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Met Police will re-open Martin Bashir probe after damning report

Lord Dyson found Bashir was in ‘serious breach’ of BBC guidelines / PA

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Met Police will re-open Martin Bashir probe after damning report

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Scotland Yard has stated that it will review Lord Dyson’s damning report into Martin Bashir’s BBC interview with Diana, Princess of Wales “to ensure there is no significant new evidence” of potential crimes.

Lord Dyson discovered Martin Bashir, who just stepped down from the broadcaster due to health issues, engaged in ‘deceitful behaviour’ to gain the headline-grabbing interview.

According to Sky News, Princess Diana’s brother has written to the Metropolitan Chief, requesting that the force re-examine the circumstances surrounding her BBC Panorama interview.

Scotland Yard had previously opted not to launch a criminal inquiry into alleged illegal behavior related to the 1995 broadcast.

The force is under increasing pressure to investigate Bashir, overturning a decision made in March to take no action.

Lord Dyson found that Bashir violated BBC standards when he fabricated bank statements and handed them to Diana’s brother Earl Spencer in order to obtain access to her.

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The Metropolitan Police Service first said that it would not investigate suspicions of illegal behavior relating to a 1995 BBC interview.

However, following Lord Dyson’s damning report into the show, Scotland Yard stated, “In March 2021, the MPS determined it was not appropriate to begin a criminal investigation into allegations of unlawful activity in connection with a documentary broadcast in 1995, but any significant new evidence would be assessed.”

“Following the publication of Lord Dyson’s report we will assess its contents to ensure there is no significant new evidence,” the statement said.

Earl Spencer’s plea to Scotland Yard Commissioner Cressida Dick comes only days after a stinging assessment concluded the broadcaster covered up “deceitful behaviour” used by journalist Martin Bashir to achieve the infamous 1995 scoop.

 

Lord Dyson’s six-month independent investigation concluded that the BBC “did not scrutinise” Bashir despite knowing he lied three times.

In a later probe, the station “fell short of the high standards of integrity and transparency which are its hallmark,” according to the study.

 

On Friday, Justice Secretary Robert Buckland indicated an inquiry was up to the police, but on Radio 4’s Today, he said, “I think anybody reading the headlines and the summary of Lord Dyson’s findings will be struck by his use of those words, fraud and deception.”

Lord Hall, the former BBC director-general who was strongly chastised in the Dyson report for his bungled investigation into how the interview was acquired, has resigned as chairman of the National Gallery, claiming that remaining in the role “would be a distraction to an institution I care deeply about.”

He has also faced questions over the BBC’s choice to rehire Bashir in 2016, despite the fact that he had lied about financial statements.

The BBC has officially apologized to the Royal Family in writing.

In January, a lawyer representing Earl Spencer’s former head of security, Alan Waller, filed an official complaint with Met Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick claiming possible fraud.

Bashir may have committed a felony, according to Richard Ayre, the BBC’s head of editorial policy in 1995.

The journalist apologized and stated that, though he greatly regretted falsifying financial figures, he thought it had “no bearing whatsoever on the personal choice by Princess Diana to take part in the interview.”

Tim Suter, a former BBC executive who was involved in the corporation’s internal probe in 1996, resigned from his board position with media watchdog Ofcom on Friday.

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