Princess Diana's Brother Says He Was 'Groomed' by BBC Journalist in Renewed Call for Police Investigation

Amanda Edwards/WireImage; Tim Graham Photo Library/Getty Charles Spencer and Princess Diana

Charles Spencer, the brother of Princess Diana, is speaking out again about the deceitful methods used by BBC journalist Martin Bashir to secure a bombshell interview with Diana.

Following last week's announcement that the BBC will pay a former royal nanny over Bashir's "totally unfounded allegations" about her, which were used to secure the 1995 interview with Princess Diana, the 9th Earl Spencer called on police to continue investigating the matter. An official BBC inquiry found that in an effort to land his interview with Princess Diana, Bashir manipulated the late royal into believing that Tiggy had become pregnant by Prince Charles and produced fake bank statements as proof.

Bashir also manipulated Charles in an effort to get close to Diana.

"I feel that I was groomed... shown forged bank statements; I was told of underhand payments, of spying, and of appalling deception. But, all along I was the one being deceived in order for Mr Bashir to get to my late sister," Charles, 58, said in an op-ed for The Mail on Sunday.

RELATED: Royal Nanny Receives 'Substantial' Sum from BBC Over False Allegations to Secure Princess Diana Interview

PA Images Princess Diana during her Panorama interview

The Earl Spencer added that Diana was "extremely vulnerable" at the time as information shared only with her close friends was leaked to the press.

"She was understandably rattled by this," Charles said. "Looking back, I suspect she was a very early victim of 'phone-hacking' by unknown perpetrators, but nobody knew about this criminal practice in 1995, so she was accepting of the outrageous claims that dark forces were at work."

"The question I am repeatedly asked by concerned members of the public, furious at what my sister was put through, is why have the police not prosecuted those involved for what various senior lawyers have told me is clearly unlawful and criminal behavior?" Charles wrote. "I hope the police will reconsider their responsibilities in this matter. Only they have the power to get to the bottom of this terrible scandal, which led Diana to feel even more exposed and alone, and deceived her into forgoing those who cared for her and would have protected her."

Charles continued that the lies Diana were told "led to her speaking in a way that set her on a course where she was without due protection when she needed it most."

"All those responsible must be held to account," he concluded.

Charles spoke out via Twitter after the BBC issued an apology to the former nanny Tiggy Legge-Bourke (now known as Alexandra Pettifer).

"While I'm delighted to see that another innocent victim of this appalling scandal is being vindicated, it's amazing to me that no criminal charges have been levelled against those responsible, yet," he wrote.

Kent Gavin/Mirrorpix/Getty Princess Diana

Charles previously said the BBC issued him a "piecemeal apology" over how Bashir secured his interview with Diana.

"[The BBC] have yet to apologize for what truly matters here: the incredibly serious falsification of bank statements suggesting that Diana's closest confidants were spying on her for her enemies," Spencer previously told PEOPLE.

"This was what led me to talk to Diana about such things. This in turn led to the meeting where I introduced Diana to Bashir, on 19 September 1995. This then led to the interview," he continued. "The BBC have so far refused to acknowledge the above. They claim Diana wasn't misled. They have ignored my inquiry as to whether the apology over their false bank statements extends to the ones that actually persuaded Diana to meet Bashir."

BBC director-general Tim Davie said the organization apologized to Tiggy, Prince Charles Prince William and Prince Harry "for the way in which Princess Diana was deceived and the subsequent impact on all their lives."

"Now we know about the shocking way that the interview was obtained, I have decided that the BBC will never show the program again; nor will we license it in whole or part to other broadcasters," he added.

DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP via Getty Images Charles Spencer

Metropolitan Police previously announced Bashir had "not identified evidence of activity that constituted a criminal offense," according to the BBC.

In November 2020, the BBC announced that they hired former British Supreme Court Judge John Dyson to lead an independent investigation surrounding Diana's appearance on Panorama. The investigation found that Bashir used "deceitful methods" and breached the BBC's editorial guidelines by creating false bank statements to manipulate Diana into giving the bombshell interview, in which she famously said there were "three of us" in her marriage — a clear reference to Camilla Parker Bowles, then mistress of Prince Charles.

Following his investigation, Lord Dyson said he was "satisfied" that Bashir commissioned fake bank statements and showed them to Diana's brother Charles Spencer. He did this to "deceive and induce" Spencer to gain his trust and arrange a meeting with the Princess," he continued. "In doing so, he was able to convince Diana to do the notorious interview."

Bashir quit his post at the BBC ahead of the network's release of the inquiry report.