Liam Payne was attempting to escape from hotel room before he fell to his death: report
Liam Payne was trying to escape from his hotel room when he plummeted to his death, according to a new report.
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Liam Payne was trying to escape from his hotel room when he plummeted to his death — and the hotel staff knew that he had threatened to use the balcony as a means of busting out, according to a report.
The One Direction star, who reportedly hated being locked up in hotel rooms, appeared to be heavily intoxicated when he was dragged through the lobby by staff at the CasaSur Palermo Hotel in Buenos Aires, security footage shows.
When the hotel employees reached Payne’s room, the pop star fought back and clearly did not want to go back inside.
Moments later, a staff member called 911 and said they feared Payne might use the balcony and hurt himself, indicating the hotel was well aware that a serious accident was possible, according to TMZ.
The hotel ultimately decided to leave Payne in his room by himself, and he fell to his death soon afterward.
A source told TMZ Payne had used the balcony escape plan before, most recently in mid-September, when the singer’s bodyguard became concerned he might have been on a drug binge and forced him inside a room in a Florida rental house.
At that time, Payne had escaped from a balcony, using a garden hose to reach the ground.
It comes as Payne’s girlfriend has been left distraught by harrowing images that appear to show the singer being hauled through the reception of his Buenos Aires hotel in his tragic final moments.
The shocking CCTV stills, which emerged just days after the One Direction star’s funeral, have left his girlfriend Kate Cassidy devastated as she grapples with the apparent missed opportunity to save the singer.
“Whenever it seems it can’t get more painful for Kate, it gets even more painful,” a friend of the American influencer told The New York Post.
“He could have been saved, he could have been helped. It’s devastating — and infuriating.”
Cassidy, who had been in a relationship with Payne since 2022, left Argentina for the pair’s home in Miami two days before the star’s fatal fall.
She attended her boyfriend’s funeral last week, supported by her friend Damian Hurley, the son of actress and model Elizabeth.
According to The Mirror, she met Payne’s parents, Geoff and Karen Payne, for the first time at the service.
SHOCKING PICTURES OF LIAM PAYNE EMERGE
In the CCTV stills, apparently recorded inside the CasaSur Palermo Hotel where the star died on October 16 aged 31, a person said to be Payne is carried by three hotel staff.
According to a witness, cited by the Daily Mail which obtained the images, Payne was high on drugs and had been “convulsing” on the lobby floor. He was taken, via elevator, to his third-floor room.
The timestamp on the image shows 16:54:48 but a CCTV image taken from outside Payne’s room shows Payne and the three staffers at 16:54:37, 11 seconds before they were in the lobby, suggesting one of the timestamps is incorrect.
It takes at least 90 seconds to get from the lobby to the third floor, according to one guest cited by the Daily Mail.
Payne died on impact after falling from the third-floor balcony of his room shortly after 17:00.
An ambulance arrived at 17:11 and confirmed his death.
The images raise the question: why was an ambulance not called as Payne was so ill? And how can the difference in the timestamps on the stills be explained.
Three people have been formally charged with “abandonment of a person followed by death, supply, and facilitation of narcotics” over the tragic death.
A toxicology report completed as part of the autopsy revealed traces of pink cocaine – a combination of methamphetamine, ketamine and MDMA – in his system, as well as cocaine and benzodiazepine.
Police also found an improvised aluminium pipe used to smoke crack cocaine in his suite.
ONE DIRECTION MEMBERS REUNITE FOR FUNERAL
Payne’s former One Direction band members reunited for his funeral on Wednesday.
The group joined a select group of superstars including James Corden and close family and friends for an intimate church service in Amersham, on the outskirts of London.
Payne’s ex Cheryl Cole Tweedy, who is the mother of his seven-year-old son Bear, and his girlfriend Kate Cassidy also paid their respects.
Former X Factor judge Simon Cowell was also in attendance and at one point embraced Payne’s parents as he was consoled.
Payne’s final charitable act was listed on the star’s funeral order of service: donations for the Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity to help kids with cancer.
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