PARIS, FRANCE – MARCH 01: Liam Payne is seen on March 01, 2024 in Paris, France. (Photo by Marc Piasecki/GC Images)
Three people have been charged in relation to One Direction singer Liam Payne’s death, an Argentine prosecutor’s office said on Thursday, after the superstar fell from his hotel balcony last month.
Payne had traces of alcohol, cocaine and a prescription antidepressant in his system when he died, authorities said in a statement. Those charged are someone who was close to Payne, a hotel employee and a suspected drug dealer, prosecutors added.
The public prosecutor’s office in Argentina said three people had been charged with “abandonment of a person followed by death” and supply and facilitation of narcotics in connection with the death of Liam Payne.
According to a translation of the statement, prosecutors said “exhaustive and meticulous measures were taken to clarify the circumstances” around the former One Direction singer’s death.
The statement said: “Based on the evidence gathered and after analysing the various bodies of proceedings and numerous documentary annexes and the background of the case, prosecutor Andres Esteban Madrea formally charged three people, requesting their questioning and arrest in a 180-page ruling presented last Friday to Judge Bruniard.”
Prosecutors said one of the accused was accompanying the singer on a daily basis in Argentina, while another was an employee at the hotel where Payne was staying. The third person allegedly supplied drugs.
The statement said officials in Argentina had carried out a forensic analysis of Payne’s phone, including his call and message history, and also reviewed 800 hours of video footage from security cameras at the hotel and on nearby roads.
Nine raids have also been ordered on properties in Buenos Aires and the investigation continues with some of Payne’s devices still being analysed.
