BBC’s ex-boss Lord Tony Hall says he was ‘wrong to give Martin Bashir the benefit of the doubt’

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‘Rogue reporter’ Martin Bashir commissioned fake bank statements and used ‘deceitful behaviour’ to secure his 1995 Panorama interview with Diana, Princess of Wales, just two years before she died, an official inquiry has concluded. 

The bogus documents ‘deceived and induced’ Earl Spencer to help Bashir ‘to arrange a meeting with Princess Diana’, today’s bombshell report has said, and landed Bashir with the interview of the century that hastened the end of her marriage to Prince Charles and saw her stripped of her HRH status. 

Friends of Diana’s have claimed that she might still be alive today ‘if she hadn’t spoken to Bashir’, while Patrick Jephson, the Princess of Wales’ private secretary at the time, said a ‘line’ leads from her interview with Bashir to the night she died in 1997 in a Paris car crash.

In his damning report Judge Lord Dyson said: ‘Mr Bashir deceived and induced him [Earl Spencer] to arrange a meeting with Princess Diana. By gaining access to Princess Diana in this way, Mr Bashir was able to persuade her to agree to give the interview. This behaviour was in serious breach of the 1993 edition of the BBC’s Producer Guidelines on straight dealing.’

Today the BBC has made a ‘full and unconditional apology’ after an independent report found that ‘rogue journalist’ Bashir used ‘deception’ to land the interview. 

And Lord Hall’s subsequent investigation into claims Diana was hoodwinked by Bashir was ‘woefully ineffective’, the judge said, especially because their inquiry ‘did not scrutinise’ Bashir despite knowing he had lied three times about showing the fake bank statements to Earl Spencer.

‘Lord Hall could not reasonably have concluded, as he did, that Mr Bashir was an honest and honourable man’, the report said. The BBC had ‘without justification’ ‘covered up’ Mr Bashir’s tricks and ‘thereby fell short of the high standards of integrity and transparency which are its hallmark’, said Lord Dyson.  

Lord Hall today insisted his ‘integrity’ remained intact despite the criticism and pointed the finger at the shamed journalist, saying he was ‘wrong to give Martin Bashir the benefit of the doubt’. 

Mr Bashir said in a statement this afternoon: ‘This is the second time that I have willingly fully co-operated with an investigation into events more than 25 years ago. I apologised then, and I do so again now, over the fact that I asked for bank statements to be mocked up. It was a stupid thing to do and was an action I deeply regret. But I absolutely stand by the evidence I gave a quarter of a century ago, and again more recently.

‘I also reiterate that the bank statements had no bearing whatsoever on the personal choice by Princess Diana to take part in the interview. It is saddening that this single issue has been allowed to overshadow the princess’ brave decision to tell her story, to courageously talk through the difficulties she faced, and, to help address the silence and stigma that surrounded mental health issues all those years ago. She led the way in addressing so many of these issues and that’s why I will always remain immensely proud of that interview.’ 

As the BBC suffered one of its darkest days, the report revealed: 

• Bashir breached BBC rules by mocking up fake bank statements and showing them to Diana’s brother, Earl Spencer, to gain access to the princess;
• The BBC ‘fell short of the high standards of integrity and transparency which are its hallmark’ in a subsequent investigation; 
• Lord Hall’s probe was ‘woefully ineffective’ and questioned how he could have ‘reasonably concluded’ that Bashir was an ‘honest man’ in 1996 investigation;
• Princes Harry and William were asked to check their mother’s handwriting after a letter from her to the BBC turned up last year. The letter, which was included as evidence in the Lord Dyson report, written on official Kensington Palace stationery and signed by Diana said: ‘Martin Bashir did not show me any documents, nor give me any information that I was not previously aware of. I consented to the interview on Panorama without any undue pressure and have no regrets concerning the matter’;
• Mark Killick, a senior producer on Panorama at the time, said Martin Bashir’s behaviour was ‘disgraceful’ and the BBC ‘little better’;

Senior BBC executives were criticised over a 1996 internal investigation which examined the mocked-up documents relating to the earl’s former employee, as it tried to determine whether or not the princess had been misled, with a key piece of evidence, a note from Diana, suggesting she had not.

