3 charged when his body returns to the UK

On By Littum

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Three people have been charged in the October 16 death of 31-year-old singer Liam Payne in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

On Thursday, the local prosecutor’s office announced the investigation into the circumstances surrounding the former One Direction star’s fall from a hotel balcony, which resulted in three suspects being criminally charged “for the crimes of abandoning a person after death, supplying and facilitating drugs.”

Prosecutor Andrés Esteban Madrea, head of the National Criminal and Correctional Prosecutor’s Office of Argentina, said in the statement that one of the suspects is someone who allegedly followed Payne daily during his stay in the city of Buenos Aires. The second is a hotel employee accused of supplying the singer with cocaine during his stay, and the third person is said to have delivered drugs twice on October 14, two days before Payne’s death.

After a more than two-week investigation involving raids, cellphone analysis and toxicology tests, Payne’s body was released to his father, Geoff Payne, who had flown to Argentina after his son’s death.

Alcohol, cocaine, antidepressant found in Payne’s system; no suspicion of misconduct

The internal and external injuries sustained by Payne were the result of his fall from a third-floor balcony, and third-party involvement was ruled out, according to Madrea. Tests showed that Payne had traces of alcohol, cocaine and a prescription antidepressant. Investigators believe he was in a state of partial or full unconsciousness, and they ruled out the possibility that the fall was voluntary.

According to the statement, “Since the start of the investigation and within days, exhaustive and careful measures have been put in place to make sense of the circumstances surrounding the artist’s death.” According to the affidavit, this included several dozen testimonies, including hotel staff, family and friends, doctors, biochemists and psychiatrists.

“A detailed analysis of more than 800 hours of video footage from various security cameras at the hotel and others on public roads was also conducted,” the statement said.

In the investigation into what led to Payne’s death, “(Argentine authorities) forensically extracted the contents of (Payne’s) cell phone. From this, their calls, messages, chats in messaging applications and social networks were analyzed.”

Payne gained global fame as part of the since-disbanded pop group One Direction, which was formed on the British show “The X-Factor” in 2010. The band also consisted of Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson.

Their first single “What Makes You Beautiful” became a worldwide hit, and after releasing five albums in five years, the band went on an indefinite hiatus in 2016 following their fifth album, “Made in the AM”

All members – including Malik, who left the group in March 2015 – went on to pursue solo careers.

Payne is survived by his 7-year-old child, Bear, whom he shared with British singer Cheryl Cole; his parents, Karen and Geoff Payne; and his sisters, Ruth Gibbins and Nicola Payne.