Memorials for nurse who took hoax call
THE NURSE who apparently killed herself after falling for a hoax call by Australian radio hosts was farewelled at two memorial masses yesterday.
As her body was flown back to her family’s home in India, hundreds turned out in Bristol and London to pay their respects to Jacintha Saldanha, who was found dead in her nurses’ quarters in London on December 5.
She had been fooled by Australian radio DJs Mel Greig and Michael Christian pretending to be the Queen and Prince Charles into putting the call through to a nurse treating the Duchess of Cambridge for acute morning sickness.
An inquest on Thursday heard she had been found hanged and there were injuries to her wrist – it also revealed Saldanha had left three notes detailing funeral plans. There have been allegations that the two other notes detailed how the 46-year-old had struggled to come to terms with being the butt of the royal hoax and criticising senior staff at the King Edward VII hospital where she worked.
Staff at the hospital gathered yesterday to farewell their colleague, London24 website reported.
‘‘King Edward VII’s is a small hospital, with a tight-knit team,’’ John Lofthouse, chief executive hospital, told the website.
‘‘Everybody knew Jacintha, and we were all left deeply shocked by her tragic death following the hoax telephone call. Today’s service was a chance for everyone here to pay their respects and remember a dear colleague.’’
The mother- of- two, who lived with husband Benedict Barboza in Bristol, was also remembered in a service at the church she attended in the city.
The BBC reported the service was
at
the led by Father Tom Finnegan, who read out a statement on behalf of her children which said: ‘‘the house is empty without you. You only wanted the best for us, the best education the best life.’’
In the statement, Benedict Barboza said his wife had been the ‘‘light in the dark since we met’’ and that ‘‘it feels like a part of me has been ripped away’’.
Indian website NDTV reported Saldana’s body was due to land in Mumbai yesterday.
Her husband, Benedict
Barboza, was escorting the body. The 46-yearold will be buried near Mangalore on Sunday.
Meanwhile, A spokeswoman dismissed as ‘‘ inaccurate’’ reports questioning the hospital’s contact with Saldanha’s family in Bristol. ‘‘We have been in regular contact with them since shortly after Jacintha’s death a week ago, offering them whatever support we could and the opportunity to meet at any time,’’ she was quoted as saying in The Guardian newspaper.
The hospital met the family ‘‘earlier in the week, and answered all of their questions in full’’.
On claims that Saldanha had criticised hospital staff in one of three suicide notes, she said: ‘‘No one at the hospital has seen these notes, and so we cannot comment on the reports or their accuracy.’’
She said, following the prank call, ‘‘hospital management offered her their support, and told her that they considered her the victim of a cruel hoax. They stood by her actions, and made it clear there was no criticism of her, and that there would be no disciplinary action of any kind.’’
Labour MP Keith Vaz, representing the family, has written to the hospital’s chief executive, John Lofthouse, calling for him to release the ‘‘full facts’’ of what happened.