By Sheila Mckenzie-
Earl Spencer, the late brother of Princess Diana, claims to have been groomed by former BBC presenter, Martin Bashir.
Spencer, has long called for a thorough comprehensive investigation into the deceptive events that led to the untimely death of his late sister, princess Diana . Crucially, he has also called for the police to re-open criminal investigations into BBC personnel, whose actions he says various lawyers have told him was criminal.
Spencer’s strong feeling that the police should have prosecuted BBC personnel is one The Eye Of Media.Com has probed the Met on numerous occasions last year, as well as the BBC, all to no avail. The fact bank statements that were fraudulent used to secure a world exclusive interview from which the BBC most certainly profited, makes the case for a criminal prosecution plausible.
The offence of fraud immediately sticks out because of the admitted fraudulent bank statements presented by the now disgrace Martin Bashir, who conniving antics led to much pain in the royal family following the hurtful revelations in that world exclusive documentary.
Technically speaking, all BBC personnel who were aware of the fraudulent bank statements and gained from the 1995 BBC documentary have questions to answer.
Bashir is still pushing the police for criminal prosecutions against guilty parties in the BBC, steps the police are reluctant to take two decades later. His pain and sorrow has not ended, and the repeated apologies from the BBC is clearly not enough for him.
In response to an investigation into forgery, blackmail and misconduct, the Met Police force said in September that it had ‘not identified evidence of activity that constituted a criminal offence and will therefore be taking no further action’.
However, Earl Spencer remains unsatisfied with the police handling of the matter. He writes: ‘The question I am repeatedly asked by concerned members of the public, furious at what my sister was put through, is why have the police not prosecuted those involved for what various senior lawyers have told me is clearly unlawful and criminal behaviour?
Spencer has concluded that there is a direct link between the deception that secured the BBC Panorama interview and the eventual death of Princess Diana.
Writing for the Daily Mail, he says: She may well have chosen to grant the media an interview anyway – and if she had, I’d have fully supported her – but 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.
This led to her speaking in a way that set her on a course where she was without due protection when she needed it most.
Over the following three weeks I feel that I was groomed: I was shown forged bank statements; I was told of underhand payments, of spying, and of appalling deception. But, all along I was the one being deceived in order for Mr Bashir to get to my late sister, through me.
He writes about his sisters vulnerability to the phone hacking practices of the 90’s and how she was fooled into believing dark forces were at work when close secrets she had only shared with her friends appeared in the press.
The whole affair exposed the serious immorality of every press that participated in publicising private information obtained through the despicable process of phone hacking. Stooping so low just to sell stories was a shocking stain on the integrity of the press of the day back then.
Hopefully, two decades later, the press has developed a bit with more dignity, but there is no telling how much corrupt practices still lingers in the British media.
As well as apologising to Ms Legge-Bourke, the BBC this week issued a personal apology to Prince Charles, Harry and Prince William, for Bashir’s actions.
According to The Times, the Duke of Cambridge is understood to think the broadcaster has not gone far enough in questioning the “legitimacy” of the interview.
BBC director general, Tim Davie, said it was a “matter of deep regret” that the BBC did not “get to the facts” quicker.
He said in a statement: “I would like to take this opportunity to apologise publicly to her, to The Prince of Wales, and to the Dukes of Cambridge and Sussex, for the way in which Princess Diana was deceived and the subsequent impact on all their lives.
“It is a matter of great regret that the BBC did not get to the facts in the immediate aftermath of the programme when there were warning signs that the interview might have been obtained improperly.”