Princess Diana interview: BBC vows to 'get to truth' about Panorama interview

The BBC has promised to "get to the truth" about how it got an interview with Princess Diana as it announced the terms of its investigation.

Lord Dyson has been appointed to lead the independent probe into the 1995 Panorama interview.

It comes after Diana's brother alleged that BBC journalist Martin Bashir used forged bank statements to convince her to do the interview.

Lord Dyson was president of the Court of Appeal until his retirement in 2016.

The BBC's director general, Tim Davie, said: "The BBC is determined to get to the truth about these events and that is why we have commissioned an independent investigation.

"Lord Dyson is an eminent and highly respected figure who will lead a thorough process."

Diana's brother, Earl Spencer, called for an independent inquiry earlier this month and said he would never have introduced Bashir to his sister if he had not seen the faked bank statements.

The faked statements wrongly purported to show that the earl's former head of security had been paid by a newspaper group and a mysterious offshore company.

Earl Spencer also alleged that the Panorama reporter made a number of false and defamatory claims about senior royals.

Bashir, 57, currently BBC News religion editor, is recovering from heart surgery and complications from Covid-19 and has been unable to comment on Earl Spencer's allegations.