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BBC slammed after Earl Spencer reveals how journo Martin Bashir 'tricked him' to get close to Princess Diana

Earl Spencer wrote in a recent op-ed that the Met Police must 'reconsider their responsibilities' and launch a probe into the top brass at the BBC

The BBC faced quite the backlash after Princess Diana's brother said he was "groomed" by reporter Martin Bashir and once again demanded Scotland Yard investigate the broadcaster.

Earl Spencer wrote in a recent op-ed that the Metropolitan Police must "reconsider their responsibilities" and launch an investigation after learning from lawyers about "unlawful and criminal behavior" by top figures at the BBC. Spencer noted that only the police "have the power to get to the bottom of this terrible scandal" as he alleged that Bashir deceived him for over three weeks to get close to his sister. This comes just days after the BBC paid out around $240,000 to former royal nanny Tiggy Legge-Bourke after Bashir smeared her as part of his campaign to land his controversial Panorama interview with Diana in 1995.

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According to Spencer, Bashir showed him forged bank statements to gain access to the princess, before tricking her by peddling a series of lies, including that Prince Charles was having an affair with Legge-Bourke and that she became pregnant and had an abortion as a result. The Met was considering launching a probe last year into a range of potential offenses -- including forgery, misconduct in public office, and blackmail -- in light of a shocking report into the scandal by former Supreme Court Judge Lord Dyson. In September, however, the force said it had "not identified evidence of activity that constituted a criminal offense and will therefore be taking no further action."

The decision determined Spencer, 58, to continue his efforts to seek justice for his late sister. "The question I am repeatedly asked by concerned members of the public, furious at what my sister was put through, is why have the police not prosecuted those involved for what various senior lawyers have told me is clearly unlawful and criminal behavior?" he wrote in an op-ed for the Daily Mail. "I hope the police will reconsider their responsibilities in this matter. Only they have the power to get to the bottom of this terrible scandal, which led Diana to feel even more exposed and alone, and deceived her into forgoing those who cared for her and would have protected her."

The latest scandal comes as yet another crippling blow for BBC bosses who were hoping that a string of compensation payments to Bashir's alleged victims would allow the organization to crawl out of the ensuing legal quagmire. In the 1995 Panorama interview, watched by a whopping 23 million people, Diana declared that "there were three of us in this marriage." But in April 1996, the Daily Mail revealed that Bashir had faked private bank documents just weeks before the interview, showing Spencer's former head of security was receiving money from a tabloid newspaper and the security services to spy on Spencer and Diana. "I feel that I was groomed... shown forged bank statements," the Earl continued. "I was told of underhand payments, of spying, and of appalling deception. But, all along I was the one being deceived in order for Mr. Bashir to get to my late sister."

Spencer noted how he tried to warn his sister about some of the holes he found in Bashir's stories. "After Bashir left, I said, 'I'm sorry, Duch – I've wasted your time – what that man has just said doesn't add up,'" he wrote, adding that his sister was "extremely vulnerable" when she met Bashir because her secrets were being leaked to the press. Spencer assumed he would never hear from the reporter again, but was shocked when the BBC announced a few weeks later that it had landed its Panorama interview with the princess.

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Social media was inundated with calls to investigate the BBC top brass.

"Of course, BBC chiefs should be in dock," royal biographer Angela Levin tweeted. "The terrible lies made Diana unstable and unable to trust anyone. William and Harry were also badly affected. What's happened to Martin Bashir? Is he well enough now to face what he did?"

"Bashir did deliberately feed Diana misinformations, to frighten her. He played her paranoia, and used her vulnerability, to get the story he wanted and she and the family have never been the same afterward. She didn't trust anybody anymore. BBC or Bashir never took accountability," another Twitter user offered.

"Agree 100% that police must put BBC chiefs in the dock for Diana lies. Absolutely inexcusable to fabricate those documents in order to deceive her into thinking that the Royal Family was hatching a plan to kill her. Not redeemable. Jail should follow," someone else added.