A coroner has ruled that Peaches Geldof died of a heroin overdose.
The inquest into the death of Peaches Geldof today (July 23) heard that the 25-year-old had been a heroin addict and took the heroin substitute methadone for two-and-a-half years before her death, reports the BBC. Giving evidence, Geldof’s husband, Tom Cohen of the band Scum, said that his late wife first sought treatment for her drug problem two years ago.
The writer, socialite and daughter of Boomtown Rats frontman Bob Geldof was found dead at her home in Wrotham, Kent on April 7, 2014, aged 25. Police said at the time that her death was being treated as “non-suspicious but unexplained and sudden”, but the results of a toxicology report showed Geldof had heroin in her system.
Today, the inquest in Gravesend, Kent, heard that police found 6.9g of heroin in Geldof’s house. It was stated that there was no indication she had planned to take her own life. Pathologist Peter Jerreat reported that puncture wounds were found on Geldof’s body on her elbows, wrists and thumbs, and said the levels of heroin in her body were in a “fatal range”. There was also evidence of codeine, methadone and morphine in Geldof’s system.
Cohen told the hearing that his late wife had been undergoing weekly drugs tests since seeking treatment. She had always informed him they had been clear, and Cohen now said he believed Geldof had lied about the results of the tests.
Cohen said he saw some text messages that suggested Geldof started using the drug again in February 2014, and that he had witnessed her flushing drugs she had hidden in their loft down the toilet.
The coroner said he believed Geldof had lost her tolerance to the drug.
Cohen, whom she married in 2012, is understood to have found his wife’s body at their home after becoming worried that he could not contact her. The singer had been away for the weekend with the elder of their two sons, Astala, leaving Geldof at home with their 11-month old son, Phaedra.
A funeral service for Geldof was held at St Mary Magdalene and St Lawrence church in the village of Davington, Kent, on April 21. Her father led the tributes. Her ashes were believed to have been scattered at Bob Geldof’s Davington Priory country estate. Mourners included musicians Jools Holland, Bill Wyman and Johnny Borrell and former Creation boss Alan McGee.
Peaches’ death echoes that of her mother, Paula Yates, who died in 2000 after an accidental overdose of heroin.