Al Fayed, who died last year aged 94, was accused by more than 20 women of sexual assault in a BBC documentary and podcast in September.

Since then, more women have come forward with allegations of assault, harassment and rape over a period of more than thirty years when they were his employees.

Harrods previously told the BBC it was in the process of resolving more than 250 compensation claims brought by victims of Al Fayed. The luxury department store has a compensation plan for former employees who say they were attacked by Al Fayed, which is separate from the legal case against him.

On Thursday, the Justice for Harrods Survivors group, which represents some of the former Harrods boss’s accusers, said its first letter of claim had been sent to the department store, calling it “the beginning of the formal legal process.”

The group said the majority of the 421 claims related to Harrods, but others related to incidents at Fulham FC and the Ritz Paris hotel, which was also owned by Al Fayed at the time of the alleged attacks.

The survivors involved come from the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia and Asia, lawyers said.