Federal and state police to investigate Today Network suicide prank call
Australian federal and state authorities have confirmed they have received a referral from the UK Metropolitan Police asking them to investigate whether 2Day FM committed any offences under Australian law when they prank called Kate Middleton’s hospital in December 2012.
The prank call was followed by the suicide of nurse Jacintha Saldanha who transferred the call to Middleton’s hospital room. In the wake of the scandal, which saw the station’s owners Southern Cross Austereo temporarily pull advertising from the station, NSW police initially said they would cooperate with UK authorities but had not launched their own investigation.
“The Australian Federal Police and NSW Police can confirm a referral was received from the UK Metropolitan police on Wednesday the 10th July,” a NSW police spokeswoman told Mumbrella today.“The AFP will evaluate the referral as per their usual process to determine if any Commonwealth offences were identified. NSW police will evaluate the referral if any state offences were identified,” she said. “They will be making no further comment while the investigation is ongoing.”
According to Britain’s The Daily Telegraph the referral comes after the Crown Prosecution Service determined there would be no prosecution in the UK.
The outcome of the police deliberations is potentially a crucial one for Southern Cross Austereo. A licence condition is that it does not break the law. If the company is found to have breached this condition, the company could see its licence suspended or the station shut down.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority has already made a draft finding that 2DayFM was in breach of its licence. SCA is currently doing battle in the courts to argue that ACMA is not entitled to make that finding because there has been no conviction in the courts. The case will be heard in September.
The move also comes just a day after it was revealed that host Mel Greig was suing SCA, alleging that her employer failed to provide a safe workplace over her involvement in the royal prank call.
Nic Christensen
