UK Cops Look for Aussie Investigation Into Royal Hoax

DJs could face charges for using 'listening device'
By Polly Davis Doig,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 9, 2012 7:45 AM CST
UK Cops Look for Aussie Investigation Into Royal Hoax
2Day FM radio presenters Mel Greig, left, and Michael Christian, who could be in some more hot water over their tragic prank call.   (AP Photo/AAP Image, Southern Cross Austereo Sydney)

Scotland Yard is hoping to take the investigation into the tragic royal prank call Down Under: As the BBC reports, UK police have reached out to their Australian counterparts about investigating the radio DJs who prank-called the hospital where Kate Middleton was being treated for morning sickness. "They haven't actually asked us to do anything yet," says a New South Wales police spokesman, "but we've certainly opened up the lines of communication and obviously we're happy to assist in any way we can."

DJs Mel Greig and Michael Christian wouldn't be likely targets for prosecution because they showed no "guilty intent," but they could be targeted under Aussie law that prevents public airing of private conversations caught on a "listening device." King Edward VII's Hospital has slammed 2Day FM, calling it "truly appalling" that both management and a station lawyer had approved the prank. Greig and Christian, who were suspended and are said to be undergoing "intense counseling," have "expressed a desire to speak," Sky News reports. "We haven't ascertained when they're ready for that and how we're going to organize that, but they certainly want to," says a spokesman for the radio station's parent company. (More hoax stories.)

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