Peaches Geldof, the TV presenter daughter of Bob Geldof and Paula Yates, had been looking forward to the future and planning a weekend with her children when she was apparently killed by a heroin overdose, an inquest has heard.
The 25-year-old was found dead in her home in Wrotham, Kent, by her husband, musician Thomas Cohen, on 7 April after he had become concerned that she was not answering her phone, the inquest in Gravesend heard on Thursday. Cohen found her slumped lifeless across a bed.
The inquest heard that toxicology tests had found "recent use of heroin at levels which identified it was likely to have played a role in her death".
Heroin was the same drug that killed Yates in 2000 when she accidentally overdosed at her home in London. Geldof, who was 11 when Yates died, said she never got over her mother's death.
Hours before Cohen raised the alarm, Geldof had posted a poignant childhood photograph of her and her mother on Twitter, with the caption "me and my mum". A mother of two, she had been looking after her 11-month-old son Phaedra while Cohen was away visiting his parents in London.
Speaking at the inquest, which lasted 10 minutes, Detective Chief Inspector Paul Fotheringham said that the presenter, model and columnist had spoken to her husband "on regular occasions" before her death and had seen friends on the previous Friday evening, but had spent Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning at home.
While Cohen had initially taken both children with him on the visit, his father had brought their younger son back to his mother on Sunday evening.
Fotheringham told the inquest that, the night before Geldof's death, "Thomas's father, Keith Cohen, took the youngest child, Phaedra, back to Wrotham and spent half an hour with Peaches before leaving the child with her."
She later made a phone call to a friend – thought to be the last person Geldof spoke to before her death.
Cohen was first alerted that something might be wrong after making repeated attempts to call his wife on the morning of Monday 7 April. After failing to get hold of her, he drove home accompanied by his mother, Sue, and one-year-old son Astala.
Fotheringham added that when Cohen went upstairs and found Geldof, it was "apparent that she was deceased".
He said: "She was located on the edge of the bed with one leg hanging down to the floor and the other leg tucked underneath her." It is understood that Phaedra was in another room.
Police pronounced Geldof dead at the scene but no drug paraphernalia was found in the house, leading to suspicion that it may have been removed.
Fotheringham's statement described how Geldof's behaviour had not seemed unusual in the days leading up to her death and that there had been "no cause for concern". He went on: "All of the friends and family who had contact with Peaches during this period described how she seemed her normal self and was making plans for the future, including a family outing for her sons for the following weekend."
With no evidence of drug-taking on the scene, Geldof's death was initially described by police as sudden, unexplained and "non-suspicious". The post-mortem examination carried out by Dr Peter Jerreat at Darent Valley Hospital in Dartford was inconclusive, and samples of tissue were then sent to be tested for toxins.
Geldof had a long and troubled history of drug use. In May 2008 she was questioned but not charged after allegedly being seen offering a drug dealer up to £190. She was also mentioned in the inquest into the death of her friend Freddy McConnel, who died from a drug overdose aged 18 in 2011. It was found that 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."
However, Geldof, who had recently become a columnist for Mother and Baby magazine, had 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."
Following the birth of her first child, she said: "Even if it's an archaic idea, I want Astala to have a mummy and daddy together for ever."
Fotheringham also confirmed that her father, Bob Geldof, was the person who identified her body.
No family members were present at the inquest and a spokesperson for the family said they had no statement to make following the toxicology results.
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", adding: "Tom and her sons, Astala and Phaedra, will always belong in our family, fractured so often, but never broken."
Her funeral was held at St Mary Magdalene and St Lawrence church in Davington, near Faversham, on 21 April – the same church where she was married to Cohen and where her mother's funeral service was held.
Those in attendance included Sarah, Duchess of York, the DJ Nick Grimshaw, former Rolling Stone Bill Wyman and model Kate Moss.
Roger Hatch, the coroner for north-west Kent, adjourned the full inquest until 23 July to ensure that Cohen and Bob Geldof were able to attend.
