DIANA TV ROW FILES ‘ STOLEN’
Graphic designer’s home ‘ targeted’
EVIDENCE in the Princess Diana Panorama interview row was stolen in a burglary, it has been claimed.
Tw o f l o p p y d i s k s c o n t a i n i n g “dangerous evidence” were said to have been taken from the home of Matt Wiessler, a graphic design er who mocked up bank statements on behalf of BBC reporter Martin Bashir.
The burglar y i s al l eged t o have happened on the night of the Panorama Christmas party in December 1995, soon after Mr Wiessler had turned whistleblower.
Charles Spencer, the late Princess of Wales’s brother, has accused Bashir of spinning a “web of deceit” to clinch his sensational scoop.
The Earl says the faked bank statements helped convince him two palace staff were being paid by security services for information on Diana.
He has said: “If it were not for me seeing these statements, atements, I would not have introduced d Bashir to my sister.”
On the night of the burglary, Mr Wiessler essler was reportedly invited o ut f o r a p r e - p a r t y drink. But a source urce told the Daily Mail: : “He sat there alone, and nd no one showed up... somebody mebody had wanted to be sure ure he wasn’t at home.” ”
The next morning, Mr Wiessler claims he discovered two floppy disks had been stolen from his London home – but nothing else had been taken.
The graphic designer is understood to have previously expressed concern about his role in helping Bashir fake the documents and says he had f lagged concerns to BBC managers.
There have been claims several staff in the BBC current affairs department were also hit by burglaries following Diana’s explosive confessions.
This week, Earl Spencer f urther accused the corporation of “sheer dishonesty ”. He also demanded a full apology over its methods in obtaining the interview with his sister.
The BBC has apologised for the faked statements but said a note from the princess, which has since gone missing, states she did not see them.
It also said that Mr Bashir was too ill with Covid- 19 to be contacted.
Diana’s revealing Panorama chat attracted 23 million milli television viewers and was hailed as a the greatest tell- all scoop of the 20 20th century.
Meanwhile Meanwhile, former TV executive Stewart Purv Purvis has said Diana told him in the 198 1980s that she wanted to do a Panoram Panorama interview.
Speaking o on Radio 4’ s Today, he said: “When I heard a decade later that she’d fina finally appeared on Panorama, I suppo suppose, in a sense, it was a
missio mission accomplished.”