LONDON — Model and TV personality Peaches Geldof died from a heroin overdose after relapsing from a battle to give up the drug, a British coroner ruled Wednesday.
Coroner Roger Hatch said Geldof took a fatal dose of high-purity heroin shortly before she was found dead at her home south of London on April 7.
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An inquest heard that Geldof – daughter of Live Aid organizer Bob Geldof – was a heroin addict and had been taking the drug substitute methadone for more than two years in a bid to stay clean.
Her husband, Thomas Cohen, told the hearing that Geldof had started using heroin again in February. He said he had seen her flushing drugs she had hidden down the toilet.
Cohen found her body when he returned from a weekend away with the couple’s 2-year-old son, Astala. Their younger son, 1-year-old Phaedra, was in the house with his mother.
Police found heroin and syringes in the house. A forensic scientist said the drug had a purity of 61 percent – much higher than the average drug sold on the street.
A pathologist told the inquest that Geldof’s blood contained a high level of heroin, along with traces of codeine, methadone and morphine. There were puncture marks on her arms and legs.
Inquests are held in Britain to determine the facts in sudden, violent or unexplained deaths. Her mother, Paula Yates, died of a heroin overdose when Peaches was 11.
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