Liam Payne death: Three charged in connection with One Direction singer death in Buenos Aires hotel

Three people have been charged in connection with the death of Liam Payne, Argentinian prosecutors confirmed.

The former One Direction singer was found dead after falling from the third-floor balcony of the Casa Sur Hotel in Buenos Aires on October 16.

Payne suffered fatal injuries from the fall, and a post-mortem examination determined his cause of death as “multiple trauma” and “internal and external haemorrhage”.

Medical reports also suggested he may have fallen in a state of semi or total unconsciousness, which the prosecutor’s office said rules out the fall being a voluntary or conscious act by Payne. They concluded he did not know nor understand what he was doing at the time of his death.

A preliminary toxicology report found Payne had a cocktail of drugs including “pink cocaine” — a party drug made from a mix of methamphetamine, ketamine, MDMA and other substances — in his system at the time of his death.

Argentinian prosecutors said one person who accompanied the musician on a daily basis while he was in Buenos Aires was charged with the abandonment of a person followed by death and the supply and facilitation of narcotics, the BBC reports.

A hotel employee is accused of supplying Payne with cocaine twice while he stayed at the hotel, and a third person is also accused of supplying drugs to the singer twice during his stay on October 14.

Police found Payne’s hotel room in “total disorder” after his death, with various objects smashed and unknown substances scattered around.

The incident was being investigated as a “suspicious death” out of protocol, authorities said.

“Everything indicates that the musician was alone when the fall occurred, and was going through some kind of episode due to substance abuse,” the prosecutor’s office said at the time.

“City police who surveyed the scene found substances inside the room that at first glance - and pending confirmation from the experts — would be narcotics and alcoholic beverages, as well as several destroyed objects and furniture,” it added.

Police were investigating two workers at the Casa Sur hotel for supplying the former One Direction member with drugs in the days leading up to his tragic death.

The men — a cleaner and another member of staff — are accused of smuggling them into the singer’s suite in Dove soap boxes, recovered in the search of his room.

Authorities have carried out nine raids at a home in Buenos Aires and are continuing to investigate Payne’s broken laptop and other devices seized.

The prosecutor’s office said it has examined more than 800 hours of video footage from security cameras in the hotel and public roads. It had received dozens of testimonies from hotel staff, family members, friends and medical professionals, too.

Payne’s body was released to his family on Wednesday to be flown back to the UK.

Payne, 31, shot to fame as a member of One Direction, performing alongside Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik and Louis Tomlinson.

The band was formed on the X Factor in 2010 and, despite coming third, rocketed to global superstardom to become one of the most successful groups of all time.

One Direction went on hiatus in 2016, after which its members, including Payne, launched solo music careers.

Payne was in a relationship with actress Kate Cassidy at the time of his death.

He is survived by his seven-year-old son, Bear, who he shared with British singer Cheryl Cole, his parents, Geoff and Karen, and sisters.

His father attended a makeshift memorial site set up by grieving fans outside the Casa Sur hotel when he attended the Argentinian capital to identify his son’s body.

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