The body of a British heroin addict is to be exhumed as part of the reinvestigation into her death.
Rachel Whitear
Rachel Whitear (21), from Herefordshire, died in a bedsit in Exmouth, Devon. After her death, her parents allowed photographs of her corpse - kneeling on the floor of the bedsit still grasping a syringe - to be used in a video warning pupils of the dangers of drugs.
Rachel, a student from Withington, near Hereford, was thought to have taken a fatal drugs overdose in May 2000, but a fresh inquiry began last year following concerns over the handling of the original investigation.
Toxicology reports read out at her inquest stated that the amount of drugs in her blood were not sufficient to prove fatal and an open verdict was recorded.
The re-investigation, supervised by the Police Complaints Authority, was ordered last year following concerns raised by Rachel's family about Devon and Cornwall Police's handling of the original inquiry.
Two men from the Midlands were arrested in August last year in connection with Rachel's death and released without charge.
Last month, police revealed that two detectives had travelled to Greece to interview her former drugs counsellor, one of the last people to see her alive.
PA