Liam Payne “didn’t want to die”, according to a close source to the former One Director star who passed away in Argentina on Wednesday aged 31.

The popstar fell from his third-floor balcony at the CasaSur hotel, sustaining injuries that were “incompatible with life”.


Officers had initially been called to the hotel by distressed staff who reported “an aggressive man who may have been under the effects of drugs and alcohol”.

The transcript from the 911 call shows how staff were concerned about the man’s wellbeing. Alleged photos from inside Payne’s supposed hotel room show a broken TV and white powder strewn over the room.

Liam Payne ‘didn’t want to die,’ claims pal as painful details of One Direction star’s final hours revealedGetty

A source close to Payne has come forward to argue that if authorities had intervened, the singer “would have lived”.

Speaking to the Mail on Sunday, the source said: “Liam didn’t have to die. Liam didn’t want to die. He had promised us all he would never commit suicide. He was looking forward to the future.

“If someone had called an ambulance when he collapsed in the hotel lobby instead of taking him back to his room and leaving him in there alone, in a psychotic state, he would still be with us.”

Police are now investigating a theory that the singer was high on a potent substance known as “cristal”, which causes blackouts and psychotic episodes.

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Liam PayneLiam Payne died on Wednesday after falling from an Argentina hotel balconyGetty

The source added: “Where did Liam get the drugs when he had no money?”

According to the source, a family friend had visited the star in his final hours to deliver him some cookies, and noticed that he “seemed a bit tipsy”, though conceded that he “wasn’t in a bad state”.

“He was replicating Fireproof on his computer. He loved recreating instrumentals and that was his favourite One Direction song. He was redoing the beat. He was in a good place, planning for the future, looking forward to going home to Miami to his girlfriend and his dog.”

Payne was initially in Argentina with girlfriend Kate Cassidy before she left for the US in the days before he died.

Liam Payne and girlfriend Kate Cassidy

He had been travelling with his girlfriend Kate Cassidy, who left the city days before his death

PA Media

Alberto Crescenti, the city’s ambulance service provider spokesman, issued a statement shortly after his death.

It read: “The alarm was raised at 5.04pm local time saying a person was lying in an internal patio at CasaSur. At 5.11pm an ambulance arrived and the man was certified dead.

“Our role was to head there quickly, give medical attention, and try to resuscitate him, but his injuries were incompatible with life.

“Based on what the team saw, there was apparently a cranial fracture and extremely serious injuries that led to his immediate death.

“Afterwards we found out he had been a famous singer. Unfortunately, the injuries he had suffered as a result of the fall proved to be fatal. There was no possibility of resuscitating him.”