Charles Spencer has demanded an independent inquiry into how one of the BBC’s most prominent reporters used fake documents to obtain a landmark interview with his sister Diana, Princess of Wales. He has rejected the BBC’s latest apology over the circumstances in which Martin Bashir convinced his sister to take part in the 1995 interview, where she frankly discussed the collapse of her marriage to Prince Charles. “When the BBC say they’ve ‘apologised’ to me, what they’ve apologised for is showing me false bank statements relating to a lesser, unrelated, matter,” Earl Spencer said on Wednesday. “They haven’t apologised for the fake bank statements and other deceit that led to me introducing Martin Bashir to my sister.” Bashir was cleared of wrongdoing after a 1996 internal investigation led by the then head of news, Tony Hall, who later became the the corporation’s director general. The reporter had ordered a BBC graphic designer to mock up fake bank statements that gave the impression people close to the Spencer family were selling stories to newspapers. Spencer said he was never consulted regarding the initial investigation into the circumstances surrounding the interview. “The BBC has shown itself incapable of honestly facing up to the ugly truth of this matter,” he said. The BBC has said it is willing to consider any new information provided by Spencer, but it is understood the corporation has yet to receive additional evidence. The situation has been complicated by Bashir’s health; he is severely ill with complications from Covid-19. Internal BBC documents released under the Freedom of Information Act and seen by the Daily Mail reveal new information about how Lord Hall cleared Bashir. He concluded that the reporter “wasn’t thinking” when he asked the graphic designer to produce the fake bank statements. According to the documents, Hall concluded: “I believe he is, even with his lapse, honest and an honourable man. He is contrite.” Spencer has alleged that in addition to the fake bank documents, Bashir claimed to have “evidence of senior members of the royal family saying or doing appalling things – wishing members of my family dead; fathering a child that had to be aborted”. Interest in the circumstances of the interview – which took place 25 years ago this week – has been reawakened by a Channel 4 documentary into how Bashir got the story. It revealed that Matt Wiessler, the graphic designer who mocked up the bank statements under direction from Bashir, left the corporation soon after the incident.