British police give prosecutors file on royal hoax call

LONDON - Agence France-Press

Prince William and his wife Catherine. REUTERS photo

British police have sent a file to prosecutors relating to a hoax call to the hospital treating Prince William's wife Catherine, after which a nurse died in an apparent suicide, Scotland Yard said Saturday.
 
The file will allow prosecutors to decide whether any offences were committed in relation to the call by two Australian radio hosts, which Indian-born nurse Jacintha Saldanha dealt with.
 
Saldanha, 46, was found hanged on December 7 in her lodgings at King Edward VII's hospital in central London, where Kate was being treated for acute morning sickness related to her pregnancy.
 
"Following the death of Jacintha Saldanha, officers have liaised with the Crown Prosecution Service as to whether any criminal offences had been committed in relation to the hoax call made to King Edward VII Hospital in the early hours of Tuesday 4 December," Scotland Yard said in a statement.
 
"On Wednesday 19 December officers submitted a file to the Crown Prosecution Service for them to consider whether any potential offences may have been committed by making the hoax call." Presenters Mel Greig and Michael Christian from Sydney's 2Day FM radio station have tearfully apologised for making the call, in which they posed as Queen Elizabeth II and William's father Prince Charles.
 
At Saldanha's funeral in India on Monday, her widower Benedict Barboza and the couple's two children said in a statement that British police were investigating the tragedy "and they have assured us of a full and fair investigation."