THE POST-MORTEM on the body of Peaches Geldof is due to be carried out within days.
The shocking news of the 25-year-old’s death emerged yesterday, with her father Bob Geldof saying he and his family were “beyond pain” at the death of Peaches.
Kent Police said today in a statement that “officers are continuing their enquiries”.
The death is being treated as a non-suspicious, but an unexplained sudden death. Officers are working to establish the circumstances and will be compiling a report of their findings for the coroner. It is expected that a post-mortem examination will be carried out in the next few days.
President Higgins
President Michael D Higgins, who is on a State visit to the UK, released a statement today saying:
I extend my deepest sympathies to Bob Geldof and his family on the sudden and untimely death of his daughter Peaches. This is such a difficult cross to bear for any family and all of our thoughts are with Peaches’ family and friends at this time. Sabina and I were due to meet Bob Geldof while on the State visit and we are thinking of him at this time of immense loss.”
Police were called to Geldof’s home in Kent yesterday afternoon, but she was pronounced dead at the scene.
Her death was being treated as “unexplained and sudden” but non-suspicious, police said.
Police were called at 1.35pm yesterday to Geldof’s home outside Wrotham in Kent, southeast England, following a report of “concern for the welfare of a woman”.
Unexplained and sudden death
She was pronounced dead by South East Coast Ambulance Service.
Paula Yates
Peaches, a mother of two young sons, was just 11 when her mother, television presenter Paula Yates, died of a heroin overdose aged 41 in 2000.
In her last Twitter message to her 190,000 followers on Sunday, Peaches posted a photograph of her as a baby being held by her mother, with the words, “Me and my mum”.
Her father Bob Geldof said of his second daughter: “Peaches has died. We are beyond pain.
She was the wildest, funniest, cleverest, wittiest and the most bonkers of all of us. Writing ‘was’ destroys me afresh. What a beautiful child. How is this possible that we will not see her again? How is that bearable? We loved her and will cherish her forever.
Singers Lily Allen and Ellie Goulding were among the first to pay tribute on social media.
“My thoughts are with Peaches’ family at this awful time,” fellow mum-of-two Allen wrote on Twitter. “I hope they get to grieve in peace. Peaches, rest in peace gorgeous girl”
Singer Ellie Goulding added: “Even if you think you’ve got it all figured out, some things still can’t be explained or understood. Two beautiful children. RIP Peaches”.
Sharon Osborne later said it was “unimaginable” what the family was going through, while X Factor mogul Simon Cowell tweeted: “The few times I met Peaches she was a sweet, funny warm person. Much love to her family she has left behind.”
‘Beloved wife’
Peaches was the second daughter of Bob Geldof and Paula Yates. Their first was Fifi Trixibelle, and Peaches has a sister Pixie and a half-sister, named Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily, her mother’s daughter with late INXS frontman Michael Hutchence.
Peaches’ second husband Tom Cohen, the singer in the now-disbanded group S.C.U.M, said: “My beloved wife Peaches was adored by myself and her two sons Astala and Phaedra and I shall bring them up with their mother in their hearts every day. We shall love her forever.”
She married her first husband, rock musician Max Drummey, in 2008 but they separated the following year.
Peaches wed Cohen two years ago in the same church in Kent where her parents were married and where her mother’s funeral was held.
Peaches had a media career writing for British newspapers and presenting celebrity-driven TV shows.
Additional reporting: - © AFP, 2014. First published 8.40am
