Scotland Yard said officers were called to an address in St Luke's Mews, Notting Hill, west London, on Sunday by an ambulance crew.

"The body was found in a bedroom and the cause of death will not be known until the post mortem," said a spokesman.

Miss Yates' solicitor, Anthony Burton, has confirmed her death.

Her former husband and the father of three of her daughters, Bob Geldof, said in a statement: "We are all so sad. The loss for all the children is insupportable."

Speaking of the family's "pain" at Paula's death, the statement added: "It doesn't require much imagination to understand the pain. Please do nothing to add to that.

Bob Geldof has called for the family to be left alone in their grief

"Leave them [the children] with their loss and Paula with her dignity.

"Thanks, we appreciate it. Bob."

Paula's mother, Heller Thornton-Bosment, speaking from her home in southern France, said she was "devastated" after learning of her daughter's death.

"This has come as a terrible shock to everyone," she said. "I am waiting for calls from London to find out exactly what has happened."

A forensic medical examiner at the scene confirmed that Miss Yates was dead at 1130BST.

Police have cordoned off the exclusive street where the body was found.

Pop personality

The 40-year-old first made her name presenting Channel 4 pop music show The Tube in 1982. More recently, she was a co-presenter on The Big Breakfast on the same channel.

After her marriage to Boomtown Rats singer-turned-businessman Bob Geldof ended, she became involved with INXS singer Michael Hutchence.

Miss Yates remained Hutchence's partner from 1994 until he was found hanged in a hotel room in Sydney in 1997.

Paula Yates with daughter Tiger Lily at Michael Hutchence's funeral

She always contended that he did not commit suicide, but that he died by accident playing a sex game.

Last year she tried to challenge an Australian coroner's finding that Hutchence had committed suicide.

In February this year it was announced she was signing up to be an agony aunt for Aura magazine under former Sunday Express editor Eve Pollard.

"Paula was always so full of life," Eve Pollard told BBC News 24. "She had had a tragic time but was coming out of it. She adored her children and they will find it hardest of all to recover from this."

In 1998, Ms Yates learned that Opportunity Knocks presenter Hughie Green was her biological father, not the broadcaster, Jess Yates, who had brought her up.

She was recently treated for depression at the Priory clinic in Roehampton, south west London.

She had three children with Bob Geldof - Fifi Trixibelle, 17, Peaches Honeyblossom, 10, and Pixie, seven.

Miss Yates also leaves a four-year-old daughter, Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily, by Michael Hutchence.

Her former solicitor, Mark Stephens, told BBC News 24: "Whatever the circumstances, which are still unclear, our hearts have to go out to the children."