Thursday 1 May 2014

Peaches Geldof died of a heroin overdose

Peaches Geldof died of a heroin overdose, it has been revealed. 
The results of a toxicology report was announced, as the inquest into the mother-of-two's death is opened and immediately adjourned. 
The 25-year-old daughter of Sir Bob Geldof was found dead at her country home earlier this month in what was described by police as a 'non-suspicious' and 'sudden unexplained' death.
The Times reports that police discovered no evidence of drugs paraphernalia in the house, triggering suspicions that the house may have been searched and items removed prior to their arrival.
Her 11-month-old son Phaedra was in the home with Peaches when she died. 
In a tragic case of history repeating itself, Peaches' own mother Paula Yates died from an accidental heroin overdose in 2000, aged 41.
She too was alone with young daughter by Michael Hutchence, Tiger Lily, then aged four.
Hours before she died, Peaches is said to have posted a picture of herself as a young girl with her late mother.
Peaches had a long history of drug use. In May 2008, she was questioned but not charged after being seen offering a drug dealer up to £190. 
Two months later, she was reportedly treated by paramedics after an overdose and was believed to have stopped breathing for several minutes until she was revived.
At the inquest into the death of her friend Freddy McConnel - who died from a drug overdose aged 18 in 2011 - it was revealed that he had planned to 'inject' for the first time during a visit by Peaches.
'Peaches is coming over later and I am going to inject for the first time. Perhaps I will die. I hope I don’t,' he wrote in his diary just months before his death.
A post mortem carried out by a Home Office Pathologist days after Peaches died proved inconclusive and samples of her blood and tissue were sent off to a laboratory to be tested for possible toxins.
A spokesman for Kent police today said they could not confirm or deny the reports claiming that the young mother had died of an overdose. 
They added: 'The inquest opens later today and that is all I can say.'
It is understood those results have now been returned to North West Kent Coroner Roger Hatch who will open an inquest into Peaches' death later today.
The hearing is only expected to last around 10 minutes and will be held in Gravesend in Kent.
A spokesman for Mr Hatch had earlier said a statement from a senior police officer Detective Chief Inspector Paul Fotheringham will be heard before the coroner releases the cause of death.
Mr Hatch is understood to have waited for results of the toxicology tests to determine if Peaches had died of an overdose before deciding to open the inquest.
A date for a full inquest into the model and TV presenter's death is due to be set some time in late July, the spokesman added.
The body of Peaches was found on April 7 at the home she shared in Wrotham, Kent, with her husband Tom Cohen, and their two young sons, Astala, 23 months, and 11-month-old Phaedra.
At the funeral service in the village of Davington, near Faversham, Peaches' body was carried into church in a poignantly-decorated coffin which included a picture of her young family. 
Her father Sir Bob Geldof is thought to have led tributes in front of a host of well-known personalities, including Sarah Ferguson, supermodel Kate Moss and former Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman.
The church, St Mary Magdalene and St Lawrence, was where Ms Geldof married musician Mr Cohen in 2012. It was also where her television presenter mother Paula Yates married Geldof in 1986.
Yates' funeral was held there after she died from an accidental heroin overdose in 2000, aged 41.
Former Boomtown Rats singer Geldof has previously paid tribute to his daughter alongside his partner Jeanne Marine and Ms Geldof's sisters Fifi Trixibelle, Pixie and Tiger, saying she was the 'wildest, funniest, cleverest, wittiest and the most bonkers of all of us.'
He added: 'Writing ‘was’ destroys me afresh. What a beautiful child. How is this possible that we will not see her again? How is that bearable?
'We loved her and will cherish her forever. How sad that sentence is.
'Tom and her sons Astala and Phaedra will always belong in our family, fractured so often, but never broken. Bob, Jeanne, Fifi, Pixie and Tiger Geldof.'
Her husband Tom Cohen said in a statement: 'My beloved wife Peaches was adored by myself and her two sons Astala and Phaedra and I shall bring them up with their mother in their hearts every day.'

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