BBC accused of pre-judging Martin Bashir inquiry

The BBC has been accused of pre-judging its own Martin Bashir inquiry by declaring that the reporter's "deeply regrettable" behaviour in faking bank statements was not "criminal".

In a legal letter seen by the Telegraph, the corporation has told the "victim" of Mr Bashir's hoax that it does not believe it bears legal liability.

Lawyers for Alan Waller, who was the head of security for Earl Spencer, wrote to the BBC accusing Mr Bashir of a "conspiracy to create an instrument of fraud". The faked statements were used by Mr Bashir to gain the trust of Earl Spencer, which helped him to secure Princess Diana's only television interview.

In the interview, broadcast in 1995, the princess claimed there were "three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded".

The BBC has now appointed Lord Dyson, the former master of the Rolls and the second most powerful judge in the country, to head up an independent inquiry into how Mr Bashir obtained the interview, including "the mocked up bank statements purporting to show payments to a former employee of Earl Spencer".

But in its response to Mr Waller's complaint, lawyers in the BBC's litigation department appeared to pre-judge the outcome of Lord Dyson's review.

The BBC letter to Mr Waller's lawyers said: "Although the BBC is not able to provide a full response to your client at this time, we would just like to put on the record that whilst we consider Mr Bashir's actions in mocking up the documents deeply regrettable, we do not consider it gives rise to any criminal culpability."

The letter acknowledges that the Dyson review is just beginning and asserts "that it would be wrong for the BBC to pre-judge any of Lord Dyson's findings and accordingly, it is not possible or appropriate for the BBC to provide a substantive response… whilst that investigation is under way".

But its conclusion that there is no "criminal culpability" will cause anger that the corporation appears to have made its own findings before the inquiry has properly got going.

Mr Waller, 57, has offered to give evidence to Lord Dyson and is said to be concerned that the BBC already appears to know the outcome or pre-judged itself before the inquiry's conclusion.

Mr Waller has told The Telegraph he was "the fall guy" for Mr Bashir's deceit, whose identity had been "effectively stolen" to aid the BBC in getting its scoop.

He said it was a mystery how Mr Bashir could have known certain details about his company bank account that allowed him to have statements mocked up, showing payments to Mr Waller from news international and from an offshore company.

Mr Bashir used the statements to falsely allege that Mr Waller was in the pay of a tabloid newspaper and inferred that he was also receiving money from the intelligence agencies to keep tabs on Princess Diana and her brother. Mr Waller said that if Earl Spencer had shown him the bank statements provided by Mr Bashir, he would have told him they were fabricated.

Mr Bashir, 57,  has been signed off sick after contracting Covid-19 and then undergoing a quadruple bypass, and has not spoken publicly about why he faked the bank statements.

In a previous inquiry in 1996, not made public until recently, Lord Hall, the BBC's former head of news, wrote a memo to his board of governors suggesting that Earl Spencer provided the bank statements that Mr Bashir used to create the forgeries. Earl Spencer is said to be "furious" at the suggestion and is considering legal action against the BBC.

On Monday, Lord Hall, who went on to become BBC director-general, confirmed he will take part in the Dyson inquiry. He briefly commented to ITV News when he was asked whether he felt his inquiry, conducted when he was director of BBC news and current affairs, was "adequate".

He said: "I'm going to take part in the BBC's inquiry into this and I've got nothing to say until that inquiry, until I speak to that inquiry, and until that inquiry has found out whatever it finds out. That's the proper way to go about things and that's what I'll do."

Earl Spencer has claimed in correspondence with the BBC that Lord Hall's inquiry was a "whitewash" and also alleged the corporation covered up the actions of Mr Bashir, who was rehired by the BBC in 2016 and subsequently promoted to religious affairs editor.