Argentinian police probing Liam Payne’s death are still hunting the singer’s missing designer watch, it was claimed today.
The Rolex was not discovered during raids last week on the homes of three men made suspects in an ongoing criminal investigation.
Respected Argentinian daily La Nacion says searches of the homes of two females Liam spent his last hours with before his third-floor balcony plunge at his Buenos Aires hotel, who are being treated as witnesses and have not been accused of any crimes, also turned up nothing.
It reported this weekend the CasaSur Palermo Hotel would be searched again for the expensive timepiece. The operation in the “next 72 hours” according to La Nacion is set to focus on the former One Direction singer’s deluxe suite room in case the watch, which investigators reportedly suspect may have been stolen, was missed first time round.
Liam is said to have been seen wearing the Rolex in CCTV images and other photos incorporated into the prosecution case files shortly before he died around 5pm local time on October 16.
A judicial source told La Nacion: “We know from images that have been analysed that Liam had the watch on the day of his death. He had it in one of his hands and he had it at least two to three hours before his fatal hotel fall. We looked for it in his hotel room and couldn’t find it.
“The watch was searched for in the homes of the three people being investigated on suspicion of abandoning Liam and the supply and facilitation of drugs, as well as in the homes of the two female escorts who were with him in his room the afternoon he died. The room is still sealed off by court order and no-one can enter.
“Searching for the watch in the homes of the people Liam had contact with before his death was the initial priority but now another inspection will take place to see if it remains somewhere in his room.”
Liam’s close friend Rogelio ‘Roger’ Nores protested his innocence after being named locally last week as one of the trio under investigation.
Responding to the reports which identified him as one of the suspects linked to the drug accusations and allegations he abandoned Liam before his death, businessman Mr Nores who has previously been described as the singer’s manager, said in a statement: “I never abandoned Liam, I went to his hotel three times that day and left 40 minutes before this happened.
“There were over 15 people at the hotel lobby chatting and joking with him when I left. I could have never imagined something like this would happen. I’ve given my statement to the prosecutor on October 17 as a witness and I haven't spoken to any police officer or prosecutor ever since. I wasn't Liam's manager. He was just my very dear friend."
He added: “I’m really heart-broken with this tragedy, and I've been missing my friend every day.”
Prosecutors said in their lengthy statement released last Thursday three men they did not identify by name were now being formally investigated on suspicion of abandoning a person who subsequently died and supplying and facilitating drugs.
The statement described one as the person who “routinely accompanied Liam during his stay in Buenos Aires.” Tests have shown the 31-year-old binged on alcohol and cocaine before he died and also had traces of an antidepressant in his system.
Prosecutors also made it clear the idea Liam had committed suicide had been ruled out and said he was in a state of “semi or total unconsciousness” as he fell to his death when he “didn’t know what he was doing.”
They said of the hotel worker and the “drug dealer”: “The second suspect is a hotel employee who must respond for two proven supplies of cocaine to Liam Payne during the time he was in the hotel. The third is also a drug dealer who is being investigated on suspicion of another two clearly proven supplies of cocaine at two different times on October 14.”
The singer’s dad Geoff flew to Argentina two days after his son died and returned to the UK with his body last Thursday to help finalise funeral arrangements following a second visit to the makeshift shrine set up by fans outside Liam's hotel.
The funeral is expected to take place in Liam’s home town of Wolverhampton.
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