French toxicology reports not to made public yet

Toxicology reports which would indicate if model Katy French died from a drugs overdose will not be made public by the Garda …

Toxicology reports which would indicate if model Katy French died from a drugs overdose will not be made public by the Garda for operational reasons, writes Ronan McGreevy.

A preliminary postmortem report was completed by the State Pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy yesterday at Our Lady's Hospital in Navan, Co Meath. Further tests are to be carried out over the next week.

The results of it and the toxicology reports will be used by the Garda to determine what caused the death of Ms French (24) who collapsed at a house in Kilmessan, Co Meath, on Sunday morning and died on Thursday night.

The cause of her death has not been made public, but the National Drugs Unit and the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation are both involved in the investigation into her death. The investigation is being led by Supt Michael Devine in Navan.

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A file will be prepared for the coroner's inquest at which stage the Director of Public Prosecutions may become involved.

However, it is understood it will be very difficult for gardaí to prosecute anyone for an offence of supplying the drugs if it is found that she died of a substance overdose, because a link would have to be established between an individual dealer and her death.

Gardaí have already questioned the two people who were in the house in Kilmessan when Ms French collapsed.

They are also questioning others who saw her on the night of her collapse.

Tributes continued to pour in for Ms French who only became a household name in Ireland in the months before she died.

Former Miss World Rosanna Davidson said the country was "in mourning" over her death.

"I think it is fitting that we are talking about a woman who injected a whole new level into Irish modelling with her personality, her vivaciousness, her intelligence and her beauty," she said.

The head of fundraising at the charity organisation Goal, Lisa O'Shea, said Ms French had shown a great interest in helping the poor when she visited Calcutta in September.

"You know when people care when they ask questions. If they don't ask questions, they don't care and she never stopped asking questions about why so many people had to live the way they lived.

"She kept asking me, 'where can I go next, what can I do?'

"It brought home to me that she clearly had a massive amount of compassion for the poorest of the poor, and you can't fake that.

"She was a very intelligent young lady who felt she had a privileged upbringing and wanted to help other people."

Management at Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin, Dublin, also paid tribute, saying that she helped to raise €100,000 for the hospital last year.

Edel O'Malley, director of Operations at the Children's Medical and Research Foundation which is based at Crumlin, said: "Her dedication to Crumlin was incredibly valuable. Katy gave up her time to raise awareness and promote the work of the hospital, securing funds to support services which directly benefited sick children.

"Her participation in Crumlin's events, including the recent Late Late Show's'Face your Fears' was done selflessly and with a great sense of fun and energy."