Paula Yates, the former wife of Sir Bob Geldof, died of a heroin overdose but did not commit suicide, according to a London coroner this morning. The TV presenter was found dead in her London home nearly two months ago but an inquest has been told that the evidence did not point to a deliberate act of suicide.
Paula Yates was found dead in the bedroom of her Notting Hill home by a close friend. Tiger Lily, Paula's young daughter by the late rock star Michael Hutchence, was in the house at the time. This morning Detective Inspector Michael Christensen told Westminster Coroner's Court that brown paper containing heroin had been found on Miss Yates's bedside table. A £5 note containing traces of cocaine was also discovered in the bedroom. The court heard that the amount of heroin found in her bloodstream would not have been enough to kill her if she had been a regular user.
The coroner, Dr Paul Knapman, described Paula Yates as an unsophisticated taker of heroin. He said that while her behaviour had been foolish and incautious it seemed most improbable that she would have attempted to kill herself with her daughter in the house.
