Ms Paula Yates, the griefstricken lover of dead rock star Michael Hutchence, last night arrived in Sydney and was immediately driven to a mortuary to see his body.
Ms Yates is understood to have spent some time at Glebe morgue before being driven to a secret hideaway. She is expected to be interviewed today by Australian police who believe she can help them piece together the final hours of Hutchence who was found hanged in his hotel room on Saturday.
They are anxious to talk to her about two telephone calls Hutchence is reported to have had in the hours before his death. Ms Yates is said to have telephoned him to break the news that she could not visit him because of a custody battle with ex-husband, former rock star Bob Geldof, over their three daughters. The INXS singer is said to have telephoned Geldof afterwards in fury.
Detectives said they had ruled out a bizarre sex game as the cause of death after the 37-year-old star was found hanging by a belt from the door of a fifth-floor suite of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel.
Friends say he seemed relaxed and happy just hours before his death but police did find prescription medicines and empty alcohol bottles in the suite. No suicide note was found.
Ms Yates and Hutchence had plans to move to Australia to escape the media spotlight in Britain. Ms Yates was due to marry the rock star in January.
INXS's latest album has had disappointing sales and Hutchence was said to be depressed about the band's waning popularity. He had arrived in Sydney on Wednesday for the INXS 20th anniversary world tour.
The results of a post-mortem examination are expected early today but police have dismissed reports that he died during a kinky sex session. A Sydney police source, asked about the possibility of a sex game which went tragically wrong, said: "From the information we have that would be wrong. There is nothing to suggest that."
Ms Yates also angrily denied there had been anything untoward in her lover's death. Her lawyer, Mr Anthony Burton, said: "I condemn the scurrilous and grossly irresponsible speculation and fiction trailed as fact in some tabloids today that `kinky sex' led to Michael's tragic death."
Some hours before his body was discovered, Hutchence had chatted happily with a friend on the telephone and witnesses who saw him the night before, having dinner with his father, said he seemed happy and relaxed.
Last month, Hutchence described himself in an interview as "the luckiest man alive" as he talked about his love for Ms Yates, his daughter and his lover's three daughters.