Three charged over Liam Payne death face 'considerable' prison sentence

Three people charged with Liam Payne's death face a considerable prison term if found guilty, it has emerged. The prosecutors revealed in a lengthy statement that, if found guilty, the crimes were punishable by a prison sentence of up to 15 years on conviction.

Three people have been charged in connection with the death of ITV The X Factor star Payne in Argentina, the public prosecutor's office in the country has said. The 31-year-old pop star died after he fell from a third-floor balcony at the Casa Sur Hotel in Buenos Aires on 16 October.

The prosecutor ordered the arrest of the three and charged one with "abandonment of a person followed by death" and supplying drugs. The suspect "accompanied the artist on a daily basis" during his stay in the Argentinian capital, according to a statement from the office of prosecutor Andres Esteban Madrea.

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Prosecutors said: "From the beginning of the investigation and within a few days, exhaustive and meticulous actions and measures were carried out to clarify the circumstances surrounding the death of the artist. In this sense, several dozen statements were received at the headquarters of the Public Prosecutor's Office including the testimonies of hotel staff, family and friends and medical professionals."

The statement went on: “The results of the toxicological studies - already communicated to his family - revealed that, in the moments prior to his death and during at least his last 72 hours, Payne only had traces in his body of a poly-consumption of alcohol, cocaine and a prescribed anti-depressant. This conclusion was reached after full toxicological tests on urine, blood and vitreous humour, which were carried out in a very short time.

“The morticians of the Forensic Medical Corps (CMF) who carried out the autopsy were the director of the Judicial Morgue, Santiago Maffia Bizzozero, and the forensic doctor Roberto Víctor Cohen, who concluded that Payne's death was caused by ‘polytraumatisms’ and ‘internal and external haemorrhage’, as a result of the fall the musician suffered from the balcony of the third floor room of the hotel in the Palermo neighbourhood where he was staying."