FIRST came the acrimonious divorce. Now Paula Yates and Bob Geldof are likely to have another round of public squabbling, this time over the future of their children.
Geldof was yesterday reported to be in Kent with his three daughters, Fifi Trixibelle (13), Peaches (6) and Pixie (4), after making a High Court application for custody.
The surprise move came 24 hours after police raided Yates's London home on Wednesday, which she shares with the rock star Michael Hutchence, and found a substance which is suspected to be a controlled drug.
Yates and Hutchence, currently in Australia with their two-month-old daughter Heavenly Hirani, were informed of the raid and Geldof's High Court action by telephone.
Their solicitor refused to comment yesterday.
Geldof, his girlfriend Jeanne Marine and Yates's nanny, who has reportedly resigned following the raids, are spending the weekend at Davington Priory, his 15th century home in Kent.
Geldof told reporters outside his home: "I don't talk about these things. I haven't talked for two years, and I'm not going to start now."
Police yesterday refused to comment on reports that the drug found in Yates's home in Chelsea, west London, was opium and that it was discovered by officers in a Smartie tube box under the couple's bed.
To make matters worse for Yates, who admitted in her autobiography earlier this year to taking heroin, she has also been suspended as a columnist for the Sun newspaper.
The editor Stuart Higgins said: "She has protested her innocence and we accept that until it is proven otherwise.
"However, I believe our readers would find it difficult to understand if the Sin continued to publish a weekly column from someone who was the subject of such serious allegations."