Martin Bashir Says He “Never Wanted to Harm” Princess Diana With BBC Interview

Martin Bashir says he never intended to harm Princess Diana—and does not believe he did, in comments made after an internal BBC investigation showed that he acted deceitfully to secure his now-famous 1995 BBC Panorama interview with the late royal.

The 58-year-old journalist, who recently left the network due to illness, made his comments to The Times newspaper on Saturday, May 22, two days after he and the BBC both issued statements of apology following the publishing of the findings of the probe, which was launched last fall at the request of Diana’s brother Earl Charles Spencer.

“I never wanted to harm Diana in any way and I don’t believe we did,” Martin told The Times. “Everything we did in terms of the interview was as she wanted, from when she wanted to alert the palace, to when it was broadcast, to its contents.”

He added, “My family and I loved her.” Martin also said, when asked if he is able to forgive himself, “That’s a really difficult question because it was a serious error. I hope that people will allow me the opportunity to show that I am properly repentant of what happened.”