Prince William today delivered a powerful statement that Martin Bashir’s deception at BBC instigated a chain of events which led to his mother’s tragic death.

The Jacksons have long said Bashir’s deception at ITV did the same to Michael Jackson.

Here’s the evidence [THREAD]. C

Prosecutor Tom Sneddon began his opening statement in Jackson’s 2005 trial by naming Martin Bashir as having set in motion the chain of events which led to this moment.

Jackson’s loved ones are firm in their view that he never recovered from that trial.

Here’s the transcript. C

Bashir had allegedly secured this interview with Jackson by claiming to be a friend of Princess Diana. He was even captured in outtake footage boasting to Jackson that he had been offered a seven-figure sum to betray Diana by writing a tell-all book, but had turned it down. C

By 2003, Bashir’s dubious ethical history was already common knowledge - just not to Jackson. His forgery in the Diana case was well-known. He allegedly took & lost key evidence in a murder case. He lost a standards case over his deception of the father of a teenage runaway. C

It became extremely clear at trial that Jackson was deceived too. Sneddon, and Bashir’s lawyer Theodore Boutrous, fought hard to prevent him having to answer uncomfortable questions, but defence lawyer Thomas Mesereau quoted from documents & outtake footage which damned Bashir. C

For instance, he led Jackson to believe the show would be all about his philanthropy and told him he would introduce him to Kofi Annan at the UN, to work on an international charity initiative.

Jackson even insisted his fee go to charity. Bashir & co never made the donation. C

Bashir had also written to Jackson asking him to invite children to Neverland as a filming opportunity. When Jackson complied, Bashir added commentary about how shocked and disturbed he was to arrive and find Jackson allowing children into his home. C

In correspondence and outtakes, Bashir had heaped praise on Neverland, as seen in this trial transcript, and on Jackson’s custom of opening it to needy children, describing it as ‘nothing short of spiritually kind’ and saying journalists who criticised it were jealous ‘scum’. C

Mesereau asked Bashir about forgery allegations in the UK, although he referred to signatures, not documents. Jackson was adamant Bashir promised him editorial control. Bashir claimed Jackson had signed it away. Mesereau pointed out a discrepancy with the documents... C

Many of Bashir’s deceptive edits, lies by omission and manipulative tactics to win Jackson’s trust were exposed by the Fox rebuttal documentary, Take Two: The Footage You Were Never Meant To See. It can be seen here. C

Others were too cruel & humiliating to air. Bashir is seen in outtakes, played in court, telling a vulnerable Jackson he looks so sexy women will be throwing their underwear at their TVs - then, when the cameras roll, aggressively interrogating him over his facial surgery. C

The footage shows Bashir toying with Jackson’s emotions in what Mesereau called a ‘sadistic’ way, from calling Jackson ‘boss’ & offering to help write his eulogy for Robin Gibb’s funeral, to suddenly declaring that his friend Liz Taylor will die soon. Jackson is visibly upset. C

In one section Bashir tells Jackson he’s such a great parent that it makes him weep & watching Jackson has taught him how to parent. The cameras roll & he turns on a dime, savaging Jackson’s parenting. For ITV he adds commentary that Jackson’s children were ‘made to suffer’. C

Jackson is blindsided by Bashir with hostile and mean-spirited questioning, having been tricked into thinking Bashir was his friend and was making a documentary about his charity work. He ends up in tears, talking about jumping off of a balcony. C

The Diana deception was not an isolated incident. The evidence of Martin Bashir’s deception of Michael Jackson is many times greater than that in the Diana case and is all in the public domain. Absolutely incredible to watch the media completely skirt it today. C

Here is Prince William’s statement. C https://twitter.com/LBC/status/1395494875760668672

In 2000, Michael Jackson’s team had managed to intercept and stop contact from the Arvizo family after a witness, Carol Lamere, called his camp and frantically warned that one of the children had told her their mother planned to blackmail Jackson with a false molestation claim. C

Two years on, Bashir asked Jackson, in the depths of an obvious painkiller dependency, for beneficiaries of his philanthropy who he could interview. Jackson suggested Gavin Arvizo, as the family had recently been bombarding him with cards saying he’d helped cure Gavin’s cancer. C

Bashir’s lies about wanting to make a documentary celebrating Jackson’s humanitarianism revived the Arvizo connection, directly resulting in Jackson’s 2005 trial. He was exonerated but his health never recovered. The resulting chronic insomnia killed him four years later. C

Prince Harry has now also said that Bashir’s behaviour was part of a media mentality which ultimately led to his mother’s death. C