A look at Paul Cattermole's relationship with S Club's Hannah Spearritt as his cause of death is revealed

Paul Cattermole’s cause of death has been revealed following his sudden and tragic passing last month at the age of 46.

The singer who rose to prominence as part of S Club 7 alongside the likes of Rachel Stevens, Jon Lee and Hannah Spearritt to name a few, was found dead in his Dorset flat just weeks after the band announced a 25 year reunion tour.

The investigation into Paul’s death, which found that the singer died of natural causes, concluded as S Club 7 rebranded their tour to ‘S Club’ and became a five-piece when Hannah Spearritt dropped out of the line-up.

Despite Paul’s turbulent history with the band including his early departure from the group in 2002 for ‘creative differences’, he enjoyed a long-term relationship with Hannah from 2001 to 2006 and a brief rekindling of romance in 2015 for three months.

Upon news of Paul’s death, Hannah paid tribute to her ‘first love’ stating: “I still even now have moments that you don’t believe it’s [real]...He was my first love, I had a boyfriend previous to Paul but I’d say he was my first true love.”

The couple knew one another way before the band formed in the early 2000s as they first met as child performers in London’s National Youth Music Theatre before living together in a flat as friends.

Hannah described him in the early stages of their friendship as ‘larger than life’ but sparks of romance did not ignite until S Club 7 headed across the pond to Los Angeles to film their sitcom Miami 7.

The Evening Standard reported that Hannah felt ‘jealous’ of Paul flirting with everyone and after a ‘drunken snog’, the pair started up a relationship that was kept under the radar for six months from their bandmates before they made it public and even enjoyed an on-screen kiss in 2001.

It must be noted however that in an unearthed interview, Paul suggested that their relationship began after it was ‘written into their contracts’ of Miami 7, which was watched by 90 million people.

He said that it ‘did not happen organically’ but ‘[he] thought she was great’ and therefore the couple remained together even through Paul’s S Club departure in 2002.

Despite the difference in opinions as to how they started their relationship, Paul and Hannah dated for five years until 2006 before giving it another shot nearly a decade later when the pop band reunited for the first time.

Their second shot only lasted three and a half months but the couple were reportedly on good terms heading into S Club’s 25th anniversary tour and before Paul’s death.