BBC pays ‘substantial sum’ to Princess Diana aide over Martin Bashir interview

The BBC has paid Princess Diana’s former private secretary a ‘substantial sum’ over a 1995 interview found to be the result of deception.

The BBC has paid a “substantial sum” and apologised to Princess Diana’s former private secretary over a 1995 interview found to have been obtained using deception.

An independent report by judge John Dyson last year concluded Martin Bashir tricked Diana’s brother into helping to arrange the interview, in which she spoke candidly about her marriage to Prince Charles.

“The BBC and Commander Patrick Jephson have reached a settlement following publication of the Dyson report,” the BBC said on Thursday.

Commander Jephson, who worked for Diana from 1988 to 1996, said Bashir “seduced and betrayed” her into agreeing to the interview, which sent shockwaves through the royal family.

“The BBC accepts and acknowledges that serious harm was caused to Commander Jephson as a result of the circumstances in which the 1995 interview ... was obtained,” the BBC said.

Justice Dyson concluded that Bashir commissioned fake bank statements that falsely suggested some of Diana’s closest aides were being paid by the security services to keep tabs on her.

He then showed them to Charles Spencer in a successful bid to earn their trust and land the interview, in which Diana admitted adultery with James Hewitt, and detailed Charles’ affair with Camilla Parker Bowles.

“There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded,” Diana told Bashir and a UK audience of 23 million.

Princess Diana Princess with her private secretary Commander Patrick Jephson in 1995.

The BBC “apologises unreservedly to Commander Jephson for the harm caused to him”, has paid his legal costs and “a substantial sum in damages”. The broadcaster said Commander Jephson intende d to donate the damages to charity.

The BBC has previously apologised and reached an agreement with a graphic designer who was sidelined for blowing the whistle on the underhand methods used.

Bashir asked Matt Wiessler to mock-up documents that were shown to Earl Spencer, who wrote on Twitter on Thursday that the settlement with Commander Jephson was “the right result”.

“Appalling what Patrick Jephson had to go through as a result of grotesque ‘journalism’,” he wrote, condemning the cover-up by senior management at the BBC.

Charles and Diana married in 1981 and divorced in 1996. Diana died in a Paris car crash the following year, aged 36.

Questions had long been asked about how Bashir convinced Diana to talk on the flagship Panorama program, which won a string of television awards. Bashir, now 59, was little-known at the time but afterwards enjoyed a high-profile career on US TV networks, and interviewed stars such as Michael Jackson. He returned to work for the BBC as religion editor until he stepped down last May, citing ill health, just hours before Judge Dyson’s report was submitted to BBC bosses.

Prince William said after the report was published the interview had made “a major contribution” to the demise of his parents’ relationship.

AFP