Liam Payne death investigation update after police 'receive new material'
Liam Payne police have swooped on the Buenos Aires hotel where he tragically died - and are seizing items. The ITV The X Factor star, aged 31, died in Argentina last Wednesday, following a plunge from a third-floor balcony in the capital city.
Now, cops probing the tragic fall are investigating members of staff at the hotel where Payne was staying as they try to establish who supplied him with drugs. On Thursday, Buenos Aires police officers raided the room to "seize items of interest for the investigation."
Rolando Barbano, a reporter for Telenoche in Argentina, claimed that investigators are "seizing material that was not previously taken." He added: "What is emerging from judicial sources? They have an employee under scrutiny for allegedly supplying drugs to the musician, who ended up losing his life after excessive consumption of alcohol and drugs."
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Sources from the police force told Argentinian outlet LA NACION: "Personnel from the Special Investigations Division and the Special Technological Investigations Division were dispatched this afternoon to the CasaSur Hotel in Palermo, where singer Liam Payne lost his life last week, to carry out a raid ordered by Criminal and Correctional Prosecutor No. 14, led by Andrés Madrea, to seize items of interest for the investigation."
Judicial sources added that "the purpose of the operation was to seize documentation, film records, and videos from the basement area". Payne’s family said in a statement that they were “heartbroken” by his death. “Liam will forever live in our hearts and we’ll remember him for his kind, funny and brave soul. We are supporting each other the best we can as a family and ask for privacy and space at this awful time.”
One Direction were formed on The X Factor in 2010. Host Dermot O’Leary paid tribute to Payne, describing him as “a joy” who “had time for everyone, [was] polite, grateful, and was always humble”.