Patrick Jephson, who was the Princess of Wales’ equerry and private secretary for eight years until 1996, has issued a statement suggesting the Panorama interview had ‘tragic consequences’ for Diana.

Lord Dyson’s report stated Mr Jephson was the subject of fake documents likely to have been produced by broadcaster Martin Bashir and shown to Diana’s brother Earl Spencer as the journalist tried to gain access to the princess.

Mr Jephson has previously said a ‘line’ leads from her interview with Bashir to the night she died in 1997 in a Paris car crash.

He said in his statement: ‘After so many years it is a relief to know more of the truth behind events which had so many unhappy and even tragic consequences.

‘I am grateful to Lord Spencer, Lord Dyson and the tenacious journalists who brought the story to light. I also acknowledge the BBC’s full apology which I received from the Director General this afternoon.’

Mark Killick, a senior producer on Panorama at the time, said Martin Bashir’s behaviour was ‘disgraceful’ and the BBC ‘little better’.

He said in a statement: ‘Lord Dyson’s report shows that what Martin Bashir did was disgraceful and what the BBC management did was little better. When I first found out what had happened, I consulted a BBC lawyer, then talked to Bashir and senior colleagues before using the editorial referral route.

‘I knew when I did it that the BBC might react badly, but I had no idea just how far they would go to try and discredit me.

‘Whilst this happened some time ago, the BBC should give a commitment to its staff that they can safely raise the sort of matter that I was faced with without losing their job or having the BBC’s vast publicity machine unleashed against them.’

Former director-general Lord Tony Hall has said he accepts the 1996 BBC inquiry into how Panorama secured its interview with Diana, Princess of Wales, ‘fell well short of what was required’ and he was ‘wrong to give Martin Bashir the benefit of the doubt’. 

The report said: ‘Without justification, the BBC fell short of the high standards of integrity and transparency which are its hallmark by covering up in its press logs such facts as it had been able to establish about how Mr Bashir secured the interview and failing to mention Mr Bashir’s activities or the BBC investigations of them on any news programme.’

Lord Hall said: ‘I have read Lord Dyson’s report, and I accept that our investigation 25 years ago into how Panorama secured the interview with Princess Diana fell well short of what was required.

‘In hindsight, there were further steps we could and should have taken following complaints about Martin Bashir’s conduct.

‘I was wrong to give Martin Bashir the benefit of the doubt, basing that judgment as I did on what appeared to be deep remorse on his part.

‘Throughout my 35-year career at the BBC, I have always acted in ways I believe were fair, impartial and with the public interest front and centre.

‘While Lord Dyson does not criticise my integrity, I am sorry that our investigation failed to meet the standards that were required.’

 Lord Dyson, the former master of the rolls and head of civil justice, was appointed to look into the circumstances surrounding the explosive 1995 sit-down, which famously featured Diana saying: ‘Well, there were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded.’

Bashir, who was the BBC News religion editor and announced last week he was leaving on health grounds, is accused of mocking up bank statements allegedly used to gain access to her brother and Diana, and then spinning a slew of lies to hoodwink her into the interview that would hasten the end of her marriage and the removal of her HRH status. One of Diana’s friends claimed today she believes she would still be alive if she hadn’t spoken to Bashir. 

BBC Director-General, Tim Davie said today: ‘The BBC accepts Lord Dyson’s findings in full. Although the report states that Diana, Princess of Wales, was keen on the idea of an interview with the BBC, it is clear that the process for securing the interview fell far short of what audiences have a right to expect. We are very sorry for this. Lord Dyson has identified clear failings.

