It has been confirmed that the death of Peaches Geldof, daughter of Irish musician Bob Geldof of the Boomtown Rats, was the result of a heroin overdose.
Though her death in April was initially labeled as “unexplained and sudden,” a recent inquest has ruled that it was due to the highly addictive class A opiate.
The 25-year-old journalist, model and mother of two had been receiving treatment for her heroin addiction for two and a half years by taking the substitute drug methadone. The inquest, which was held in Gravesend, Kent in the UK, heard that she relapsed about two months before her death.
The Guardian reports that on the bed where she was found there was also a small, clear syringe cap and a pair of knotted black tights, most likely used as a tourniquet, and under her bed was a dessert spoon with burn marks and a brown residue.
Large quantities of high-quality heroin were found as well – it was 61% pure, which is much higher than the usual 25% purity of most sold heroin. Following her efforts to kick her addiction, her tolerance had declined, making her more susceptible to an overdose.
More syringes, stockings and quantities of citric acid (used for preparation of heroin) were found in the room as well.
The inquest was told that Peaches had been taking weekly drug tests, which she’d been telling her husband Thomas Cohen were negative.
Codeine, methadone and morphine were detected in her blood. The inquest concluded: "The pathologist states cause of death to be opiate intoxication. When considering all of the above information, I, as the senior investigating officer, conclude that Peaches Geldof-Cohen died of a heroin overdose."
Peaches’s mother, Paula Yates, died from a heroin overdose as well, when Peaches was just eleven.
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