Martin Bashir used chicanery to secure Princess Diana’s 1995 interview, report finds

An official inquiry in Princess Diana’s 1995 interview revealed that Martin Bashir used “deceitful behavior” and broke BBC guidelines in order to secure the release of the interview.

As per the statement of Lord Dyson, Martin Bashir commissioned fake bank statements that helped him to contact Diana through her brother. 

Dyson also mentioned that Bashir persuaded the Princess of Wales to take part in the 1995 Panorama interview. This behavior of persuasion is a serious breach in terms of BBC’s guidelines on straight dealings.

After the broadcast of the Panorama, the graphic designer Bashir commissioned, Matt Weissler, raised concerns about the forged bank statements, which professed to show payments from The Sun’s publisher, News International, and a company to a former employee of Spencer. This played on Princess Diana’s delusion at the time that she was being spied on and that her life was in danger.

The revelations come after former MSNBC anchor Bashir left the BBC last Friday on health-related issues.