Yates post-mortem 'inconclusive'

Tributes have been laid outside her house in London

The results of a post-mortem carried out on the body of Paula Yates have proved "inconclusive," police have revealed.

The 40-year-old TV personality was found dead at her home in Notting Hill, west London, on Sunday morning.

The post-mortem examination was carried out at Westminster mortuary.

Yates: Suffering from depression

Police are treating her death as suspicious, although they have confirmed there were no signs of violence at the house.

Yates' body was found in the bedroom by a family friend at around 1015 BST.

Alone overnight

Detective Inspector Mike Christensen confirmed she had been alone in the house overnight and said there had been "no sign of violence or anything of that nature".

Newspaper reports speculated that she may had taken a drugs overdose and said there were prescribed pills, a vodka bottle and heroin found by her bedside.

An ambulance and detectives were called to the house but the mother-of four was pronounced dead about an hour later.

Body found at home in Notting Hill

Yates shot to fame in the 1980s as the co-presenter of Channel 4 music show The Tube with musician Jools Holland.

She met her first husband, Bob Geldof, in 1977.

They had three children together - Fifi Trixibelle, 17, 11-year-old Peaches Honeyblossom and Pixie, aged 10.

Fifi Trixibelle visited her mother's house on Sunday night, laying a bunch of yellow roses by the steps.

She went inside for five minutes to see the scene of her mother's death, escorted by a police inspector, and left with friends.

Yates and Geldof separated in 1995 and Yates began seeing Australian rock star Michael Hutchence.

They had a daughter Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily.

Paula Yates:
Key moments

1959: Born

1977: Meets Bob Geldof

1978: Publishes Rock Stars In Their Underpants

1982-7: Co-hosts The Tube

1984: Fifi Trixibelle born

1986: Marries Geldof

1989: Peaches Honeyblossom born

1990: Pixie born

1995: Leaves Geldof for Michael Hutchence

1996: Hutchence's daughter, Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily, born

1997: Hutchence commits suicide

1998: Yates admitted to psychiatric hospital

Some reports said Tiger Lily had raised the alarm about her mother's death when she told a friend who phoned the house that she could not wake her.

Tiger Lily was made a ward of court on Monday.

The court committed her interim care and control to Geldof.

Laurence Oates, the official solicitor appointed to represent Tiger Lily, said he and Geldof would be "very grateful if the right to privacy of Tiger Lily and the other children of the late Paula Yates could be respected at this very sad and difficult time".

Bouts of depression

Yates had been suffering from bouts of depression since her boyfriend Hutchence was found hanged in a hotel room in Sydney in November 1997.

She refused to accept the coroner's conclusion that he had committed suicide.

Yates then faced further hardship when Huthchence's father Kelland launched legal action to gain custody of Tiger Lily.

After Hutchence's death, Yates said in an interview with Red magazine that she had gone "completely mad".

"When Michael died I was tipped over the edge. I was beyond grief," she said.

"Now I'm starting, relatively, to think straight again. I live one day at a time, one hour at a time. What makes it all worthwhile is my children."

Bob Geldof: Wants family to be left alone in their grief

Bob Geldof said in a statement: "We are all so sad. The loss for all the children is insupportable."

Yates' friend Belinda Brewin arrived at her house on Monday accompanied by two plain-clothed police officers.

She then loaded eight bin bags into her car.

"The family are absolutely devastated," Ms Brewin said.

"I feel tired and very sad and I'll miss her."

Floral tributes were being laid outside Yates' house on Monday.

One message from two women named as Carol and Louise read: "In memory of Paula. We are just two ordinary working mums who admired your zest, style and spirit and we shall miss you, even though we never knew you."

The BBC's digital channel BBC Choice will be running a special Liquid News programme on the life of Paula Yates at 2000BST on 18 September.