Author Santa Montefiore has spoken of the traumatic moment she was told by a police officer that her sister Tara Palmer-Tomkinson had died.
The 47-year-old told of how she rushed to her younger sister’s west London flat on hearing the news that Ms Palmer-Tomkinson had been found unconscious on February 8.
However, she described feeling like she’d “hit a brick wall” as a police officer guarding her sibling’s home said she had died.
Ms Montefiore told the Mail on Sunday: “When I got the call to say she was unconscious, I was envisaging myself going in, holding her hand and saying, ‘It's OK, I'm here.’
“He just looked at me and said, ‘I'm sorry, ma'am, you can't go in because she's already passed.’
Tara Palmer-Tomkinson - In pictures
“That's how I found out she had died. It was like hitting a brick wall.
“I don't think I'll ever get over those few words.”
Ms Montefiore described how she still speaks to Ms Palmer-Tomkinson every night and said she was “doing great” in the weeks before her death.
She added: “I say my prayers and send Tara my love.
“I know she's around, she'll be hearing wherever she is. I don't know if I always will. Maybe she will get tired of hearing it? I still can't accept she's gone, that she's not there, that she won't be calling.”
Ms Palmer-Tomkinson was found dead at her £1.6million Earls Court flat after dying in her sleep.
A coroner confirmed she died from a perforated ulcer.
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