamed Al Fayed's security chief 'corrupted Jill Dando murder probe'

Mohamed Al Fayed's security chief corrupted the investigation into Jill Dando's murder by bribing a bent Met Police detective, it has been claimed.

John MacNamara, who headed the disgraced late Harrods tycoon's extensive security operation, has been accused of plotting to pay an officer in return for confidential information about the BBC star's death.

BBC Crimewatch presenter Jill was tragically shot in the head outside her west London home in 1999, prompting Britain's biggest police investigation since the Yorkshire Ripper. She died aged 37 and her murder remains unsolved.

Punch magazine, once owned by predator Al Fayed, previously published key unknown details from the investigation, including that Ms Dando was shot behind the ear.

In his 2002 book, Dead on Time, Punch writer John McVicar claimed ex-Met Police chief Macnamara arranged for him to meet a detective who leaked details from the probe for £300, The Mirror reports.

McVicar, who died two years ago aged 82, claimed he was told to put the cash in a brown envelope 'in tribute to Mo [Al Fayed]'.

McVicar, a notorious ex-robber who escaped prison twice before reforming as a writer, once said of Macnarmara, who died in 2019: 'He has broken far more people's careers and lives than he has made.' 

It comes amid claims that Al Fayed also used Macnamara to bribe police officers and threaten his alleged victims to help him cover up years of abuse.

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Al Fayed, who died aged 94 last year, was hit with an avalanche of rape and assault claims last month after at least 2 former Harrods workers told a BBC documentary they had been raped or molested by the flamboyant Egyptian tycoon. 

But on Friday, the Met Police revealed they are investigating 40 new allegations against Al Fayed and others since the BBC documentary.

The 40 new allegations relate to 40 alleged victims and are in addition to allegations police were aware of before the BBC's investigation and documentary, Scotland Yard said.

Before the recent media coverage, 21 allegations were made against the late billionaire which resulted in crimes being recorded relating to 21 separate women between 2005 and 2023.

The offences were alleged to have taken place between 1979 and 2013. Four of the reports were allegations of rape, 16 were sexual assault and one related to trafficking, the Met said.

The Crown Prosecution Service was approached by Scotland Yard on five occasions between 2005 and 2023, the force said, but no further action was taken against Mr Al Fayed.

The force said that while it would not be possible to bring criminal proceedings against Mr Al Fayed - as he is no longer alive - it would 'continue to explore whether any other individuals could be pursued for any criminal offences'.

Female victims who have come forward to share their horrific experiences have also told of the lengths that Al Fayed's inner circle went to cover up his crimes. 

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In 1995 women made allegations of sexual misconduct against Al Fayed to Vanity Fair journalist Maureen Oath.

One of Al Fayed's personal assistant 'Alice', who names was changed to protect her identity, claimed that she told Ms Oath that she would give an anonymous statement about Al Fayed's behaviour. Before the article was published, Alice claims MacNamara intimidated her to prevent her speaking out again.

She said in the documentary: 'John MacNamara contacted me before the article was published, and I had no idea how he'd found me.

'He said I should not be involved in that article but if I went against his advice, just to be aware that he knew where my parents lived. It turned me cold.

'After I spoke to Maureen, I never spoke to anybody else by fear of what it might bring.'

The article was published without any serious sexual assault allegations and Al Fayed sued the magazine for libel. He later dropped the multi-million pound lawsuit.

Around the same period, a member of Al Fayed's personal security team - who worked closely with MacNamara - said he was a 'nasty piece of work and would threaten people and things and used his power as an ex-copper.'

He added: 'I know for a fact MacNamara knocked on someone's door personally and threatened a girl.'

After Princess Diana died in a car crash with Al Fayed's son Dodi Al Fayed, MacNamara started his own private investigation into the accident which ran parallel to the official inquiry.

Working with Al Fayed, the pair made a number of outlandish allegations that the Royal Family were involved in the tragedy.

He fabricated story that Prince Philip and MI6 had somehow conspired to murder Diana and Dodi in order to prevent them marrying.

MacNamara sought to establish a reason for the crash and started claiming that Diana had been pregnant and that this had been a motive to kill her.

He hired a retired French police officer to ‘prove’ that MI6 was behind the conspiracy and that the agency had been acting on Prince Philip’s orders.

Then he came up with the story that a white Fiat Uno had deliberately crashed into the Mercedes in the Pont de l’Alma tunnel. Presenting himself as a plain-speaking copper, Macnamara persuaded journalists to believe his fantasy.

His fantasy collapsed in 2008 during an inquest into the deaths of Diana, 36, Dodi, 42, and driver Henri Paul, 41, where he admitted here was no evidence to back up his theories.

At the inquest MacNamara clashed with the coroner after admitting he had initially lied about the amount Henri Paul had drunk that night, and whether Diana was pregnant when she died.

Lord Justice Scott Baker asked Macnamara: 'If you are telling lies on some occasions, how can they [the jury] tell if you are telling the truth on others?'

Macnamara replied: 'I have come here to tell the truth'.

He passed away in 2019 after he had been suffering from progressive supranuclear palsy.