BBC interview: Martin Bashir says sorry as Michael Jackson’s family threatens legal action

Michael Jackson’s family slams Martin Bashir as Britain’s Home Secretary refuses to rule out criminal prosecutions over the Princess Diana report.

Britain’s Home Secretary has refused to rule out criminal prosecutions in the wake of the damning report on the 1995 Panorama interview with Princess Diana.

Priti Patel also warned the corporation now faces a “very significant” review after Lord Dyson’s report found the BBC covered up the “deceitful behaviour” of journalist Martin Bashir in securing the bombshell interview.

Michael Jackson with journalist Martin Bashir.

It comes as Michael Jackson’s family called for an apology from Martin Bashir as they reportedly consider legal action.

Jackson’s nephew Taj, the son of Tito Jackson, accused Bashir of using “manipulated footage and unethical journalism” in his interview with the late pop star.

Jackson’s family says the fallout from the controversial 2003 interview, in which he confronted the late pop star over his relationship with children and filmed Jackson on wild shopping sprees in Las Vegas, led to the star’s increasing dependence on drugs.

BASHIR APOLOGIES TO ROYALS

Former BBC interviewer Bashir, who tricked the late Princess Diana into giving her explosive interview, on Sunday apologised to Prince William and Prince Harry, but said claims linking his actions to her death were “unreasonable”.

A report by retired senior judge John Dyson found that Bashir commissioned faked bank statements that falsely suggested some of Diana’s closest aides were being paid by the security services to keep tabs on her.

Bashir, 58, then showed them to Diana’s brother Charles Spencer in a successful bid to convince him to arrange a meeting between himself and Diana and earn her trust.

Bashir told the Sunday Times he was “deeply sorry” to Diana’s sons Prince William and Prince Harry.

Prince Charles, Princess Diana and their children William and Harry. Picture: AFP

“I never wanted to harm Diana in any way and I don’t believe we did,” he told the paper.

But William said Bashir’s actions and the interview had made “a major contribution” to the demise of his parents’ relationship and “contributed significantly to her fear, paranoia and isolation” in her final years.

In his own release, Harry said that the deceptive practices had played a part in his mother’s death.

“The ripple effect of a culture of exploitation and unethical practices ultimately took her life,” he said.

Diana died in a Paris car crash in 1997, aged 36.

Bashir disputed the accusations, saying “I don’t feel I can be held responsible for many of the other things that were going on in her life, and the complex issues surrounding those decisions.

“The suggestion I am singularly responsible I think is unreasonable and unfair,” he told the paper.

Former BBC journalist, Martin Bashir. Picture: AFP

BASHIR: ‘I LOVED HER’

He argued that the 1995 interview had been conducted on Diana’s terms, and that they remained firm friends after it aired to an audience of 22.8 million people.

“My family and I loved her,” he said, revealing that Diana had visited Bashir’s wife and newborn child in hospital and that the princess threw a birthday party for his eldest child at Kensington Palace.

“Everything we did in terms of the interview was as she wanted, from when she wanted to alert the palace, to when it was broadcast, to its contents … My family and I loved her.”

Mr Bashir also apologised to Prince Harry and Prince William, who last week said their mother lost her life because of the interview.

But Mr Bashir denied that he had fuelled Diana’s isolation and paranoia.

“Even in the early 1990s, there were stories and secretly recorded phone calls. I wasn’t the source of any of that,” he said.

Bashir has said that he regretted showing Diana’s brother forged documents, but that it had “no bearing” on the revelations aired during the interview.

In it, Diana famously said “there were three people” in her marriage -- her, Charles and his long-time mistress and now wife, Camilla Parker-Bowles -- and also admitted adultery.

Princess Diana made a number of bombshell revelations during her 1995 Panorama interview with Martin Bashir. Picture: BBC

Martin Bashir arrives at Santa Barbara County Superior Court as the first witness to be called at Michael Jackson's child sex abuse trial. Picture: AFP

Bashir worked for the BBC as religion editor until he stepped down just last week, citing ill health, hours before Dyson’s report was submitted to BBC bosses.

Former BBC chief Tony Hall, whom Dyson criticised for his “woefully ineffective” 1996 probe into Bashir’s deception, resigned as chair of Britain’s National Gallery on Saturday.

A government review of the BBC’s funding and governance is due next year, which Home Secretary Priti Patel on Sunday called a “very, very important moment.”

“There’s no question about that trust and confidence has been undermined, and now it’s a time for the BBC to absolutely reflect upon the findings of this report and rebuild that trust and confidence,” she told Sky News

It comes as UK police chiefs prepare to hold a summit on whether a criminal probe should be launched over the scandal, The Sun reported.

They will reportedly look over the 127-page report for fresh evidence.

If there are grounds for a criminal probe, it could be announced in the coming weeks, a source told The Sun.