How Corporation was finally forced to admit Bashir deceit
AUGUST 31, 1995: BBC Panorama journalist Martin Bashir meets Earl Spencer and shows him fake bank statements that freelance designer Matt Wiessler mocked up for him.
SEP 19, 1995: The Earl introduces Bashir to Princess Diana.
NOV 5, 1995: The sensational Panorama interview with Diana is broadcast.
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DEC note which from 22, she 1995: Diana says: Bashir ‘I to was his passes not bosses shown a in any information documents by Martin nor given Bashir any that I was not already aware of.’
MAR 23, 1996: Bashir admits to BBC bosses that he had lied about not showing the fake bank statements to anybody. Yet two months later, he is sent a note – signed off by Tony Hall, then head of BBC News – that his dealings with Diana were ‘absolutely straight and fair’.
APR 7, 1996: The Mail on Sunday publishes a story about the fake statements. The BBC denies they were used to obtain the interview, but Hall opens an inquiry.
APR 25, 1996: Hall tells BBC governors that Bashir commisioned fake statements because ‘he wasn’t thinking’, adding: ‘I believe he is, even with this lapse, an honest and honourable man.’ Bashir leaves the BBC, but returns in 2016 as religious affairs editor.
AUG 28, 1996: Diana’s divorce from Prince Charles is finalised.
AUG 31, 1997: Diana dies in a car crash in Paris.
NOV 3, 2020: The Daily Mail publishes a letter written by Earl Spencer in which he accuses the BBC of ‘sheer dishonesty’.
NOV 18, 2020: The BBC asks former Supreme Court Justice Lord Dyson to independently investigate the scandal.
MAY 20, 2021: Lord Dyson’s report condemns Bashir as ‘dishonest’ and criticises Hall’s investigation as ‘flawed’. Prince William condemns the BBC’s ‘incompetence’.
JUL 21, 2022: The BBC pays about £200,000 to royal nanny Tiggy Legge-Bourke and admits she was subjected to ‘baseless’ smears by Bashir.