Diana brother told BBC chief he had damning Bashir dossier 17 years ago – but was ignored
PRINCESS Diana’s brother warned BBC bosses 17 years ago that disgraced reporter Martin Bashir used underhand tactics to land his bombshell Panorama interview – but was ignored, a newly unearthed document reveals.
An explosive letter released under freedom of information laws shows that in 2005 – ten years after the notorious interview – Earl Spencer told the BBC he had a dossier detailing Bashir’s deceit.
The letter was addressed to a BBC producer but, crucially, a copy was also sent to Mark Thompson,
the Corporation’s then directorgeneral. Astonishingly, no one from the BBC acted on the warning and the extent of Bashir’s wrongdoing remained hidden for a further 15 years until the Daily Mail revealed the details of the dossier.
BBC bosses were this weekend under mounting pressure to explain whether the letter was disclosed to Lord Dyson, the former Supreme Court judge who held an independent inquiry into the scandal.
‘It’s astonishing to learn that – 15 years before the scandal broke – the BBC were fully aware Earl Spencer had a dossier of highly compromising evidence and was more than willing to share it,’ said Andy Webb, an investigative filmmaker who helped lift the lid on the Bashir scandal.
Bashir showed Earl Spencer forged bank statements to gain access to Diana and then tricked her by peddling a string of lies. BBC bosses knew soon after the interview aired in 1995 that there were questions over Bashir’s tactics but he was cleared after what Lord Dyson later called a ‘woefully ineffective’ investigation.
Bashir left the BBC in 1999 but he was rehired as religion correspondent in 2016. He was later promoted to religion editor.
In July 2005, Arena, a BBC documentary series, was preparing an episode to mark the tenth anniversary of Bashir’s interview. Producer Samantha Peters wrote to Earl Spencer to ask whether he would agree to an interview.
He declined, saying: ‘Based on the documents I have at Althorp – including notes I took at the time in my own hand – which prove Panorama’s role in this matter to have been less than honest, I must register my astonishment that the BBC wishes to revisit this moment in its fine journalist history.
‘I am copying this letter to your director-general, so he can learn the truth about Panorama’s methods a decade ago, if they are of interest to him now.’
His warning was a clear reference to the bombshell dossier he had retained, which showed how Bashir had peddled 32 jaw-dropping smears to clinch his interview, including fabricated claims that Royal nanny Tiggy Legge-Bourke was having an affair with Charles.
In November 2005, the BBC aired the Arena documentary and showed the Panorama interview again.
Ms Peters and Mr Thompson declined to comment last night.
The BBC said: ‘We commissioned an independent, judge-led investigation after Earl Spencer came forward to the BBC with new evidence in November 2020. We accepted Lord Dyson’s findings in full and made an unreserved apology.’
‘Papers showed Bashir had peddled 32 smears’