Royal Hoax Call: Nurse’s Suicide Note ‘Criticised Hospital Staff’

It’s been revealed that one of the three suicide notes left by the nurse at the center of the royal hoax call scandal criticised staff at the King Edward VII hospital.

The Guardian reports that one of the notes left by Jacintha Saldanha dealt with the hoax call from the two DJ’s at 2Day FM. The second note details requests for her funeral, and the third specifically addresses the hospital and staff and contains criticism of the staff there.

The Guardian has confirmed that it was given this information by two separate sources.

Mrs. Saldanha, 46, was found hanged last Friday, just days after she transferred a prank call from 2Day FM DJ’s to a duty nurse on the ward where Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge was being treated for acute morning sickness.

It was the second nurse who then unwittingly divulged details of the Duchess’ condition to the radio presenters.

Since then, a transatlantic blame game between Edward VII hospital, the 2Day FM radio DJ’s — Mel Greig and Michael Christian — and Southern Austereo Cross, the radio station’s parent company, has dominated headlines.

Reportedly, Mrs. Saldanha’s immediate family — husband Benedict Barboza and two teenage children — have been given typed copies of the three handwritten notes by the police and they have read the contents.

News of a critical suicide note comes after British politician, Keith Vaz, who is acting as a spokesman for the Saldanha family, sent an open letter to John Lofthouse, chief executive of the King Edward Vll hospital, calling for the “full facts from the time she took the call from 2Day FM to the time she was found in her accommodation” to be revealed.

Mr Vaz also sent an open letter to Rhys Holleran, chief executive of Southern Cross Austereo, the parent company of 2Day FM, asking them to explain how they calculated the AU$320,000 figure they recently donated to a memorial fund for Mrs. Saldanha.

According to The Guardian, a spokeswoman for King Edward VII hospital said that no-one in senior management knew what the contents of the notes left by Saldanha were.

The spokeswoman added that it was made clear to the two nurses involved that “there were no disciplinary issues in this matter” and that “they were victims of a cruel journalistic trick.”

At the Thursday inquest today, Detective Chief Inspector James Harman said:

“On Friday 7 December Jacintha Saldanha was found by colleagues and a member of security staff. At this time there are no suspicious circumstances apparent to me in relation to this death.”

“A number of notes were recovered. Two notes were at the scene and a further note was found in the deceased’s belongings. Three notes in total.”

At the opening of the inquest held today, the coroner, Dr Fiona Wilcox, was told Mrs Saldanha had been found hanging in her staff lodging apartment in London’s Weymouth Street and that there were injuries to her wrists.

The Daily Telegraph reports that toxicology and histology tests results are still pending. Scotland Yard police are also investigating emails and telephone calls made to and from Mrs. Saldanha’s phone in the days preceding her death.

A memorial service for Mrs. Saldanha will shortly be held in Bristol, and a mass will be held in the chapel at London’s Westminster Cathedral this Saturday.

The inquest is now adjourned until March 26.