‘While today’s BBC has significantly better processes and procedures, those that existed at the time should have prevented the interview being secured in this way. The BBC should have made greater effort to get to the bottom of what happened at the time and been more transparent about what it knew.

‘While the BBC cannot turn back the clock after a quarter of a century, we can make a full and unconditional apology. The BBC offers that today.’

The inquiry found Martin Bashir commissioned fake bank statements and used ‘deceitful behaviour’ in a ‘serious breach’ of the BBC’s producer guidelines to secure the interview.   

Earl Spencer, who has long campaigned for justice for his older sibling, shared an image of himself and his sister Diana, Princess of Wales as children ahead of the publication of Lord Dyson’s report. 

He posted the black and white archive image on Twitter, alongside the poignant words: ‘Some bonds go back a very long way.’ The photograph shows the siblings sat side by side in the summer sun, with a young Charles Spencer wearing trunks and Diana appearing to be in a swimsuit. 

The findings could now pave the way for huge damages claims from BBC and royal staff who lost their positions as a result of the explosive interview, it is claimed, with one source calling the case the corporation’s ‘phone hacking moment’. Lord Hall is said to have been given advanced warning he will be criticised, and is said to be worried he could lose his current job as chairman of the National Gallery in London.

Handwritten notes taken by the Princess of Wales’ brother Earl Spencer during a 90-minute secret meeting with him, Bashir and his sister at a flat in Knightsbridge in 1995 blew open the case.  The eight pages from a lined notepad revealed that the BBC reporter made a series of false claims that helped him land the interview of the century where the Princess of Wales opened up on her broken marriage with Charles.

Earl Spencer’s records show that Bashir allegedly claimed that Diana’s private letters were being opened, her car tracked and phoned tapped with her bodyguard plotting against her, and close friends were betraying her.   

The notes, handed to Lord Dyson, also contained allegations MI6 had recorded Prince Charles and his private secretary planning the ‘end game’ – an extraordinary and false hint the heir to the throne was plotting to ‘destroy’ the Spencers and force them to flee to the US.

Earl Spencer says that there were 32 jaw-dropping smears peddled by Martin Bashir , but the journalist, who quit the BBC last week, is understood to have denied this to inquiry chief Lord Dyson, and may have argued that some of these claims came from Diana’s mouth. 

Lord Hall of Birkenhead, 70, was identified in 60 pages of previously secret documents as being a ‘key figure’ who helped protect the BBC journalist following his explosive 1995 interview with the royal.

It came after concerns were raised by three Panorama journalists about Mr Bashir at the time, with friends claiming that the rogue reporter ‘destroyed her psychologically and made her paranoid’.

Simone Simmons , 61, who also gave evidence during the inquiry and was at one meeting, said today: ‘The interview led to her divorce and losing her HRH titles.  He destroyed her psychologically and made her paranoid — saying the royals wanted to bump her off and distrust her loyal staff and friends’.   

A year after the interview, an internal inquiry led by Lord Hall found that Mr Bashir was an ‘honest man’ and there was ‘no question of Mr Bashir trying to mislead or do anything improper’. 

Documents seen by Lord Dyson of minutes taken from meetings of the BBC news and current affairs board after the controversial interview showed three Panorama journalists, who later left the show, raised concerns about Mr Bashir’s conduct.

Lord Hall is also accused of telling graphic designer Matthew Weissler, who helped Mr Bashir create the mocked-up bank statements, that he ‘will not work for the BBC again’. 

A BBC source told The Times: ‘What happened at Panorama with Bashir set the culture of the BBC where staff were afraid to raise concerns about wrongdoing.

‘It also set the format for how far you can push it and then cover up to get a scoop.

‘It is not acceptable for a licence fee- funded organisation. The whistleblowers were axed and those who covered up were promoted.’        

The six-month inquiry, which was conducted by former judge Lord Dyson, confirms that Mr Bashir mocked up bank statements that were shown to Princess Diana’s brother, Earl Spencer, in order to win the trust of the royal. 

