Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, was infamously the target of a prank by two radio DJs on Dec. 5. The Crown Prosecution Service announced that investigators found no evidence to support a potential manslaughter charge, according to E! News today. Michael Christian and Mel Greig, former hosts of Australian radio show “Hot 30 Countdown”, phoned the hospital where Kate Middleton was staying for acute morning sickness. Pretending to be the Queen, the pair were able to convince nurse Jacintha Saldanha to divulge private information regarding Kate’s medical condition over the air. The DJs apologized following the hoax, but three days later the nurse hanged herself in her London apartment. The radio show was cancelled and the two hosts were suspended pending investigations into the nurse’s suicide.
Christian and Greig, hosts of the Sydney “2Day FM” show made headlines back in December after posting an audio recording of their stunt. Kate Middleton was admitted to King Edward VII Hospital for a condition called hyperemesis gravidarum.
Unfortunately, the joke backfired, and although the duo said they were sorry, the damage had been done. Jacintha Saldanha, 46, who was one of the nurses with whom they spoke with while posing as Queen Elizabeth II, sadly hanged herself just days after the fiasco unfolded.
“We have concluded that there is no evidence to support a charge of manslaughter,” said Britain’s CPS Deputy Head of Special Crime Malcolm McHaffie. “However misguided, the telephone call was intended as a harmless prank”, he added according to the Australian Times.
“The consequences in this case were very sad. We send our sincere condolences to Jacintha Saldanha's family”, McHaffie said in his released statement.
CPS Investigators confirmed that while there was still some evidence of offenses under the Data Protection Act and the Malicious Communications Acts, authorities decided, “no further investigation is required because any potential prosecution would not be in the public interest”.
Southern Cross Austereo, which owns the radio station, officially cancelled the “Hot 30” show last week. They noted the DJs were still employed with the company. SCA chief executive Rhys Holleran said the network is looking forward to having the pair back at work in an as yet undetermined capacity.
For their part, Christian, 25, and Greig, 30, gave gut wrenchingly emotional interviews following the tragedy, in which they again offered profound apologies to Saldanha's family and claimed her death will forever haunt them.
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