The BBC announced on Thursday that it had paid a “substantial sum” to compensate Lady Di’s former private secretary, Patrick Jephson, who resigned after an interview with the princess was obtained by misleading means.
That interview was broadcast in 1995 and had an audience of 23 million people.
Jephson, who spent eight years with the princess as private secretary and adviser between 1988 and 1996, resigned two months later.
“The BBC accepts and acknowledges that serious harm was caused to Commander Jephson as a result of the circumstances in which the 1995 interview with Diana, Princess of Wales was obtained,” the British public broadcaster said in a statement.
The BBC indicated that it had paid him “a substantial sum in damages, which [Jephson] intends to donate in full to British charities of his choice.”
“After more than 25 years, it is a relief to finally come to a conclusion to this painful episode,” Jephson told the PA news agency.
He also assured that he would donate the money to a children’s hospital in Wales of which Diana, Princess of Wales, was a patron.
The BBC will make internal changes after it was found that the journalist Martin Bashir deceived Lady Di to obtain an interview
Princess Diana: the controversy over the way the BBC obtained “the interview of the century” 25 years ago
BBC journalist Martin Bashir had been accused of falsifying documents to obtain the interview that launched his career.
They showed false bank statements to Diana’s brother, Charles Spencer, to make him believe that the security services were paying two people close to him to spy on his sister.
According to Charles Spencer, that was what led him to introduce the journalist to Lady Di. (I)
Source: Eluniverso
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