Lord Dyson was commissioned last year to examine whether Princess Diana would have given the historic 1995 interview, in which she famously declared ‘there were three of us in this marriage’, had it not been for Mr Bashir’s underhand tactics.  

Then a long-awaited Panorama documentary investigating how Mr Bashir allegedly lied and cheated to land his Diana exclusive will be broadcast this evening. 

During the inquiry, notes given to the judge by Princess Diana’s brother, Earl Spencer, which were seen by The Telegraph, detailed a conversation between Mr Bashir and Princess Diana prior to the famous interview.

It included a list of allegations made by Mr Bashir that Princess Diana’s phones had been bugged and that she was being followed.

The BBC’s controller of editorial policy in 1995, Richard Ayre, told The Telegraph: ‘The use of deceit in making factual programmes would have been permissible only in the case of investigating serious crime… and where prima facie evidence of the guilt of that person being investigated had already been obtained. 

‘Those circumstances clearly don’t apply to an interview with the Princess of Wales.’           

Lord Dyson warned he would follow the evidence – even if that meant straying from his brief, it can be revealed. A document seen by the Daily Mail shows he refused to be restricted to a ‘narrow’ investigation.

A second source suggested the eminent former Master of the Rolls had taken an interest in Mr Bashir’s wider career.

After allegedly using dirty tricks to convince Diana to be interviewed for Panorama, the reporter went on to other high-profile scoops including a controversial documentary on Michael Jackson. 

The disgraced pop singer later complained he felt tricked by Mr Bashir.

The reporter was accused of telling shocking lies to relatives of those murdered by GP Harold Shipman and peddling damaging ‘untruths’ to Scotland Yard about the Soho bombings case, it was claimed.

It is not known whether Lord Dyson has addressed these claims in the report, or drawn any broader conclusions about Mr Bashir’s modus operandi. 

But after the BBC commissioned him to probe the circumstances of the Diana interview, the judge vowed not to be constrained by that one episode.

A source close to the inquiry said Lord Dyson had pledged to ‘conduct a fearless investigation’ and was ‘determined to get to the truth’.

They added that he would not adopt a ‘narrow interpretation’ of his terms of reference, which he regarded as just a ‘framework’. Lord Dyson would also pursue evidence ‘covering a wider timeframe’ if he wanted to.

Lord Dyson was commissioned six months ago to examine whether Diana would have given the historic 1995 interview – in which she declared ‘there were three of us in this marriage’, hastening the royal divorce – had it not been for Mr Bashir’s underhand tactics.

Mr Bashir is still the BBC’s religion editor, although he handed in his notice last month after a series of health scares.

The Mail revealed last November how he spun an extraordinary web of deceit to clinch his interview.

He allegedly told a string of lies to gain Diana’s trust, including cruelly playing to her paranoia by pretending he had evidence that her staff were spying on her for newspapers and MI5.

It is claimed the lurid smears included an allegation that Prince Edward was being treated for Aids at a London hospital, that the Queen was a ‘comfort eater’ with ‘heart problems’, and that Prince Charles was ‘in love’ with his children’s nanny Tiggy Legge-Bourke and went on a secret holiday with her.  

It comes as Princess Diana’s friend Simone Simmons , 61, who also gave evidence during the inquiry, claimed Mr Bashir ‘conned’ the royal into giving the interview.

Ms Simmons told The Sun: ‘Diana was conned into doing the programme, and it wasn’t just forged bank documents.’ 

She added: ‘He was an out and out b*****d. He destroyed her psychologically and made her paranoid — saying the royals wanted to bump her off and distrust her loyal staff and friends.

‘We nicknamed Martin Bashir the Poison Dwarf. The interview led to her divorce and losing her HRH titles.

‘There is no doubt in my mind that Diana would still be alive today if she hadn’t spoken to Bashir.

