Family prepare to bring Stephen Gately's body home

The family of Stephen Gately are preparing to fly his body home to Dublin where his funeral is to be held on Saturday.

The singer's remains are expected to be flown back from Majorca on Friday after a post-mortem found he died from natural causes.

X Factor judge and Boyzone's former manager, Louis Walsh, told how Gately's bandmates returned to Ireland from Majorca to be with the singer's grieving family.

Walsh paid tribute to Gately, saying: "I've lost my very, very best friend. Stephen was never happier when I met him last Monday. I never saw him in better health or in better form. We had a laugh as usual, things were going so well - I still can't believe he's gone. We're all in shock. Nobody can believe it - Boyzone, me, nobody."

Autopsy reports confirmed yesterday that the Boyzone star died of natural causes in his apartment in Port Andratx, Majorca, after a night out.

The Irish singer suffered an acute pulmonary oedema - or sudden build-up of fluid in the lungs - thought to have been caused by a heart attack.

Experts have said evidence pointed towards Sudden Adult Death Syndrome (SADS) - resulting from an undiagnosed heart condition.

The syndrome, which often goes undetected until a massive heart attack, claims the lives of 12 people aged under 35 each week in the UK.

Gately was found dead on Saturday on the sofa in his apartment after a night out. In the hours before he died, he had been in the company of Mr Cowles and a Bulgarian man Georgi Dochev, who they met in the gay nightclub, the Black Cat.

Post-mortem officials yesterday said that alcohol did not cause Gately's death and police have stated there is nothing to suggest any suspicious circumstances.