Liam Payne‘s father learned his son had died in a phone call from a friend of the singer, it has emerged.
The tragic One Direction star plunged to his death from a third-floor balcony of a hotel following a drink and drugs binge.
Five people have seen been charged with his death and are facing trial later this year and among them is businessman Roger Nores, a friend of Liam’s and who made the heartbreaking call to his father.
Details of the conversation emerged after Mr Payne’s statement was leaked to respected Argentinean news website Infobae.
In it he said his son was ‘only due to stay in Argentina for five days’ and that he only learned of Liam’s death in a ‘phone call from Nores’.
Mr Payne said: ‘Liam didn’t have his own cell phone and it was his decision.
‘Over the last few years he changed his cell phone many times. He decided to be offline as a protection method to avoid social media and also to stay away from the possibility of relapsing into his addictions.
‘That decision was his personal one and he had the full support of the family group. Personally, I agreed that it was really a way for him to take care of himself.’
Liam (pictured here in October 2019) plunged to his death from a third-floor balcony of a hotel following a drink and drugs binge
His father, Geoff, (pictured at the CasaSur hotel in Buenos Aires where his son died looking at the tributes and flowers left for Liam)
Roger Nores, Payne’s ‘friend and manager’, broke the heartbreaking news to Geoff in a phone call. He has since been charged with manslaughter over the singer’s death
However prosecutors say he did have a phone and he used it to contact two sex workers who visited him at the hotel where he was staying.
Describing how he learned of the tragedy Mr Payne said:’I learned of Liam’s death from Roger. I was at home with my wife. He called me at 5:23 p.m., Buenos Aires time, but I didn’t see the call until about an hour later.
‘In the meantime, he called me once more and sent me a message to call him as soon as possible. When I saw all those calls at 6.18pm here, I called him back.’
Mr Payne asked him what had happened and Nores replied:’An accident happened. He’s dead ! He’s dead!’
According to the statement Nores then told Mr Payne: ‘You have to come to Argentina.’
He took the next available flight and was later pictured outside the hotel and visiting a shrine set up by devastated fans in Liam’s memory.
Mr Payne made his statement to prosecutors a week after his son died at the Casa Sur hotel in the trendy Palermo district of Buenos Aires on October 16.
Meanwhile two hotel workers charged over Liam’s Payne have spoken exclusively to MailOnline for the first time and protested their innocence.
Liam Payne pictured next to a lift in the Casa Sur Hotel lobby
A drone view shows the balcony on the CasaSur Hotel from where Payne fell to his death. Hotel staff are accused of manslaughter for not keeping him safe before he fell from the balcony on October 16
Liam Payne in the CasaSur Hotel lobby in Buenos Aires just minutes before his death
Chief receptionist Esteban Grassi and hotel boss Gilda Martin were on duty the day Liam was killed after falling from the balcony.
They were charged in December – along with Nores – of being ‘negligent’ in regard to the singer’s death in the Argentine capital Buenos Aires.
If convicted all three could be jailed for between one to five years, and it come just a day after an inquest in the Uk ruled he died from ‘polytrauma’.
A source close to the defence of Grassi and Martin told MailOnline:’They both continue to profess their innocence, and they have appealed against the charges.
‘All of the lawyers of the accused, including us have appealed these charges and the plaintiff (Liam family) has also appealed.’
It is not clear on what grounds Liam’s representatives, thought to be his family, have appealed.
The source explained an appeal hearing could take as early as next week although this is not certain as it is the summer judicial recess in Argentina.
They went on to say: ‘There is still a long way to go before this case comes to trial, although it will probably happen later this year.
Payne continued to meet with fans in Argentina in the days leading up to his death
Photo released by the Buenos Aires Police showing a TV with a broken screen and a half-full glass of champagne at the hotel room
Geoff Payne, the father of former One Direction singer Liam Payne, visits a memorial outside the CasaSur Hotel – October, 2024
Forensic investigators exit the hotel where the former One Direction singer was found dead after falling from a balcony in Buenos Aires
‘The appeal from those accused is the same, the resolution of the investigating judge who charged the defendants leave much to be desired.
‘My clients are both very distressed, they were not involved whatsoever and they had no idea of Liam Payne’s state of health, they do not know how much drugs he consumed.
‘Esteban has no idea when the drugs were taken or how they arrived, so how can he be charged with negligence?
‘The same goes for Gilda, the decision to charge them both is bizarre.’
The source added:’ The hotel where they work has also expressed totally solidarity with them and they both continue to be employed.’
According to a statement from the prosecutor’s office martin and Grassi noticed Liam’s distressed state in the hotel lobby and along with Nores they should have ‘kept him away from his hotel room’.
A disturbing image from hotel CCTV showed Liam clearly in distress being dragged back to his room from where minutes later he tragically plummeted to his death.
Two others odd job man Ezequiel David Pereyra, 21, and waiter Braian Paiz, 24, were arrested and placed in custody earlier this month while the other three are on bail.
Judge Laura Bruniard ordered their detention because drug dealing carries a sentence of between four and 15 years in jail and they were deemed a ‘flight risk’.
Nores is a US national but has been ordered to surrender his passport and cannot leave Argentina after being charged with ‘abandoning (Liam) to his luck knowing that he was incapable of fending for himself and knowing that he suffered from multiple addictions’.
Lawyers for Liam’s family in Buenos Aires declined to comment.