‘I hope they throw the book at him. Justice should be done.’

The BBC was last night wracked in turmoil over the Panorama special into Mr Bashir’s Diana interview slated for tonight. 

It had ‘bravely’ commissioned veteran investigative reporter John Ware six months ago to probe the scandal – in effect, Panorama investigating itself.

The investigation will tell the ‘inside story’ of how Mr Bashir got his interview. 

Titled Princess Diana, Martin Bashir and the BBC, it will look at the BBC’s response after it learned he had faked bank statements and features ‘exclusive interviews and revelations from internal BBC documents’.

Director-general Tim Davie had shelved the programme last Friday, leading to a chorus of condemnation.  

Earlier this week, sources then said the programme would be aired the same day as the Dyson report was published.

Yesterday there were frantic meetings involving BBC lawyers. Last night the corporation put out a revision to its schedules, with The One Show taken off air at 7pm to make way for the documentary.

‘I was wrong to trust Martin Bashir’: Ex-BBC chief Lord Tony Hall issues grovelling apology after Panorama report – as his backslapping letter to the reporter emerges telling him he should be ‘proud’ of the ‘scoop of the generation’

Former BBC Director General Lord Hall sent Martin Bashir a back-slapping letter praising him for the ‘scoop of our generation’ after his bombshell Panorama interview with Diana, it emerged today – as an inquiry found the shamed journalist misled the princess to obtain the interview. 

In a note sent one day after the 1995 interview aired, Lord Hall of Birkenhead told Bashir he had behaved in ‘absolutely the appropriate fashion’ and ‘changed the way we report on the Monarchy’, as he said he should be ‘proud’ of the broadcast and had exercised ‘skill, sensitivity and excellent judgement’.

It came as Lord Hall said he was ‘wrong to trust Martin Bashir’ as the judge-led inquiry concluded he had commissioned fake bank statements and used ‘deceitful behaviour’ to secure the interview, as a judge criticised the former BBC chief directly for his whitewash report about the scandal.

Lord Hall’s message, in which the then director of BBC news and current affairs told Bashir he should be ‘proud’ of his ‘scoop’ and praised his ‘skill, sensitivity and excellent judgement’, will cause intense embarrassment given the inquiry’s findings.

The BBC today made a ‘full and unconditional apology’ after an independent report found that ‘rogue journalist’ Bashir used ‘deception’ in a ‘serious breach’ of the corporation’s own guidelines.

Yet at the time an internal investigation led by Lord Hall found that Mr Bashir was an ‘honest man’ and that there was ‘no question of [him] trying to mislead or do anything improper’.

Lord Dyson said of the probe: ‘Without knowing Earl Spencer’s version of the facts; without receiving from Mr Bashir a credible explanation of what he had done and why he had done it; and in the light of his serious and unexplained lies, Lord Hall could not reasonably have concluded, as he did, that Mr Bashir was an honest and honourable man.’

Prior to the report’s publication, Lord Hall was said to be concerned about losing his job as chair of the National Gallery if its findings were especially damaging. Neither he nor the National Gallery has yet commented about his future at the institution.

Lord Hall tried to distance himself from the scandal in a statement issued moments before the report was published. He said: ‘I was wrong to give Martin Bashir the benefit of the doubt, basing that judgment as I did on what appeared to be deep remorse on his part.

‘Throughout my 35-year career at the BBC, I have always acted in ways I believe were fair, impartial and with the public interest front and centre. While Lord Dyson does not criticise my integrity, I am sorry that our investigation failed to meet the standards that were required.’ 

 

 

 

 

‘Queen eats for comfort, Edward has AIDS, Camilla is depressed, Charles is in love with the Nanny’: How Earl Spencer’s scribbled notes from first meeting between Princess Diana and Martin Bashir became key evidence in Panorama probe

A jaw-dropping list of smears and lies allegedly peddled by Martin Bashir to clinch his sensational Princess Diana scoop was recorded by her brother – including the Queen ‘eating for comfort’ and Charles being in love with the family nanny.

