BBC won’t let its own staff see Bashir files

THe BBC team investigating Martin Bashir’s methods of obtaining his Princess Diana interview have been denied access to basic documents by their own bosses.

The Panorama crew tasked with producing a special show looking into the circumstances around Bashir’s interview have accused the corporation of putting up roadblocks.

Producers have been told to submit Freedom of Information requests to access BBC broadcasting guidelines from 1995 – the year the interview took place. But the process often takes up to 20 working days for information to be provided, raising concerns of a reluctance inside the BBC to uncover a potential scandal.

BBC director- general Tim Davie had launched a full inquiry into the affair, presided over by retired Supreme Court judge Lord Dyson. But it has been criticised by Diana’s brother earl Spencer.

It is hoped that respected BBC journalist John Ware could help to ease a growing public outcry at the corporation by fronting the Panorama show.

But he was not the first choice, with BBC media editor Amol Rajan initially picked to front the programme.

The controversial Bashir interview for Panorama in 1995 saw the princess reveal there were ‘ three people in my marriage’ – a coded reference to Prince Charles’s relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles. Shortly after it was screened, it was revealed that Bashir, now 58, pictured, had commissioned a graphic designer to forge bank statements. It was allegedly part of an effort to convince Diana that her private staff were leaking stories to the Press. A BBC investigation took place the following year, overseen by head of news Tony Hall, who later became director-general. The probe concluded: ‘The BBC has been able, independently, to verify that these documents were put to no use which had any bearing, direct or indirect, on the Panorama interview with the Princess of Wales.’ But renewed interest brought about by the 25th anniversary of the interview last year caused earl Spencer to call for another investigation. He alleges Bashir created a web of deceit to draw the vulnerable princess into his confidence.

earlier this month Diana’s former lover Hasnat Khan told how the ‘ cunning’ Bashir had preyed on her.

Mr Khan, 62, claimed that Bashir, now BBC religion editor, ‘filled her head with rubbish’ until Prince William, then a teenager, warned her: ‘Mummy, he’s not a good person.’

He added: ‘ One of her most attractive qualities was her vulnerability... I later realised that Martin picked on those vulnerabilities and exploited them.’

The BBC would not comment on the Panorama probe.

But a spokesman said: ‘ The BBC will be co-operating fully with the independent investigation it has established, which it has appointed an eminent legal figure to lead.’