Liam Payne suspect breaks silence on 'drug dealer' claims and star's 'final days'

One of the suspects being investigated over Liam Payne’s death has broken his silence. (Image: Getty)

One of the three suspects being investigated over Liam Payne’s death has broken his silence to insist he did nothing wrong and make astonishing claims about his relationship with the singer.

Argentinian waiter Braian Nahuel Paiz, who has been identified as the singer’s “dealer” in an ongoing prosecution probe, admitted to two hotel meetings with the 31-year-old before his death on October 16 and confessed to taking drugs with him.

But he insisted he never supplied Liam with narcotics or accepted any money from him.

The 24-year-old said he spent the night with the former One Direction singer at the CasaSur Palermo Hotel in Buenos Aires.

Braian, who appeared on Argentinian TV on Saturday, claimed that the arranged meeting followed an earlier get-together preceded by an initial encounter at the restaurant in the upmarket neighbourhood of Puerto Madero where he worked.

Waiter Braian Nahuel Paiz appeared on Argentinian TV. (Image: Telefa Noticias)

He claimed he and Liam exchanged contact details as the singer dined with his girlfriend Kate Cassidy and two other people.

He spoke in an on-camera interview to journalist Guillermo Panizza, who had to clarify to a programme host in the studio what Braian meant to say at times when the young man’s nerves seemed to get the better of him.

He said Liam used a "secret" Instagram to communicate with himand their first meeting is said to have occurred on October 2 at another hotel the singer was staying at ahead of his move to CasaSur Palermo.

Braian said in a first segment of the extraordinary interview, admitting his former home has been searched but claiming he is yet to be quizzed by investigators: “I never supplied Liam with drugs. Liam’s first contact with me was at my place of work.

“We swapped details and saw each other later that night. It was all normal. He came down from his hotel room to fetch me because I had got lost.”

Liam Payne died last month aged 31. (Image: Getty)

He added: “We got together there and he showed me some of the music he was going to bring out. I’ve heard people saying he was taking drugs but the truth is that when he got to the restaurant where I was working he was already under the effects of drugs and he didn’t actually eat anything.

“There was a moment when he approached me and asked me for my contact details. I gave him an Instagram and afterwards he sent me messages because he wanted to take drugs although he had already consumed narcotics.

“It was October 2. While I was in his room we had some whiskey shots.”

He continued, after the TV programme showed viewers a photo of him and Liam together said to have been taken during their first hotel meeting where the singer was wearing a white top and baseball cap: “Our second hotel meeting was on the night of Sunday October 13.

Liam Payne had been on holiday with girlfriend Kate Cassidy before his death. (Image: Getty)

“We spent the night together, we consumed drugs...He wasn’t aggressive at all, he behaved really well with me, he was really sweet. He asked me if I was okay.

“I’ve got all the messages where we arranged that second meeting. I haven’t erased anything.”

Alleging in a rambling account of the night’s events that when he left Liam “appeared frightened” and instead of putting his room card in the key slot, stuffed a handful of papers into it to “keep the door open, he claimed: “I didn’t really understand what was going on but at the same time I realised something strange was happening.”

Braian added in a third and final segment of his TV interview: “We took drugs together but I never took drugs to him or accepted any money.

Liam Payne rose to fame with One Direction. (Image: Getty)

“I have messages where he’s offering me money because he was apparently used to offering money for everything but I never accepted anything.

“When I left he wanted to give me some clothes so that I had a memory of being with him but I left it behind the TV because I didn’t want to take it.

“I told Liam a best friend of mine wanted to meet him because he was a fan. He said ‘yes’ and after I went he appeared outside the place where I lived and managed to get halfway into the building and wanted us to go back to his hotel but I told him I couldn’t because I had to go to work.

“I was due to start at 11.30am but I had to arrive beforehand. That was the last time I saw him. He got into his taxi and left.”

Saying he had no idea who the other two suspects under official investigation are, Braian added: “When I saw the photos of the inside of Liam’s hotel room nothing made any sense to me. The Dove soap packet was there when I was in the hotel but I couldn’t understand what it was for or the candles or the glass of water.”

Over the weekend it emerged Argentinian police probing Liam’s death are still hunting the singer’s missing Rolex watch. Braian was not asked during his interview about the expensive watch.

The restaurant worker is said to have been sacked from his job after his implication in the ongoing investigation.