Martin Bashir: Ex-BBC News boss 'didn't know' Bashir forged statements

The BBC's former director of news has said the responsibility for re-hiring Martin Bashir "sits with me".

James Harding did not answer whether Lord Hall, BBC director general at the time, sanctioned re-hiring Martin Bashir in 2016.

It comes after the BBC made an "unconditional apology" over the way the BBC secured an interview with Diana, Princess of Wales, more than 20 years ago.

The independent inquiry - by retired judge Lord Dyson - found that interviewer Martin Bashir acted in a "deceitful" way and faked documents to obtain his interview.

The BBC's 1996 probe led by then-head of News and Current Affairs Lord Hall into initial complaints about what happened was "woefully ineffective", it added.

James Harding, who left the BBC in 2018, said if he had known Bashir forged bank statements "he wouldn't have got the job".