The graphic designer who produced fake bank statements which helped trick Princess Diana into a bombshell interview with Martin Bashir launched a savage attack on former director-general Tony Hall for his part in hushing up the scandal.
Matt Wiessler, who was sacked from the BBC after details of his role in making the bank statements emerged, spoke to the BBC’s Today Programme on Tuesday.
He suggested that Lord Hall of Birkenhead, who retired earlier this year, was more interested backing the ‘big scoop’ than in standing by ‘the truth’.
Mr Bashir is said to have played on Princess Diana’s paranoia by telling her lies about the Queen’s health, Prince Charles being ‘in love’ with William and Harry’s nanny Tiggy Legge-Bourke and Diana’s staff betraying her to MI5 and newspapers during his attempt to secure the interview.
The graphic designer who produced fake bank statements which helped trick Princess Diana into a bombshell interview with Martin Bashir launched a savage attack on former director-general Tony Hall for his part in hushing up the scandal
Mr Wiessler claimed he was ordered by Mr Bashir to create two counterfeit bank statements, which the reporter then used to win over Diana’s brother, Earl Spencer as he tried to meet the Princess.
But one year after the Panorama interview, the corporation excused itself of any wrongdoing at an initial inquiry in 1996.
However, memos and minutes from 1995 and 1996 suggested Lord Hall – who was then the BBC’s head of news – was among those who had hushed up the scandal.
The memo showed how the BBC board of governors presided over ‘steps to ensure that the graphic designer does not work for the BBC again’.
Speaking of Lord Hall, Mr Wiessler told the BBC’s Mishal Husain: ‘People in his position who are on executive salaries, when push comes to shove and there is a real issue, they shouldn’t stand by the big scoop, they should stand by the truth, that is why they get paid a lot of money.
Lord Hall said in a statement to Today that ‘the focus of the original investigation was whether Diana had been misled’.
He said ‘this and any new issues raised will no doubt be looked at by the BBC’s new inquiry’.
Asked what he thinks the BBC’s response should now be, Mr Wiessler demanded that the corporation ‘say sorry publicly’ for the ‘damage that has been done’.
He added: ‘My children know that people call me a forger. I was an award-winning graphic designer.
Matt Wiessler, who was sacked from the BBC after details of his role in making the bank statements emerged, spoke to the BBC’s Today Programme on Tuesday
He suggested that Lord Hall of Birkenhead, who retired earlier this year, was more interested backing the ‘big scoop’ than in standing by ‘the truth’
‘My RTS award is in reception at Television Centre, maybe not to this day but it certainly was then.’
And when asked why he had not spoken out until now, Mr Wiessler said, Because I’m a nobody, who would I speak to?
‘I had to do something to reinvent myself, start a new life. I moved 250 miles away from London.’
He added that Bashir ‘needs to come forward’ because ‘he is the only one that has the answers.
Bashir clinched his access to the princess via her brother, Earl Spencer, who says the journalist showed him copies of bank statements (pictured) which purported to be from the private account of his head of security, Alan Waller. They apparently showed – falsely – that he was receiving money from a newspaper group and a mysterious offshore company
Mr Wiessler also Today he was ‘absolutely gobsmacked’ to discover that ‘a board of governors meeting, there to look into what Martin had done’ had made him ‘the scapegoat’.
‘I don’t know how you can plausibly tell a story that a graphic designer is to blame.
‘And I’ve been living with this for 25 years. And when I saw this, this decree that went out… I was pretty angry … because I thought it was utterly unfair.’
The name of the person who wrote that the ‘graphic designer will not work for the BBC again’ is not published on the internal BBC document.
The BBC had said they needed fresh evidence and the help of Mr Bashir to re-investigate the circumstances into how Mr Bashir’s interview with Diana came about.
The reporter, who is now the BBC’s religious affairs editor, was said to be ‘seriously unwell’ after undergoing heart bypass surgery and contracting Covid-19.
However, he was photographed last Friday walking home after visiting an Indian takeaway and a wine shop. It is believed he will now take part in a second investigation.
Claims allegedly made by Mr Basihr led to an interview with Princess Diana for the BBC’s Panorama, where she said there were ‘three people,’ in her marriage to Prince Charles (pictured together in 1981)
A source told the Daily Mail: ‘The new inquiry will look at absolutely all the available evidence, it will speak to all the protagonists, and that must include Martin Bashir.’
On Monday, the BBC’s new director-general Tim Davie promised to ‘get to the truth’ behind Princess Diana’s interview.
He said: ‘The BBC is taking this very seriously and we want to get to the truth,’ he said.
‘We are in the process of commissioning a robust and independent investigation.
‘The recent stories have highlighted some concerning issues. The BBC must hold ourselves to the gold standard of journalism.’
His comments came as former chairman Lord Grade said there was ‘a very dark cloud’ hanging over the BBC.
He told Radio 4’s World At One: ‘There is a very dark cloud hanging over BBC journalism as a result of the questions raised by Earl Spencer, Channel 4 and the Daily Mail, and this needs to be cleared up.’