THE NURSE who was duped by a prank call from two Australian radio DJs to the hospital treating the pregnant Duchess of Cambridge was found hanging, an inquest has heard.
Jacintha Saldanha (46), a mother-of-two from Bristol, was found in her nurses’ quarters by a colleague and a security guard on Friday. There were also marks on her wrist.
Two notes were found in her room and another was among her possessions, Westminster Coroner’s Court in London was told.
Detective Chief Inspector James Harman said: “On Friday December 7 Jacintha Saldanha was found by a colleague and a member of security staff. Sadly she was found hanging.
“There was also injuries to her wrist.
“The London Ambulance Service was called to the scene. At this time there are no suspicious circumstances.”
Detectives are also looking into phone calls and emails to see if they throw any light on the death, Mr Harman said.
He told the coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox that Scotland Yard detectives would be in contact with their colleagues in Australia to interview witnesses to “put the best evidence before you” about the circumstances of the death.
He said: “I can expect in the very near future to be in contact with colleagues in New South Wales.”
The body of Indian-born Ms Saldanha had been visually identified by her accountant husband Benedict Barboza, the court heard.
None of Ms Saldanha’s heartbroken relatives were at the five-minute hearing but they were not forgotten by the coroner.
As she set a provisional date of March 26 next year for the next hearing, Dr Wilcox told family representatives in the court: “I would like the police to pass on my sympathies to her family and everybody who has been touched by this tragic death.”
Labour MP Keith Vaz, who is campaigning on behalf of the family, has written aletter to Rhys Holleran, chief executive of the Australian radio company Southern Cross Austereo, calling for the full facts.
Mr Vaz, who arrived after the hearing, said outside court: “I have not received a response, so I think we will need him to respond.
“If you write a letter and you have questions, you really want answers, and that is all the family has wanted the full facts, as you would want in a circumstance like this.”
A mass is to be held for Ms Saldanha at Westminster Cathedral on December 15.
The mass will be offered “for the repose of the soul of Jacintha and her grieving family,” a cathedral spokesman said.
“We would hope to hold a more formal memorial after the inquest has concluded.”
The DJs behind the hoax call, Mel Greig and Michael Christian, have given an emotional account of their reaction to Ms Saldanha’s death.
The presenters said their prank call to the hospital had “a tragic turn of events no one could have predicted or expected”.
Southern Cross Austereo, the parent company of 2Day FM, has ended Greig and Christian’s Hot 30 show and suspended prank calls across the company.