Twenty-seven years ago this summer I received a letter about BBC Panorama stationery from Martin Bashir, a man I had never heard of, asked to see me. In his letter, he reassured me by saying that he had senior colleagues at the BBC who could vouch for him.
At the time, I was reporting for NBC, the US network, and we often collaborated with the BBC, who were our news partners. I had the utmost respect for the BBC and knew that Panorama was the showpiece.
Mr Bashir and I had our first meeting on August 31, 1995. Two years later, to the day, my youngest sister was said to be dead – killed in a car accident, with no royal protection officers on hand, who had chosen to drop out. to see the services of those she should have been implicitly able to trust with her safety.
What Mr Bashir told me was shocking – a series of stories so extraordinary that as soon as he left I called Panorama’s executive producer who confirmed it was all true and that I could trust Mr Bashir.
Earl Spencer, brother of the late Princess Diana, has linked the princess’s death to the infamous Newsnight interview with disgraced Martin Bashir
Diana died two years after the day Earl Spencer first met Martin Bashir. Pictured: Diana Princess of Wales attends Royal Ascot on June 18, 1987
For the next three weeks, I felt cared for: I was shown false bank statements; I was told about private payments, espionage and horrific cheating. But all this time I was the one who was tricked so that Mr. Bashir could get to my dead sister through me.
At the time, Diana was extremely vulnerable. She discovered that some of her secrets, which were shared only with close friends, appeared in the press. She was understandably shocked by this. Looking back, I suspect she was a very early victim of “phone hacking” by unknown perpetrators, but no one knew about this criminal practice in 1995, so she accepted the outrageous claims that dark forces were at work.
On September 19, 1995, I introduced Diana to Mr. Bashir. During that meeting, I was struck by some discrepancies between what he told my late sister and what he had told me before. After Mr. Bashir left, I said, ‘I’m sorry, Duch, I wasted your time. What that man just said isn’t right,” highlighting some discrepancies with what he’d told me before. She said, ‘Don’t worry, Carlos [her name for me], it doesn’t matter – it was nice to see you anyway.’ ‘
Princess Diana photographed with her brother, Earl Spencer, at their Berkshire home when they were children in 1968
When we broke up that afternoon, I assumed I’d never hear about Mr. Bashir again.
When the BBC trumpeted that they had concluded their Panorama interview with my sister a few weeks later, it was the first I knew anything had come of that disturbing encounter. The program was in the can. The BBC’s settlement last week with Alexandra Pettifer (Tiggy Legge-Bourke), the nanny of my sister’s children, once again shed light on the appalling, deceitful behavior of those following the interview.
“While Mr Bashir is of course being held up for his unspeakable behaviour, serious questions remain at the BBC about others. First, who else at the BBC at the time knew of Mr Bashir’s work?
Former BBC reporter Martin Bashir has been accused of ‘looking after’ Earl Spencer by showing him false bank statements and telling him of underhanded payments, espionage and appalling cheating
Tunnel de l’Alma in Paris, the site of the car accident that killed Princess Diana on August 31, 1997. It was two years to the day after Earl Spencer first met Bashir that Diana was killed without ‘Royal Protection Officers’ on hand, who chose to forgo the services of those she should have implicitly trusted. with her safety’
In a story of such unique importance as this, it is reasonable to believe that the chain of command must have been very high indeed – past Panorama to the headwaters of the BBC.
When there was an inquiry into the matter in the spring of 1996, as the BBC called it, into how the interview had been obtained, senior BBC executives knew I was the go-between who introduced Diana to their reporter. Yet they chose not to let me know anything about the investigation at all. Who therefore chose not to approach me for my proof? Why didn’t they want to hear it? Who were they covering for?
In 2005, the BBC approached me to be interviewed for a program they were making to celebrate the tenth anniversary of what they still saw as their Panorama coup.
I wrote back that I was stunned that they wanted to celebrate a program secured by such unfair means. I echoed the then Director-General in my reply and told him that I was happy to share my evidence of the BBC’s conduct. I haven’t heard from him or his BBC colleagues again.
My friend Andy Webb – a top investigative journalist who has been chasing the truth in this case for many years – has been greeted by the BBC’s lawyers with a series of defenses that stretch the credulity. But one thing I do know for sure is that there’s so much more that hasn’t been revealed that reveals even more murky depths the BBC bent to get her interview with Diana. It’s time for that to come out. Hopefully that’s a matter for the police, and I’m here to help them.
The question I am repeatedly asked by concerned citizens, outraged at what was done to my sister, is why have the police not prosecuted those involved for what several senior lawyers have told me is clearly illegal and criminal conduct?
I hope the police will reconsider their responsibilities in this case. Only they have the power to get to the bottom of this terrible scandal, which left Diana feeling even more exposed and alone, tricking her into leaving behind those who cared for her and who would have protected her.
She may have chosen to give the media an interview anyway – and if she had I would have fully supported her – but the painful lies the BBC told her before their cameras finally turned left her in that Panorama interview came up with a very skewed and misrepresentation of the situation she was in, having been lied to repeatedly.
This led to her speaking in a way that set her on a course of not getting adequate protection when she needed it most.
All those responsible must be held accountable.