The TV personality, Paula Yates, died from "foolish and incautious" drug-taking, a coroner ruled yesterday. The death of the 40-year-old TV presenter was the result of "an unsophisticated taker of heroin" using drugs, Dr Paul Knapman ruled.
"The evidence does not point towards this being a deliberate act of suicide," he said.
He was speaking at the inquest into the death of Ms Yates, whose body was found in the bedroom of her home in Notting Hill, west London, on September 17th.
Westminster Coroner's Court heard that 0.3mg of morphine per litre of blood was found in her body, which would not have been enough to kill her had she been a heroin addict. There was no alcohol in her blood.
Det Insp Michael Christensen said a brown powder containing heroin was found on the bedside table. A £5 note bearing traces of cocaine was also discovered in the room.
A friend, Ms Belinda Brewin, said she went to see Ms Yates on September 16th and she was "not in a very good state".
"She was slightly staggering. Her eyelids were drooping. She was slightly incoherent. I could tell that she had been taking drugs," she said.
Ms Brewin added: "She hadn't taken illegal drugs for nearly two years."
When she left, Ms Yates was "quite coherent. She wasn't in a good state, but she was OK."
Ms Charlotte Korshak, the last person to see Ms Yates, told the inquest that on September 16th she went to see Ms Yates, taking a quarter-bottle of vodka with her. Ms Yates did not have any of it.
Later, she and Ms Yates made some tea.
"She was fine, in a good mood, happy, looking forward to going back to work."
Asked if Ms Yates had been under the influence of drugs, Ms Korshak said: "No, I was quite drunk, but I did not see her take anything."
The coroner asked her if she had supplied Ms Yates with illegal drugs in the days before her death, and Ms Korshak said: "Absolutely not."
Ms Josephine Fairley Sams, a friend who found the body, said Ms Yates had seemed "a bit stressed" when they had spoken on the Thursday before her death, because she was due to tell Ms Brewin that she was to appoint a full-time press agent to take over the job Ms Brewin had been doing informally.
Ms Fairley Sams said she called three times the next morning but each time was told by Ms Yates's four-year-old daughter, Tiger Lily, that "mummy was still asleep."
She decided to go to the house to try to wake Ms Yates herself, and found her dead.
A pathologist, Dr Iain West, said there were no injection marks and no sign that she had abused drugs. Tests showed 0.3mg of morphine per litre in her blood, which would not have been enough to kill a regular heroin-user.
Ms Yates (40) was co-presenter of the 1980s music show, The Tube, and had children Fifi Trixibelle (17), Peaches (11) and Pixie (10) by Bob Geldof, and Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily by Michael Hutchence.