Liam Payne’s friend says One Direction singer was “close to death” multiple times before fatal fall

The allegations come in new court documents filed as part of the investigation into Payne’s death in October

Liam Payne. CREDIT: Stephane Cardinale – Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images

A friend of Liam Payne has said his drug use brought him “close to death” multiple times before his fatal fall in October.

The soloist and former One Direction star died on October 16, after he fell from a third-floor balcony at the CasaSur Palermo Hotel. The Argentinian prosecutor’s office later shared that the cause of death was due to multiple traumas and internal and external bleeding.

Later that month, preliminary toxicology tests revealed the musician had pink cocaine and several other substances in his system at the time of his fatal balcony fall, and fans and famous faces subsequently came forward to campaign for better safeguarding of those in the public eye.

Payne’s friend, Roger Nores, made the new allegations in a 91-page document filed to support his defence to the charge of abandonment followed by death. This accuses him of leaving Payne with the knowledge that he was unable to care for himself and/or that he wasn’t in his right mind. If convicted, he could face five to 15 years in prison.

Last week, a judge called for an “indagatoria”, which requires suspects to be questioned as part of an ongoing investigation. Nores’ response includes his version of events as well as screenshots of conversations with people close to Payne.
Liam Payne. CREDIT: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for MTV & DIRECTV NOW
In the documents filed on Wednesday (December 18), Nores maintained that he was not Payne’s doctor, lawyer, or representative, and claimed that when he left Payne at the hotel the day he died, he was “greeting fans” and seemed to be fine.

“I was a friend who loved him very much, who helped him selflessly in everything I could, who spent my own money to help him, and even then it was not enough,” Nores wrote, as per Rolling Stone. “I do not consider that I deserve the accusation that is being levelled at me.”

Nores claimed that, in the past two years, Payne’s drug abuse led to multiple hospitalisations and rehab centre visits in Europe and the United States, as well as two resuscitations. The filing also alleged that Payne consumed heroin and that his drug use nearly killed him on several occasions.

The filing outlines one alleged incident in September 2023, when Nores claimed Payne “suffered from a severe intoxication that left him close to death”, leading to him being hospitalised for three days in Milan. He claims that Payne visited a rehab centre afterwards, and was forced to cancel a Latin American tour. Publicly, Payne cancelled the tour due to a “bad kidney infection”.

“Because of his addictions, Payne continued to attend rehab centres of his own free will in an attempt to overcome them,” Nores alleged. “Unfortunately, these treatments were not successful and his addiction worsened as he began to use harder drugs, such as heroin.”
Liam Payne. CREDIT: Jo Hale/Redferns/Getty Images
Nores alleged that Payne was hospitalised a further two times in London in late 2023, including one incident when he was taken to hospital in an ambulance due to “high levels of intoxication”. Nores claimed Payne had to be resuscitated, writing: “Professionals had to resort to resuscitation manoeuvres to save his life, without his family or friends being able to do anything to avoid these situations or help him.”

He went on to claim that Payne’s drug abuse worsened at the start of 2024, and that the late singer entered a rehabilitation facility in Spain in March, which he allegedly left prior to completing treatment and returned to consuming drugs.

Nores claimed that Payne then had to be resuscitated again following a near overdose the following month. “Liam suffered a new relapse in his addiction, so he was again taken to the hospital in serious condition, and the professionals had to resort to resuscitation manoeuvres to save his life,” Nores claimed. Following this incident, Nores claimed, Payne’s father attempted to admit him to a psychiatric treatment centre, but Payne refused.

According to the documents, Payne did not consume drugs that summer, including during a trip to Argentina when he went to see his former One Direction bandmate Louis Tomlinson perform in South America. Yet, by August, Nores claimed that he and Payne had a “strong argument” where he attempted to prevent Payne from returning to Manchester because he believed the singer had begun using drugs again.

Pictures and notes to former One Direction singer Liam Payne are displayed beside the Peter Pan statue at Hyde Park in London on October 20, 2024 CREDIT: JUSTIN TALLIS / AFP via Getty Images
In an email to Payne’s attorney and father Geoff from August 23, Nores wrote that he is “really concerned for [Payne’s] well-being” in the United Kingdom. “I hope you can bring professional doctors to check on his health regularly as soon as possible as I did while he was out in the US,” Nores wrote in the email, obtained by Rolling Stone. “I am going to stay fully out of the picture and disconnected from now on and I wish you all the best with Liam’s health and career.”

Representatives for Payne’s family have not commented on the filing, nor has Nores.

In the document, Nores also points the blame to the hotel staff for carrying Payne’s body to his room, where he says there was more of a risk of death. “If Liam had not been brought into the room by force, and had been left in the lobby and a doctor had been called while they saw him convulsing, none of this would have happened,” he writes.

Nores is one of five people charged in the case who responded to indagatorias. Now, the judge will determine whether the defendants should be further prosecuted, dropped from the case, or if there isn’t evidentiary support for either decision.
Geoff Payne, father of Liam Payne, visits the fan tributes for the late former One Direction member outside Casa Sur Hotel on October 18, 2024 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. CREDIT: Marcos Brindicci/Getty Images
Numerous people related to his passing being taken into custody – including two members of the hotel staff – and earlier this week fans were marching to ensure that the efforts made by police do not lose momentum.

Just days after the singer died, a petition was launched, calling for a new law to safeguard the mental well-being of artists in the music industry and amassed over 40,000 signatures in just hours.

Famous faces weighed in too. Songwriter Guy Chambers called on the music industry to stop putting minors in boybands, Robbie Williams said that Payne’s “trials and tribulations were very similar to mine”, Sharon Osbourne accused the music industry of “letting down” Payne, and Bruce Springsteen added that the music industry puts “enormous pressures on young people”.

Former X Factor contestant Katie Waissel, who competed alongside One Direction on the talent show, called for more “care and support for young artists” too, while Rebecca Ferguson, who finished in second place in the same season, paid tribute to Payne while also speaking out against the “exploitation and profiteering of young stars.”

The previously mentioned hotel staff who were arrested were two of several people connected to the case who are being called upon to face the courts regarding Payne’s death. Before then, two individuals were accused of supplying the singer with drugs, and Nores accused of abandonment of a person followed by death.

Last month, one suspect called Braian Nahuel Paiz spoke to journalist, Guillermo Panizza on Argentinian TV, and said that while he had met the singer twice before his death and taken drugs with him, he never supplied Payne with narcotics nor accepted any money from him.

This is a developing story.