‘Bashir is responsible for Diana’s demise’, says Earl Spencer’s ex-head of security who says BBC journalist’s false claim that he had sold Princess Diana’s secrets nearly drove him to suicide
- Alan Waller, 57, was a former paratrooper in the British Army and ex-US Marine
- Mr Waller said the Bashir fake bank statements has a ‘devastating effect’ on him
- The first fake bank statement allegedly showed a £4,000 payment to Mr Waller
Earl Spencer’s former head of security has revealed how BBC reporter Martin Bashir’s false claim that he had sold Princess Diana‘s secrets nearly drove him to suicide.
Alan Waller, 57, a former paratrooper in the British Army and an ex-US Marine, had been employed by Earl Spencer to protect him and the Althorp Estate in Northamptonshire.
Mr Waller said the Bashir fake bank statements has a ‘devastating effect’ on him and described how he contemplated suicide while working abroad.
In 1995 Martin Bashir, who was then a junior reporter at Panorama, had ordered a BBC freelance graphic artist to create fake bank statements which allegedly showed two payments to Mr Waller from a tabloid newspaper and an offshore company. Pictured: Martin Bashir and Princess Diana in the 1995 interview
In 1995 Martin Bashir, who was then a junior reporter at Panorama, had ordered a BBC freelance graphic artist to create fake bank statements which allegedly showed two payments to Mr Waller from a tabloid newspaper and an offshore company.
‘Bashir has effectively stolen my identity; stolen my banking information and then used it to frame me as the fall guy,’ Mr Waller told The Telegraph.
He continued: ‘That is exactly what he has done. He has framed me, thinking I would never find out. It has had a devastating effect on me.’
Mr Waller (pictured) said the Bashir fake bank statements has a ‘devastating effect’ on him and described how he contemplated suicide while working abroad
The first fake bank statement allegedly showed a £4,000 payment to Mr Waller from News International for March 1994.
The payment was to a joint NatWest account held by the former security guard and his then business partner Robert Harper in a company they had set up called Weider Health & Fitness.
A second faked statement allegedly showed a £6,500 from genuine offshore firm, Penfolds Consultants, based in Jersey.
The firm was chosen to reportedly give the appearance that the company was a front for MI5 or MI6 who were paying Mr Waller to ensure Princess Diana was under surveillance.
Alan Waller, 57, a former paratrooper in the British Army and an ex-US Marine, had been employed by Earl Spencer to protect him and the Althorp Estate in Northamptonshire. Pictured: Mr Waller and Earl Spencer in Croatia, 1992
Mr Waller, who now lives in a two-bedroom flat on a housing estate with his wife and son, 11, in the south of England, said he stayed in America after Bashir’s deceit was first exposed by the Mail on Sunday five months after broadcast.
Mr Waller explained how he had ‘never even met’ Martin Bashir and ‘never received any money from Bashir or the companies mentioned’.
He said he has also lost ‘substantial business deals’ because of the Bashir bank statements.
He told The Telegraph: ‘Imagine how that will affect you. It tainted me in a very bad way. I was tarred with Bashir’s really dirty tricks.’
It comes as the BBC has launched an independent inquiry, led by Lord Dyson, into the 1995 Panorama interview.
Bashir, now the BBC’s religion editor, has already been accused of spreading lies about Diana’s friends and staff to win her trust, in addition to showing her faked bank statements.
BBC documents show it was Lord Hall who effectively exonerated Bashir when evidence of the faked bank statements initially came to light.
The internal inquiry did, however, see BBC bosses decree that the graphic artist, commissioned by Bashir to create the fake documents must never work for the corporation again.
In 1996 Mr Waller said no one from the BBC approached him for his version of events and told how he wrote a letter requesting an apology which he claims was ‘ignored’.
Mr Waller is reportedly considering making a formal complaint to police and suing Mr Bashir personally.