Nurse in Kate's Hospital Hoax Was Found Hanging

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The nurse who unknowingly put through a prank call to Kate Middleton's hospital room last week apparently killed herself three days later by hanging, results of a coroner's investigation found.

Coroner's officer Lynda Martindill told reporters on Thursday that 46-year-old Jacintha Saldanha was discovered hanging by a scarf in her nurses' quarters last Friday by a colleague and a member of the security staff at London's King Edward VII Hospital. Attempts to revive Saldanha failed and the case is being treated as an apparent suicide.

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Police inspector James Harman told a British inquest into Saldanha's death that she also had injuries to her wrists and that two notes were found at the scene and another was discovered among her belongings. Harman said police are continuing to examine the notes and interview friends, family and colleagues of Saldanha in an attempt to establish what led to her death.

Saldanha took a call last week from two Australian DJs who pretended to be Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles in an attempt to obtain information about Kate Middleton, who was hospitalized to recover from acute morning sickness. The call was transferred to another nurse who provided the DJs with private details about Kate's condition.

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The DJs, Mel Greig and Michael Christian, later apologized for the prank in emotional interviews on Australian TV and said they never expected that their call would actually be put through. The radio show was taken off the air and the DJs have been indefinitely suspended.

Australia's media watchdog said Thursday it has launched its own investigation into whether radio station 2DayFM breached its broadcasting license conditions or the industry's code of practice.

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Saldanha left behind a husband and two teenage children. A memorial mass is scheduled for Saturday at London's Roman Catholic Westminster Cathedral.

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