Earl Spencer kept meticulous notes of a meeting held on September 19, 1995, when he introduced the BBC man to his sister at her Knightsbridge flat. 

His devastating dossier was handed to Lord Dyson for his inquiry into the case, which is set to report at 2pm today. It includes preposterous falsehoods about the royals and senior courtiers that he is said to have used to help land the interview. 

Earl Spencer’s records show that Bashir allegedly claimed that Diana’s private letters were being opened, her car tracked and phoned tapped with her bodyguard plotting against her, and close friends were betraying her.

Earl Spencer’s handwritten log of the meeting with Bashir at his sister’s flat in Knightsbridge also includes a note saying: ‘Camilla: depressed, but quiet for time being’. 

In an execrable reference to Prince Edward, Spencer recorded Bashir as saying that the Queen’s youngest son was receiving treatment for Aids at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London. Even the Queen was mentioned. Spencer noted Bashir as saying she was ‘very ill with heart problems’ and that she was a ‘comfort eater’.  

From officials bugging Diana’s car to warnings her reputation would be ‘destroyed’: Earl Spencer’s handwritten scraps that could shred Bashir’s career 

1: Diana’s ‘scum’ former bodyguard 

Bashir’s opening gambit that three MI6 agents had told him Prince Charles’s private secretary Richard Aylard was ‘orchestrating’ things surrounding Diana. This involved Ken Wharfe, Diana’s former bodyguard, described as ‘scum’.

Diana was already paranoid her staff and friends were betraying her and, at the meeting, the broadcaster allegedly brandished bank statements purportedly showing her closest aides were selling her secrets. 

2: Charles’ secretary ‘paid by Jonathan Dimbleby’ 

Aylard, it was claimed, had been paid by the broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby. A decision to reinvent the prince had been taken by aides two years earlier. A year later this allegedly included attacking both Diana and the Spencer family.

3: Charles ‘discussing ”end game”’

The notes, handed to Lord Dyson, include allegations MI6 had recorded Prince Charles and his private secretary planning the ‘end game’ – an extraordinary and false hint the heir to the throne was plotting to ‘destroy’ the Spencers and force them to flee to the US. 

4: Spencers’ reputation ‘would be destroyed’ 

Spencers’ reputation to be destroyed. In another remark recorded by Earl Spencer, Bashir claimed Prince Charles wanted Spencer’s then wife, Victoria, dead. Diana meanwhile would be forced to move to America — possibly with her brother.

5: Will Carling affair claim

his relates to the stories during 1995 of the close friendship between Diana and the married England rugby captain Will Carling. Spencer notes Bashir’s assertion that the newspaper stories had been ‘fed’ by Carling’s wife Julia.

9: Diana’s car ‘bugged’

The claim that Diana’s cars and phone lines being bugged and her post intercepted would have increased her worries she was being spied on. 

Bashir told Lord Dyson he would not have made these claims at a first meeting, the Telegraph reported.

17: Camilla ‘depressed’

In the interview, Diana made her feelings clear on Camilla, famously saying, ‘There are three of us in this marriage.’ 

Mentioning her could have been an attempt by Bashir to prompt her to speak out.

‘Tiggy’ is a reference to Tiggy Legge-Bourke, William and Harry’s nanny who Charles was accused of having an affair with in claims that were subsequently dismissed. 

17b: Philip’s ‘v unpleasant correspondence’

This claims Diana had received ‘v unpleasant correspondence’ from Philip and suggests he was annoyed at her ‘hero status’. 

It also references Edwina Mountbatten, the wife of Earl Mountbatten of Burma, who was known to have had affairs.

19: Fergie’s business deals in the US

Sarah Ferguson and Prince Andrew divorced in 1996. This note refers to her numerous trips to the US to forge a business career.

