Liam Payne’s heartbroken father has been warned he could have to wait ten days for permission to take his son’s body home.
Geoff Payne arrived in Buenos Aires last week to formally identify his son and bring him home after the 31-year-old former One Direction star fell to his death from a hotel balcony.
The 66-year-old motor mechanic visited the morgue where his son is being held and spoke with the Argentine Ministry of Justice officials who are investigating the circumstances around the tragedy.
He also visited the boutique CasaSur Palermo Hotel where his son died and thanked fans for their tributes and vigil.
A post-mortem found that the singer died from multiple injuries consistent with falling 45ft from the balcony of his suite in Palermo district of the city.
But prosecutors are treating his death as ‘inconclusive’ while they await the results of toxicological examinations.
Liam Payne’s heartbroken father, Geoff Payne (pictured with his son’s fans last week), has been warned he could have to wait ten days for permission to take his son’s body home
Liam Payne is pictured with his girlfriend Kate Cassidy before his untimely death last Wednesday
The singer died suddenly aged 31 after falling from the third floor of the CasaSur hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina
And last night, Prosecutor Andrés Esteban Madrea, the lead investigator, warned Mr Payne it could be ten days before the examination results come back from the laboratory and that he would not be able to take his son’s body home before.
‘Geoff has been told it might take ten days for the tests to be completed and for him to take Liam home,’ a family friend revealed.
‘He is finding the whole situation really tough. Geoff totally heart-broken at losing his son.
‘But he has vowed to do right by Liam and will not go home without him.
‘It is the uncertainty of not knowing when this ordeal will be over is what he is finding very difficult to deal with.
‘The Argentine officials say they expect the results to take ten days, but it might be a lot less time than that.’
Last night Mr Payne met with the prosecutor who is leading the investigation into his son’s death, the head of the National Criminal and Correctional Prosecutor’s Office No. 14, Andrés Esteban Madrea.
Mr Madrea gave Mr Payne an update on the progress of the case and discussed whether the details of the cases should be kept private.
Liam Payne is pictured after The X Factor final in 2010 with his parents Geoff and Karen
Fans of Liam Payne cry during a memorial gathering at Santa Ana Square in Madrid on the weekend
Liam Payne ‘s heartbroken sister Ruth shared this previously unseen picture of her and her brother following his death last week
Liam Payne is pictured with his mother, father and two sisters. The singer’s family paid tribute to the 31-year-old last week, saying they were ‘heartbroken’ following his death
The singer had two older sisters, Nicola and Ruth, making him the youngest of three siblings. Mr Payne is pictured with Ruth on her wedding day in 2022
Liam Payne is pictured with his family members in happier times before the tragedy
Geoff Payne said he wanted the case to be transparent and open.
He added that he was willing to ‘testify about everything he knows about his son’s life that could help the investigation’.
The prosecutor told Mr Payne the ‘toxicological and histopathological’ examinations of his son’s remains had not yet been completed, and that he could not release the body until he had the results.
Mr Madrea added that forensic examinations were also being carried out on ‘mobile phones, computers, photographs and videos from security cameras’ found at the hotel.
He told Mr Payne that hotel staff were being questioned amid claims that his son, who had ditched his abuse of drugs and alcohol, had been preyed on by drug dealers at the boutique venue.
Mr Madrea also offered Mr Payne police protection due to the high-profile nature of his son’s death.
In a statement Argentina’s Ministry of Justice said: ‘The head of the National Prosecutor’s Office in Criminal and Correctional Matters No. 14, Andrés Esteban Madrea, met yesterday with Geoff Payne, the father of British musician Liam James Payne, who was found dead last Wednesday in a hotel in the Palermo neighbourhood of Buenos Aires, to inform him in person about the progress of the investigation.
Flowers and tributes for One Direction’s Liam Payne are left on a stone plinth at Cathedral Gardens on October 21
One heartwarming message said ‘Payno forever 31’, while others laid out candles in the shape of a heart
Photos of Mr Payne with his One Direction bandmates were left in tribute in Manchester
‘The representative of the Public Prosecutor’s Office informed the father that toxicological and histopathological studies complementary to the autopsy have not yet been completed, and their results are necessary to decide on the release of the body.
‘Meanwhile, as part of the inquiry, examinations are being conducted on cell phones, computers, photographs, and security camera videos, which require a longer analysis time.
‘Additionally, numerous witness statements have been taken to reconstruct the victim’s last hours and the scene of the events, a process that is still ongoing involving hotel staff, acquaintances, technical and medical professionals, and others connected to the victim through his work.
‘Furthermore, the consular representation of the United Kingdom was informed about the legal proceedings relating to the case since the victim is a British citizen, and proper note was taken of their offer of collaboration.
‘To respect the memory of the victim, all developments arising from the investigation will first be communicated to the family, and given the high public exposure of the musician, communication will be limited to the institutional channels of the Public Prosecutor’s Office.’
Prosecutor Andreas Esteban Madrea has brought some of Argentina’s most high-profile cases to court.
Mr Madrea secured a 12-year conviction against a priest who had raped two nuns, he brought corruption town hall officials who allowed an unsafe nightclub that collapsed killing two and injuring 50 to stay open to court, and he secured a $2 million fine against former Boca Juniors football star Alberto Marcico for fraud and breach of contracts.
Officials also confirmed yesterday that as well as the ongoing forensic tests, investigators were still analysing ‘mobile phones, computers, photographs and CCTV footage’, saying: ‘They will require a longer period of analysis.’
Last week prosecutors confirmed they had interviewed three hotel workers and two women who had spent time with the One Direction star before he died.
They said today the work to piece together the singer’s last hours was continuing with ‘hotel workers, acquaintances, technical and medical professionals and other people linked to him through his work.’
Mr Payne is known to have spent time with Argentinian businessman Rogelio Nores, who is understood to have given a statement to investigators.
The singer’s family have been reassured they will be the first to receive any new information that comes out, following the leaking of pictures from Liam’s hotel room last week that were published in Argentinian media and showed a white powder on a desk which is still being analysed.
Prosecutors have categorised the death as ‘inconclusive’ but said there is no evidence at this stage pointing to any third-party involvement and have said he may have plunged from his balcony in a ‘in a state of semi or total unconsciousness’ during a substance-induced psychotic episode.
The initial autopsy, performed last Wednesday night, showed Mr Payne had died of multiple trauma injuries which had caused ‘internal and external haemorrhaging.’
A hotel manager phoned 911, the UK equivalent of 999, last Wednesday afternoon just before the singer died to say: ‘We have a guest who’s off his head on drugs and is destroying everything in his room. We need someone to come.’
In a second call he added: ‘we need you to send someone urgently because, well, I don’t know if the guest’s life is in danger. They must be in a room that has a balcony. And well, we’re a little bit worried he’ll do something, that he’ll put his life at risk.’
Police trying to find out who supplied Mr Payne with the drugs he is suspected of taking before his death are said to have looked into whether his dealer was a hotel worker.
Pals of the singer have claimed he was clean just days before the tragedy.
Sources close to the singer said he entered Argentina on September 30 and was forced to extend his stay there due to issues renewing his expiring American visa.
He arrived with his girlfriend Kate Cassidy but she left Buenos Aires to return to the States shortly before the tragedy.
