New leads halt inquest into heroin death poster girl Rachel

Detectives said they have received potentially vital information about the death of the 21-year-old and were last night trying to trace two fresh witnesses.

The extraordinary developments came as coroner Ian Arrow was preparing to sum up on the last day of a four-day hearing into the Miss Whitear's death in May 2000.

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Last night, there was speculation that the information, described by police sources as 'significant', could finally shed light on the circumstances in which the former Bath Spa University student was found.

The inquest in Exeter has already heard accusations from an anonymous witness that Miss Whitear's boyfriend, Luke Fitzgerald, killed her by giving her a lethal injection of heroin.

He is then alleged to have fled the scene before returning to stage a cover-up with the help of his brother Simon.

The horrific photographs of Miss Whitear's bloated body found crouched on the floor with a syringe in her hand shocked the nation when they were used for an antidrugs campaign in schools. Police, who failed to carry out any fingerprinting of the scene, initially assumed she had overdosed alone.

But the inquest heard claims that after Simon Fitzgerald was called for help, he moved Miss Whitear's body, got rid of the syringe with his brother's fingerprints on and replaced it with a clean one.

Luke, 32, and Simon Fitzgerald, 31, have denied any involvement in her death.

It was not clear last night whether the new evidence relates to these allegations but police confirmed that detectives had been sent to two locations.

Detective Chief Superintendent Paul Howlett, of Wiltshire Police, told the inquest yesterday: "New information concerning the circumstancesof Rachel's death has been passed to me. If this information is true, it could be capable of affecting the outcome of these proceedings."

At the original inquest into Miss Whitear's death in December 2000 an open verdict was recorded.

But following complaints about the police investigation by her mother, Pauline Holcroft, Wiltshire Police launched a second inquiry and her body was exhumed in 2004.

The High Court ordered a second inquest in October last year after toxicology results raised questions about the level of heroin in Miss Whitear's bloodstream.

Halting proceedings yesterday, Mr Arrow said: "Police are following two separate lines of inquiry. I hope to have an indication tomorrow as to whether I can proceed."

The hearing continues.