London: A former journalist of the ‘BBC’ who in the past has been blamed for Princess Diana’s death has finally spoken on the issue. Journalist Martin Bashir has time and again been blamed regarding the tragedy that led to Princess Diana’s death in 1997. It has been alleged that Bashir deceived Princess Diana in order to secure an explosive interview with her in 1995. It finally created a chain of events that led to her death, a newspaper reported. Bashir told ‘The Sunday Times’ he believed his actions did not harm Diana.
An independent investigation was published Thursday. It found that Bashir lied and deceived Diana that she was being spied upon. He used the news to persuade her to give the interview in which she disclosed details of her failed marriage to Prince Charles. “I never wanted to harm Diana in any way and I don’t believe we did,” Bashir was quoted as saying by the ‘The Sunday Times’.
Diana’s eldest son William has said the way the interview was secured was ‘deceitful’. William alleged that the BBC’s failures contributed significantly to Diana’s ‘fear, paranoia and isolation’.
Prince Harry, the younger brother of Williams and Diana’s brother Charles Spencer have said the interview was part of a series of unethical practices that ultimately cost Diana her life in a car crash in Paris in 1997.
“I don’t feel I can be held responsible for many of the other things that were going on in her life. There were many complex issues surrounding those decisions,” Bashir said in the interview.
“I can understand the motivation… but to channel the tragedy, the difficult relationship between the royal family and the media purely on to my shoulders feels a little unreasonable. The suggestion I am singularly responsible for her death, I think is unreasonable and unfair,” asserted Bashir.
‘The Sunday Times’ quoted Bashir as admitting that he used forged bank statements which the inquiry said was part of the deception of Diana . “Obviously I regret it, it was wrong,” Bashir told the newspaper. “But it had no bearing on anything. It had no bearing on (Diana), it had no bearing on the interview,” he further said.
Britain’s government said on Friday it would examine how the BBC was run after the inquiry criticised the broadcaster for its ‘woefully ineffective’ investigation into Bashir’s actions.
London’s police force has said officers will assess the contents of the report. They will examine if there was any significant new evidence, having previously ruled out a criminal investigation.