BBC defies judge's order to release Martin Bashir's email trail: Documents could expose ongoing cover-up of what bosses knew about deception deployed to secure controversial interview with Princess Diana
- The Panorama interview was hailed at the time as the first of a generation
The BBC came under fire last night after failing to publish thousands of emails relating to the Martin Bashir scandal – despite a judge's order.
The potentially explosive documents could expose an ongoing cover-up of what BBC bosses knew about the deception Bashir used to secure his controversial interview with Princess Diana.
Last month, The Mail on Sunday exclusively revealed how Judge Brian Kennedy had demanded the Corporation hand over the emails and questioned their honesty after it waged a two-year campaign to keep them secret.
Judge Kennedy ordered BBC bosses last Wednesday to make the emails public 'at or before the end of the working day', although the deadline was later extended by 48 hours.
But on Friday morning, senior BBC lawyer Lois Clifton wrote to the First-tier Tribunal, where Judge Kennedy hears cases, calling for another delay.
Princess Diana during her controversial 1995 interview with Martin Bashir for the BBC
The Panorama interview was hailed at the time as the first of a generation
The company is said to have commissioned an outside law firm to sift through the documents and help redact personal data and other information before they are released.
But the trial has raised fears that the BBC is trying to hide incriminating or embarrassing information.
Journalist Andy Webb, who first filed a Freedom of Information Act request for the emails in July 2021, said: 'This is an absurd delay after we have already spent so much time and money preventing disclosure …Is this yet another cover-up? ?'
Bashir's 1995 Panorama interview with Diana, in which she declared “there were three of us in this marriage” – referring to Charles' then mistress Camilla – was hailed as the first of a generation.
It later emerged that Bashir had shown Diana's brother Earl Spencer forged bank statements to gain the princess's trust and then spread a litany of vile lies.
The BBC said it “takes its responsibilities to comply with the tribunal's decision very seriously” and added: “Extensive work has been carried out to review the documentation, which contains many hundreds of pages of duplicates and material that is not related loved the 1995 Panorama, but was nevertheless caught by the electronic searches.
“We're in the final stages of putting that documentation together.”
Diana did not shy away from Bashir's pointed questions and went against the palace's unspoken rule to remain quiet
It was during the interview that the Princess sensationally said: 'There were three of us in the wedding so it was a bit busy' (Image: Daily Mail report, November 21, 1995)