THE body of Rachel Whitear was exhumed from the churchyard at Withington on Tuesday.

The solemn drama was watched by the 21-year old's parents, Pauline and Mick Holcroft, from Ledbury, who later praised the patience and professionalism of police.

It was part of a fresh investigation into the circumstances surrounding the student's death in an Exmouth house on May 2000, from a suspected heroin overdose.

Mrs and Mrs Holcroft questioned whether the amount of heroin found in their daughter's body would have been sufficient to cause death. The hope is that the new investigation by Wiltshire Constabulary could provide the answer.

Rachel's body was taken to Hereford Hospital for a six-hour post-mortem. Afterwards, her coffin, bearing a bouquet of fresh flowers, was returned to the churchyard for re-interment.

Det Chief Supt Paul Howlett, of Wiltshire CID, said that preliminary results from the post-mortem revealed no evidence of natural disease or physical trauma. This leaves the possibility that the Rachal's death was drug-related. However, the final results will not be known for a month.