Liam Payne's death ruled not to be suicide by authorities as three charged
Liam Payne's death is not being treated as a suicide, the Argentine authorities have announced. The One Direction singer died at the age of 31 last month after tragically falling from his hotel room balcony.
The prosecutor's office in Argentina has since revealed that three individuals have been arrested and charged in relation to Liam's death and that Liam was in a state of unconsciousness when he fell. In a statement, now translated into English, they said: "In the state he was in, he did not know what he was doing and could not understand it."
Meanwhile, new developments have emerged with the charging of three individuals in Argentina in relation to Liam's death, reports indicate. The prosecutor's office announced that among those detained for questioning is a hotel employee. If convicted, the accused face a potential prison sentence of 15 years, reports the Mirror.
The lengthy statement read: "The National Prosecutor's Office for Criminal and Correctional Matters N°14, led by prosecutor Andrés Esteban Madrea, informs, following the lifting of the secrecy of summary proceedings, that within the framework of the investigation into the death of British musician Liam James Payne, which occurred on 16 October when he fell from a balcony in a hotel in the Buenos Aires neighbourhood of Palermo, unlawful conduct was discovered, as a result of which three people were charged with the crimes of abandonment of a person followed by death, supply and facilitation of narcotics."
"From the beginning of the investigation and within a few days, exhaustive and meticulous actions and measures were carried out to clarify the circumstances surrounding the death of the artist. In this sense, several dozen statements were received at the headquarters of the Public Prosecutor's Office including the testimonies of hotel staff, family and friends and medical professionals."
"A detailed analysis of more than 800 hours of video footage from various security cameras in the hotel and others in the street was also carried out, with staff from the prosecutor's office and specialised analysts from the Superintendence of Special Investigations and the Technological Support Division of the City Police, made available from the outset by the Deputy Chief of the City Police, Jorge Guillermo Azzolina."
The statement further revealed that a "forensic extraction of contents" from Liam's phone was conducted, leading to an analysis of his calls, messages, and social media interactions. It also mentioned that the "registry of guests" and the hotel's bar/restaurant orders were scrutinised to understand who visited the musician and his eating and drinking habits.
The statement read: "Also, with the help of expert personnel from the Superintendence of the Fight against Cybercrime of the City Police, headed by Commissioner General Carlos Gabriel Rojas, several gigabytes of data were obtained and examined in a short period of time from the extraction of data from other mobile phones such as the one at the hotel reception and those of witnesses who volunteered to corroborate their statements."
If you've been affected by any of the issues in this story you can contact Samaritans in the UK and Ireland on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie.
