More on KentOnline
More on KentOnline
One year ago today mother-of-two Peaches Geldof was found dead in her Kent home.
The daughter of pop star and poverty campaigner Sir Bob Geldof had died from a heroin overdose and was found in the bedroom of her Fairseat Lane home, in Wrotham, by husband Tom Cohen.
Her death is perhaps the highest profile female drug poisoning death in recent years, but the death rate have been increasing every year since 2009 - according to the Office for National Statistics.
Its most recent figures were published five months after Peaches' death and reveal that in the year before her death 513 women died as a result of using illegal or legal drugs.
In 2012 there were 459 deaths, revealing a 12% increase.
When it came specifically to heroin, or morphine, there were 765 deaths nationally, a 32% rise from the 579 deaths in 2012.
Despite the increase, the amount of people seeking treatment has remained static.
According to Public Health England there were 193,198 people receiving treatment in 2013-14, the most recent figures available.
In the year before this there were 193,575.
However, the amount of people starting treatment was 70,930, a 2.4% increase from the 69,247 users previously.
The realities of the horror drugs can cause are all present in this case.
Twelve months on and the family home remains eerily untouched and her infant sons, Astala, two, and Phaedra, one, will grow up without a mother.
Peaches Geldof's death was also a cruel echo of her own mother's tragic fate more than a decade earlier.
Paula Yates, 41, was found dead at her home in London of a heroin overdose.
Both of their funerals took place at the St Mary Magdalene & St Lawrence Church, near Sir Bob's home in Faversham.
Bob, who originally came to fame for his role The Boomtown Rats, has reportedly decided to marry French actress Jeanne Marine in the same church later this year.
If you require treatment for a drug problem, advice can be found here.
Stories you might have missed
Family's lives 'on hold' until they get justice for Carl
Man 'snatches at boy in supermarket'
Pupils left in a class of their own
