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Thousands of court-ordered emails will reveal in the coming days whether there has been a cover-up of the scandal of Martin Bashir's 58 interview with Princess Diana on the BBC's Panorama programme.

The judge, Brian Kennedy, has strongly condemned and criticised the BBC for its response of deliberately hiding information and emails in a matter he finds "inconsistent, erroneous and unreliable". Understanding that these documents being kept hidden may reveal important information about how three years ago, BBC executives withheld documentation in the course of an ongoing investigation that was being conducted into journalist Martin Bashir.

In 2020, it came to light that journalist Martin Bashir had falsified bank statements to convince Princess Diana that people very close to her were spying on her and selling her secrets to the press. The inquiry concluded that Bashir had acted in a "deceptive" manner and that his actions had influenced the then Princess of Wales' decision to be interviewed.

Earl Spencer with Prince William in 2021GTRES

The BBC then apologised for the deception Bashir had used to obtain the interview, and handed over a dossier containing the 1995 and 1996 memos. However, he did not make all the documentation public under the excuse that many of his files were kept under the "Confidential" seal.

Spencer now says that he suspected that not handing over all the documentation could be due to an attempt to hide evidence that could be incriminating and there began a much bigger fight, where there was no shortage of those who said that Count Spencer himself was in cahoots with Bashir to get the princess to talk. A fact totally denied by Diana's brother.

Let's remember that when the interview was granted for the first time, Princess Diana and the current King Charles III were still married. Diana opened up about her marriage and their extramarital affairs, revealing intimate details and making statements such as "There were three of us in that marriage," referring to her husband's relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles, and also confessing her depression and how she dealt with bulimia.

Lady Di during her interview with Martin Bashir on BBCBBC

As expected, this confession of the princess, seen by more than twenty million Britons at the time, caused a great stir in the public and also within the royal family which, without a doubt, was an accelerant in the dissolution of their marriage. "She knew as soon as the interview was over. He knew that the queen would end his marriage," Mohamed Al Fayed told me in a conversation. She had told him.

With these statements in Panorama, Bashir scored a good professional goal, although the revelations about the deceptions used to obtain it have generated a good blow to the reputation of the journalist and also to that of the BBC.

For his part, Bashir, who left the BBC for "health reasons" in 2021, insists that "I have never meant to harm Princess Diana", and that everything he did in relation to the interview was only what she wanted. However, the investigation was conclusive and concluded that the journalist had seriously violated the BBC's rules by generating false documentation.

Earl Charles Spencer during a tribute to Lady Di in 1997GTRES

Earl Charles Spencer (59), brother of the late Princess Diana, has been trying to solve this "conspiracy" for years, together with an investigative journalist. According to Spencer, the top executives conspired to support Bashir, not only to get the 1995 interview, but also to silence what happened in the fall of 2020, when he himself was trying to clarify what really happened so that his sister would agree to publicly give those explosive statements on the program.

But it is now that Charles Spencer's request to review the sealed documentation has borne fruit in the framework of an investigation that was still ongoing. Spencer's request has been based on the right to information, and he has not stopped in his efforts to have all the material delivered to them.

For its part, the BBC maintains that the emails it had not delivered are either "irrelevant" or contain confidential material, which justifies not being delivered.

This court decision is the latest move amid the growing criticism that still exists around the interview that the princess granted. Diana's brother has backed the entire investigation from the outset, and strongly accuses the BBC of illegal and criminal behaviour in relation to obtaining the interview.

Spencer says he has not yet been able to read all the newly released documentation he has been given, but that, so far, nearly 40 emails between Bashir and senior BBC officials confirm his suspicions that they were deliberately withholding information to protect the corporation.

This court ruling is a significant step in the effort to shed light on the events surrounding the historic interview, although we will still have to wait until the full results are known.

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