Prosecutors are considering bringing charges against staff at the Argentinian hotel where Liam Payne died in a three-storey balcony plunge, it was claimed last night.
The One Direction star was laid to rest last week at a funeral attended by his famous friends and family after his tragic death in October when he fell from the third floor of his hotel suite in Argentina, aged 31.
An investigation into the star's death is still ongoing after three people were arrested earlier this month. It has now been reported that Liam had asked friend Rogelio Nores for four bottles of whisky the night before his October 16 death and another five early the following morning.
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America TV)Liam then allegedly messaged Nores to ask him for “six grams”, according to new documents obtained by TMZ. Nores is one of three men who has been placed under formal investigation as part of an ongoing criminal probe being led by Buenos Aires-based prosecutors.
Overnight reports in Argentina said lead prosecutor Andres Esteban Madrea is still considering whether to expand the number of suspects. Argentinian news website Infobae, citing prosecution sources, described it as a “possibility”, adding: “To decide this prosecutors have to finish analysing the hotel front desk computer as well as the employees’ phones.”
The same sources also insisted Liam’s third-floor door was left ajar when he was helped back to his room rather than being closed, saying staff heard him breaking things because they stayed outside.
The other two men who have been placed under official investigation, but not yet formally charged, have been named as waiter Braian Nahuel Paiz, 24, and another man identified locally as the hotel worker suspected of delivering drugs to Liam before he died in a Dove soap box.
TMZ published CCTV footage just under a fortnight ago, which is said to show the singer stepping out of a basement lift at the CasaSur Palermo Hotel three hours before he died and asking him for “seven grams” of a drug believed to be cocaine. Pereyra has yet to speak publicly to address the claims.
Paiz, who has been identified as Liam’s alleged ‘dealer’ spoke on Argentinian TV earlier this month to admit to two hotel meetings with the Brit, and confess to taking drugs with him, but insisted he never supplied Liam with narcotics or accepted any money from him.
He told journalist Guillermo Panizza on Telefe Noticias of their second hotel rendezvous: “I consumed marijuana and Liam consumed cocaine, the cocaine that’s in all the photos that came out after his death. He was separating it and cleaning it before smoking it. I didn’t say anything to him about it because he seemed normal to me. 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. We took drugs together but I never took drugs to him or accepted any money.
“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. It was some grey jogging bottoms and a T-shirt.”
Liam’s close friend Rogelio ‘Roger’ Nores had previously protested his innocence after being named locally 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 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 a lengthy statement released on November 7 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 alleged “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.”
Liam’s dad Geoff flew to Argentina two days after his son died and returned to the UK on November 7 with his body to help finalise funeral arrangements following a second visit to the makeshift shrine set up by fans outside the singer’s hotel.
His former bandmates Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan and Zayn Malik were among mourners at his funeral last week in Amersham, Bucks.
Simon Cowell, James Corden and Liam’s former partner Cheryl, mum to their seven-year-old son Bear, also joined his family and other friends at the private ceremony.
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