Geldof 'blames himself' for Peaches' heroin death

Sir Bob Geldof said music has helped him death with his grief following his daughter Peaches' death in April.

Sir Bob Geldof has told ITV News' Mark Austin he "blames himself" for the heroin death of his daughter Peaches.

The singer and activist said he had conversations with Peaches after she began receiving help for her relapsed addiction but feels he "clearly failed".

The TV presenter and mother of two died at her home in Kent in April of a heroin overdose.

The death tragically echoed that of her mother, Sir Bob's ex-wife Paula Yates, to heroin in 2000.

Sir Bob told Mark Austin the newspaper attacks on his daughters following their mother's death had "damaged" his children.

An inquest into Peaches' death heard she had started using heroin again in February this year after first seeking treatment for her addiction two years ago.

Sir Bob, 63, said she had "tried very hard" to deal with the pressures in her life but "didn't make it".

Sir Bob said returning to his music career has played a vital role in dealing with his "incomprehensible" loss.

The singer heads back on stage this weekend with The Boomtown Rats as part of a UK reunion tour, some 28 years after he quit the band to go solo.

Sir Bob Geldof said he had turned to music following the deaths of his ex-wife Paula Yates and second daughter Peaches, seen here shortly after her birth in 1989. Credit: McGough/EMPICS Entertainment

Sir Bob said it had been "cathartic" to reunite with the Rats - famous for their late 1970s hits I Don't Like Mondays and Rat Trap - and "not be Bob" for the two hours he is performing.

The Ratlife UK tour runs from 18 October to 7 November to support the release of "So Modern - The Boomtown Rats Collection".