Three charged in connection with One Direction singer Liam Payne’s death

Three people have been charged in relation to One Direction singer Liam Payne's death after he fall from his Buenos Aires hotel balcony last month, Argentine authorities said on Thursday.

The 31-year-old's death shocked the world and raised questions about how he had fallen.

A 911 call from a hotel employee the day Payne died warned he had been acting aggressively and could have been under the influence of drugs and alcohol.

An autopsy revealed the former boy band member had traces of alcohol, cocaine and a prescription antidepressant in his system when he died, a prosecutor's office said on Thursday.

Payne's body was handed over to his father, Geoff, at the weekend and flown back to his native England. Over the past few weeks, Geoff had been seen alongside longtime One Direction bodyguard Paul Higgins at the CasaSur Hotel where his son died.

Those charged in Payne's death include a suspected drug dealer, a hotel employee who may have provided Payne with the cocaine and a person who was close to the singer, the authorities said.

All are accused of playing a role in giving Payne the drugs, with the hotel employee accused of giving Payne cocaine at least twice during his stay and the alleged drug dealer believed to have provided it twice more two days before his death.

The person who was visiting with Payne is also charged with “abandonment of a person followed by death”, authorities said.

None of those charged were named, but they will be notified and are prohibited from leaving the country, according to the statement.

The investigation into the circumstances of Payne's death will continue, prosecutors said, adding they were trying to unlock the singer's broken laptop.

Witnesses had told local media they saw Payne smashing his laptop in the hotel lobby.

Reuters