Hoax case: Indian-origin nurse blamed herself

India-born nurse Jacintha Saldanha, found hanging at a hospital here days after receiving a hoax call about Kate Middleton's first pregnancy, blamed herself for releasing intimate details about the Dutchess's condition.

An inquest into her death at the Royal Courts of Justice in London was told that the 46-year-old mother of two had sent distressed emails addressed to her colleagues insisting "it's all my fault".

Saldanha, originally from Mangalore in Karnataka, was found dead in the nursing accommodation of King Edward VII hospital days after staff were tricked into revealing details of Kate Middleton's pregnancy to two Australian radio DJs posing as Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles back in December 2012.

She had answered the call and transferred it on to the duty nurse on the Duchess of Cambridge's ward.

She later wrote to the nurse who had been looking after the Duchess on the night of the prank to apologise for putting the call through to her. "I am terribly sorry for transferring the call to you. At that moment, in the time, with that voice, I couldn't even think of anything else," she wrote.

"It's all my fault and I feel very bad about this and getting you involved. Please accept my apologies. If there was anything I could do to mend it, I would do it but it's all in their hands.

"I am very upset and don't know what to do, things are all going in the wrong direction for me at the moment," she added.

In the message, sent the day after the prank call, she went on: "Please blame me for this, I accept the fault is mine. I should have checked before I gave the call to you so it was my fault. I can only say sorry -– please accept my apologies."

Saldanha told other colleagues she had believed the prank was a genuine call from the Queen.

The Duchess was being treated for acute morning sickness when DJs Melissa Greig and Michael Christian called the hospital pretending to be the Queen.