The allegations follow the airing of a BBC documentary in September that detailed multiple claims of rape and sexual assault by the former owner of the upmarket London department store. The Justice for Harrods Survivors group said it had received 421 inquiries, mainly related to the store but also regarding Fulham football club, the Ritz Hotel in Paris and other entities.

The billionaire Egyptian businessman – who died in August last year aged 94 – bought Harrods in 1985, six years after acquiring the Ritz in the French capital. He bought Fulham in 1997.

Harrods has said that it has been contacted by more than 250 people seeking to negotiate an out-of-court settlement. London’s Metropolitan Police force says it has been contacted by 60 people, with accusations stretching back to 1979.

The attacks are said to have lasted for more than 30 years, until 2013.