THERE it is !

Don't panic - the handwritten note from the Princess of Wales, apparently exonerating Martin Bashir, has been found. 

What price some further questions from the Information Commissioner ?  A 2007 request for internal documents relating to the 1996 investigation into Bashir’s interview with Diana was turned down on the basis that the BBC no longer held any such material. Spookily, a repeat of that request this year produced 57 pages of relevant documents, released to a Channel 4 film-maker just before his documentary was to go to air.  The answer to a request for the handwritten note remained the same - it had been lost, and no copies had been made. 

The BBC spokesperson said “Following the announcement of the independent investigation, the BBC has now recovered the princess’s original handwritten note which is referred to in our records from the time. We will pass it on to the independent investigation. As there has been a lot of commentary about this note and journalists have asked about it, we thought it appropriate to put on record that we’ve now recovered it.

“We will set out further details of the independent investigation shortly.”