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The BBC says it has found Princess Diana’s handwritten note which it claims clears Martin Bashir of wrongdoing in connection with his landmark 1995 interview with royalty.
The broadcaster had previously said that it had lost the crucial paper, which it used to explain Bashir’s use of fake bank statements to get an introduction to Diana.
An internal investigation at the time of the original broadcast concluded that Bashir did not force Diana to give the interview and “we have her word in writing for that as well.”
As of Friday, the corporation had insisted that it had lost the letter. However, after weeks of press coverage to mark the 25th anniversary of the interview, the BBC says it has found Diana’s memo. He will provide the document to an independent investigation that is preparing to re-investigate how Bashir obtained the interview.
A spokesman for the BBC did not provide a copy of the letter or explain where the note had been.
The issue also raises questions about the corporation’s compliance with the Freedom of Information Act (FoI). A 2007 request for internal documents related to the investigation of Bashir’s interview with Diana was rejected on the grounds that the BBC no longer had such material. A repeated request from those responsible for a Channel 4 investigation this year revealed that the corporation had at least 57 pages of high-level internal documents, but no handwritten note from royalty.
Andy Webb, the journalist who made the Channel 4 movie, wrote in the Sunday Times that the BBC had handed him the documents at the last minute before his show aired, thwarting his attempts to include him on the show.
He also said that the corporation had denied for the third time having the crucial role of the member of the royal family: “We put another question to the BBC FoI office. Do you remember that note from Diana? The card to get out of jail? Any joy to find that? Well, since you ask, no. When we said it was lost, it was totally accurate. Somehow it has gotten into the trash can of history. And nobody didn’t even make a copy. “
On Friday he told The Guardian: “It is fascinating that he turned up, just in time for an investigation. With the history of counterfeiting in this case, hopefully they will examine it very closely. “
A BBC spokesperson said: “Following the announcement of the independent investigation, the BBC has now recovered the original handwritten note from the princess that is mentioned in our records from that time. We will pass it on to independent investigation.
“As there have been many comments on this note and journalists have asked about it, we thought it appropriate to put on record that we have now recovered it. We will present more details of the independent investigation shortly. “
Bashir rejoined the BBC in 2016 and is currently its religion editor. He was fired from work for complications related to a coronavirus infection earlier this year and a quadruple heart bypass. As a result, you cannot answer questions related to the incident.
There is a growing expectation in the BBC newsroom that Bashir will not return to work as a result of the scandal.