It adds that Andrew still ‘look[ed] after her’ following their divorce by supporting her financially.

20: ‘Queen eats for comfort’  

This note suggests the Queen was unwell, stating ‘Queen ill: heart’ and adds she ‘eats for comfort’.

Lord Hall is ‘worried’ he could lose role as chairman of the National Gallery if judge delivers damning verdict that the ex-BBC director-general ‘led cover up’ into how Martin Bashir ‘conned’ Princess Diana into Panorama interview

Former BBC chief Lord Hall is worried he could lose his job as chairman of the National Gallery when a damning report into his role directing the ‘cover-up’ around Martin Bashir’s world exclusive interview with Princess Diana is published today, it has been claimed. 

Lord Hall of Birkenhead, 70, was identified in 60 pages of previously secret documents as being a ‘key figure’ who helped protect the BBC journalist following his explosive 1995 interview with the royal.  

Lord Dyson, the former master of the rolls and head of civil justice, was appointed to look into the circumstances surrounding the explosive 1995 sit-down, which famously featured Diana saying: ‘Well, there were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded.’

A report on the six-month inquiry will be published at 2pm today and is expected to reveal that Mr Bashir mocked up bank statements that were shown to Princess Diana’s brother, Earl Spencer, in order to win the trust of the royal and Lord Hall is alleged to have run an internal inquiry later branded a ‘whitewash’ by insiders.

The findings could now pave the way for huge damages claims from BBC and royal staff who lost their positions as a result of the explosive interview, royal staff claim, with one source calling the case the corporation’s ‘phone hacking moment’.

Lord Hall has only been with the National Gallery for a year, and last month revealed major plans to turn the attraction into a ‘global digital institution’ that would appeal to the younger generation. The i reported that he is now concerned about his future.

One of Diana’s closest friends Simone Simmons insists she would still be alive today if she hadn’t been ‘conned’ by Martin Bashir into doing bombshell Panorama interview

Princess Diana would still be alive today if she hadn’t been ‘conned’ by ‘poison dwarf’ Martin Bashir into doing her life-changing BBC interview, her spiritual healer has claimed.

Simone Simmons, 61, insists Mr Bashir is ‘an out and out b*****d’ and gave evidence to the BBC’s independent inquiry that is expected to damn him and his bosses for breaching editorial guidelines.

She said: ‘There is no doubt in my mind that Diana would still be alive today if she hadn’t spoken to Bashir. I hope they throw the book at him. Justice should be done’. 

Ms Simmons says she was with Diana the first time she met the Panorama reporter at Kensington Palace in 1995, and claims his deceit went much further than faking two bank statements to gain her trust. 

She claims that Bashir charmed her with a promise the interview was about her charities, but they later called him ‘The Poison Dwarf’ after he asked her about her marriage to Charles.

She told The Sun: ‘I was there the first time Martin Bashir was at Kensington Palace. She had a lot of information on the table about her charities because she was led to believe Martin Bashir was doing an interview about them.

‘She came in very excited and said ‘Simone, he is going to do a programme about my charities, isn’t that wonderful’. I thought it was brilliant.

‘But as time went on nothing transpired and we all know what happened. He lied to her. He said her home was bugged and phones were tapped.

‘He was an out and out b*****d. He destroyed her psychologically and made her paranoid — saying the royals wanted to bump her off and distrust her loyal staff and friends.

‘We nicknamed Martin Bashir the Poison Dwarf. The interview led to her divorce and losing her HRH titles’.

Simone claimed that Diana was initially ‘in thrall’ of Bashir, asking him if he could help save her relationship with heart surgeon Hasnat Khan.

But after he allegedly warned her that she was being watched 24/7, followed in her car and had her phones and rooms bugged, she became paranoid.

Ms Simmons said at one point she and Diana were crawling around her flat looking for bugs, and that the Princess of Wales would later speak to BT about checking her phone lines.