Peaches Geldof inquest told heroin the likely cause of death

Toxicology tests revealed at the inquest into the death of Peaches Geldof suggest she died of a heroin overdose.

The inquest in Kent disclosed that the opiate had been found in the blood of the 25-year-old and was a likely cause of her death.

Speaking at Gravesend Old Town Hall on yesterday, DCI Paul Fotheringham said the toxicology report had revealed “recent use of heroin at levels which identified it was likely to have played a role in her death”.

On the afternoon of April 7th, Geldof was found dead at her home by her husband, Thomas Cohen, who found Geldof slumped across the bed in the spare bedroom of their family home in Wrotham, Kent.

Geldof, a mother of two and the daughter of Bob Geldof, had been looking after her 11-month old son Phaedra while Cohen was away visiting his parents in London. Cohen visited the house with his mother after making repeated attempts to contact his wife.

Fotheringham added that when Cohen found Geldof, it was “obvious that she was deceased”. Police attended the scene soon after but no drug paraphernalia was found in the house.

Normal self
Fotheringham said Geldof had seemed her normal self in the days building up to her death – making plans for the future with friends and family – and that there had been no cause for concern.

Peaches had spoken to her husband on regular occasions leading up to her death on Monday and had seen friends on the Friday evening.

The last contact she made was with a friend on Sunday evening.

Geldof’s death was initially described by police as sudden, unexplained and “non-suspicious”.

Heroin was the same drug that killed Geldof's mother, Paula Yates, in 2000 after she accidentally overdosed in her London home.

Geldof, who was 11 when Yates died, said she never got over her mother’s death.

Childhood photo
Hours before Cohen raised the alarm, when he could not get hold of his wife, Geldof had posted a childhood photo of her and her mother on Twitter.

Geldof, who worked as a model and columnist, had recently said that becoming a parent had helped her find peace.

“Before, I was not at peace with myself about it because I was just traumatised,” she said. “That’s why I was living a chaotic lifestyle. But now I have the kids I can heal the situation.”

A postmortem carried out by a Home Office pathologist days after Geldof died proved inconclusive and samples of her tissues were sent to be tested for toxins.

Yesterday Roger Hatch, the coroner for northwest Kent, adjourned the full inquest until the end of July to ensure that Cohen and Bob Geldof were able to attend.

Peaches Geldof had a long and troubled history of drug use. In May 2008 she was questioned but not charged after being seen offering a drug dealer up to £190.

Inquest mention
She was also mentioned in the inquest into the death of Freddy McConnel, who died from a drug overdose aged 18 in 2011, after it was found he had written in his diary, months before his death: "Peaches is coming over later and I am going to inject for the first time. Perhaps I will die. I hope I don't."

Her father, the founder of Live Aid, had previously described his daughter as the “wildest, funniest, cleverest, wittiest and the most bonkers of all of us”.

Her funeral was held at St Mary Magdalene and St Lawrence church in Davington, near Faversham in Kent, with those in attendance including Sarah Ferguson, Nick Grimshaw, Bill Wyman and Kate Moss.

– (Guardian service)