Liam Payne: Three charged in connection with singer’s death

Three people have been charged in connection with the death of One Direction star Liam Payne, Argentinian authorities have said.

The singer died on 16 October after falling from a third-floor balcony of a hotel in Buenos Aires.

Argentinian prosecutors said one person who accompanied the artist has been charged with the abandonment of a person followed by death and the supply and facilitation of drugs.

A hotel employee and a third person have also been charged with supplying drugs. None of those arrested have been named.

Payne, 31, was one of the most recognisable names in pop after appearing on The X Factor and rising to fame with the boyband One Direction in the 2010s.

Argentinian authorities have been investigating Payne’s finals days at the CasaSur hotel.

The public prosecutor’s office said toxicology tests revealed traces of alcohol, cocaine and a prescription antidepressant in his body.

A post-mortem examination determined his cause of death as “multiple trauma” and “internal and external haemorrhage” as a result of the fall from the hotel balcony.

According to the prosecutor’s office, medical reports also suggested Payne may have fallen in a state of semi or total unconsciousness.

The prosecutor’s office say this rules out the possibility of a conscious or voluntary act by Payne, and they conclude he did not know what he doing nor did he understand it.

In addition authorities have carried out nine raids at home in the Buenos Aires.

They are also continuing to investigate Payne’s broken laptop and other devices seized.

The singer’s body was released to his family on Wednesday to be flown back to the UK.