Whistleblower accepts £500,000 damages
BBC blacklisted graphic artist after he raised his concerns about how Bashir secured Diana interview
THE whistleblower who disclosed the dirty tricks used by Martin Bashir to secure his Panorama interview with Diana, Princess of Wales, has reached a financial settlement with the BBC.
Matt Wiessler, a freelance graphic artist, was blacklisted by the broadcaster 25 years ago for raising concerns about Bashir when the reporter asked him to fake bank statements. He is believed to have accepted compensation of about £500,000 for the “profound impact on his and his family’s life” of the BBC’S actions.
It is understood the broadcaster is working its way through a number of claims and legal actions brought by journalists who worked with Bashir. The final bill, including legal costs, could amount to millions of pounds.
Bashir paid Mr Wiessler £250 to produce fake bank statements that he used to gain the trust of Earl Spencer, Princess Diana’s brother. The Earl introduced his sister to Bashir, enabling him to secure the interview in which the Princess exposed her husband’s adultery.
The extent of Bashir’s deceit was laid bare in a devastating report published in May by Lord Dyson, a former Master of the Rolls, that prompted the BBC to issue humiliating apologies to Mr Wiessler and the Dukes of Cambridge and Sussex. After months of negotiations, the BBC settled its dispute with Mr Wiessler, who maintained he was a scapegoat as the BBC sought to protect Bashir and its reputation. Tim Davie, the BBC’S Director-general, apologised on behalf of the corporation after the Dyson review.
Mr Wiessler’s lawyer, Louis Charalambous, of Simons Muirhead Burton, said: “Mr Wiessler is relieved that the BBC has now matched the Director-general’s fulsome apologies with appropriate financial compensation for the wrongs done to him and the profound impact they had on his and his family’s life. It is important to my client that the BBC has acknowledged that he acted properly and responsibly throughout.”
The broadcaster said: “We are pleased that the BBC and Mr Wiessler have reached an agreement. We would like to repeat our full and unconditional apology to Mr Wiessler for the way he was treated by the corporation in the past. We also apologise to Mr Wiessler’s family.
“Mr Wiessler acted with complete integrity, including in raising his concerns at the time, and we are sorry that these were not listened to.” Mr Wiessler has said that his business folded after he was blacklisted by the BBC.
In the interview broadcast in Nov 1995, the Princess complained of there being “three of us” in her marriage, referring to the Prince of Wales’s affair with Camilla Parker-bowles, and questioned her husband’s suitability as king.
Bashir had denied the faked bank statements were used to gain Earl Spencer’s trust. Bashir later quit the BBC but rejoined in 2016 as its religious affairs correspondent. He resigned days before the publication of the Dyson review.