Police ‘must investigate BBC bosses over Diana interview’, says brother

The brother of Diana, Princess of Wales, has accused the disgraced reporter Martin Bashir of grooming him, as he called for the police to investigate the BBC.

Earl Spencer said he was shown forged bank statements and fed lies about underhand payments, spying and “appalling deception” while Mr Bashir was attempting to secure the Panorama interview with his sister.

Writing in The Mail on Sunday, he called on the Metropolitan Police to “reconsider their responsibilities” and launch a criminal probe into the BBC.

“I feel that I was groomed: I was shown forged bank statements; I was told of underhand payments, of spying and of appalling deception,” he wrote.

He claims that this deception was all a means for Mr Bashir to get access to his sister.

“At this time, Diana was extremely vulnerable. She was finding that some of her secrets, shared only with close friends, were appearing in the press. She was understandably rattled by this.”

He added: “The agonising lies that she was told by the BBC before their cameras finally rolled ensured that she came into that Panorama interview with a very skewed and false view of the situation she was in, having been lied to repeatedly.”

He said he has been asked by members of the public why the police have not prosecuted those involved.

“Only they have the power to get to the bottom of this terrible scandal, which led Diana to feel more exposed and alone, and deceived her into forgoing those who cared for her and would have protected her,” he wrote.

Tiggy Legge-Bourke, the former nanny of the Dukes of Sussex and Cambridge, won damages of about £200,000 from the BBC over false claims made by Mr Bashir.

The Mail on Sunday said the BBC declined to comment on Earl Spencer’s comments, and reiterated the pledge never to air the interview again.