Liam Payne's dad 'missed out' on heartbreaking firsts with son before tragic death

Liam Payne's dad Geoff missed out on a number of firsts with his son in the years before his death, it is reported. Former One Direction member Liam, 31, fell to his death from the third floor balcony of a hotel in Argentina on October 16.

He was laid to rest earlier this month after Geoff travelled to South America to bring his son's body home. He remained strong for this family, and an eye-witness said 'determined' Geoff refused to leave the hotel, clinging to the memory of his son.

Once home at the tragic funeral last Wednesday at St. Mary's Church in Amersham, Liam's devoted dad was there again - fulfilling the unbreakable promise he made to his family to remain by their boy's side as Liam's coffin was carried into the church.

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Following the funeral, a friend of the family told Mail Online: "Geoff is a lovely, lovely man. He struggled with Liam becoming famous. It was Simon who gave Liam so much, but also the one who took him away as such a young man, so it must have been difficult for Geoff."

Liam shot to fame on The X Factor, aged 16, and signed to Simon's music label SyCo. Geoff said that he mourned missing "rites of passage" with his teenage son, like buying him his first beer, The Mirror reports.

During 1D's 2013 film, This Is Us, he said: "I don't think we get to see him enough. There's a lot said about the mum's spirit and feeling. But dads do feel it as well, especially at 17, you'd like to have that son around you. All I had to offer him was to take him drinking and playing snooker.

"I didn't really have an awful lot to offer him, but that's part of your establishment as a young man, and that time went. I've missed it. I've missed it. He's the only fella in the family, he's gone."

Following Liam's death, his family released an emotional statement: "We are heartbroken. 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."