FRED KELLY: I spent weeks with the prime suspect in the Liam Payne tragedy. Here’s why I’m STUNNED he’s been charged – and what I believe will happen to the other four accused…

Six weeks after Liam Payne was buried in a cemetery in the Buckinghamshire town of Amersham, 7,000 miles away in Buenos Aires, the investigation into the circumstances of his death has taken a decisive turn.

According to Argentine media, five people have been officially charged in connection with the death of the 31-year-old One Direction singer.

Among them is Payne’s close friend Rogelio “Roger” Nores, who has reportedly been charged with “negligent homicide” and given a travel ban.

Two senior staff at the hotel where Payne died have been charged with manslaughter, while a third hotel worker and a waiter at a nearby restaurant have both been charged with supplying drugs to the star.

Payne, who had been in and out of rehab for years, died on October 16 after falling from the third-floor balcony of his suite at the CasaSur Palermo Hotel in Buenos Aires, where he was staying while awaiting the renewal of his American diploma. Visa.

A post-mortem examination ruled that his death was caused by ‘multiple trauma’ resulting in ‘internal and external bleeding’, while the toxicology report found that his body contained traces of cocaine, alcohol and a prescription antidepressant.

The action taken yesterday by Argentina’s National Criminal and Correctional Court No. 34 follows an eleven-week investigation that unfolded against a backdrop of unprecedented public scrutiny and intrigue.

Over three weeks in November, I reported from Buenos Aires on Liam Payne’s death, meeting and speaking to a number of people close to the pop star and the case. While these allegations are not a surprise, they mark the beginning of an important new chapter in this devastating story.

So who has been charged and what are the strengths of the cases against them?

Braian Nahuel Paiz, 24, who met Payne on October 2 while waiting at the exclusive Cabana Las Lilas restaurant in Puerto Madero – where the brandy-flambéed steak costs £108 – has been charged with supplying drugs to the star in exchange for money.

This also applies to 21-year-old Ezequiel Pereyra who worked at the CasaSur Hotel.

Judge Laura Graciela Bruniard remanded both men into custody. If found guilty, the pair faces a prison sentence of up to fifteen years.

Paiz, who admitted in an interview on November 9 to using drugs and drinking alcohol with the singer, strongly denies that any money was ever exchanged.

“I have messages of him offering me money because apparently he was used to offering money for everything, but I never accepted anything,” he has previously said.

Paiz’s lawyer, Fernando Madeo, has indicated that his client will appeal the judge’s ruling. There is no indication that Paiz and Pereyra know each other.

The more serious manslaughter charge has been filed against CasaSur’s head receptionist, Esteban Grassi, and the hotel manager, Gilda Martín.

The role that CasaSur staff played in Payne’s death first came to light in mid-November when this newspaper published a shocking still image taken from the hotel’s CCTV footage showing three employees carrying the apparently unconscious singer through the lobby just minutes before his death. .

The Mail understands that Esteban Grassi and Gilda Martín were two of the people pictured carrying Payne. The third is said to be a masseur from the hotel, who is not involved in the criminal investigation.

My research into the hotel CCTV footage raised a number of pressing questions – not least whether staff could have saved Payne’s life by immediately calling an ambulance after he lost consciousness, apparently under the influence of drugs, rather than to take him back to the hotel. his suite, with balcony.

It is worth adding that Grassi was clearly aware of the danger he had put Payne into. When Grassi finally called 911, he told the operator, “I don’t know if his life is in danger, the guy’s life. He’s in a room with a balcony and we’re a little worried he’ll do something.”

While a court will ultimately rule on the couple’s guilt or innocence, it certainly appears that Grassi and Martin made a catastrophic error in judgment by not seeking immediate medical attention for Payne.

But the most shocking charge is against Payne’s friend and confidante Roger Nores, a man I got to know well in November. When I first met Roger in a cafe in Buenos Aires a month after Payne’s death, it was clear he was still in shock.

“I keep thinking I’ll run into him, or my phone will ring and he’ll be on the other end of the line,” Nores told me, visibly distraught.

Over the course of several meetings, I forensically questioned Roger about what happened in the days and hours leading up to Payne’s death. Nothing I heard in response made me think he would be charged with negligent homicide.

So why do the police in Buenos Aires seem to know that the rest of us don’t?

Roger, 35, looks nothing like the hedonistic and deeply troubled star he first befriended in 2020 at a party hosted by then-editor-in-chief of British Vogue, Edward Enninful. Soft-spoken and teetotal, Roger says he has never tried a drug in his life.

“The truth is, we both wanted to be a little more alike,” Roger explained to me. ‘I wanted to go out a bit more and have fun, while Liam wanted to be a bit more boring!’

Roger’s account of their relationship was perfectly clear. Over the past year, as Liam’s drug addiction worsened, the businessman repeatedly tried to protect him — like an “older brother,” as he put it.

Over the summer, it was Roger who helped Liam settle in Florida, where he stayed in a $12,000-a-month mansion with girlfriend Kate Cassidy and arranged for a team of medical professionals to care for him.

In August, Roger wrote a since-highly publicized email to Liam’s team in Britain, begging them to look after the troubled star as he flew to Manchester to film a TV show for Netflix.

In other words, every step of the way, it seems that the man now charged with negligent homicide was also the only man working to protect Liam.

On the afternoon of October 16, Roger and Liam entered the CasaSur Hotel. Shortly afterwards, Roger left alone. The star seemed ‘playful and happy’ at the time and was chatting with guests. However, forty minutes later, Liam was found dead in the hotel courtyard.

Could Roger Nores really have foreseen the tragedy that would unfold? Here it is worth remembering that the pair were friends but had no official or contractual responsibilities to each other – a fact acknowledged in a letter signed by Payne’s US lawyer and seen by the Mail.

And unlike many of Payne’s entourage, the independently wealthy Nores never took a dime from the singer.

It will ultimately be up to the court to decide whether Nores was responsible for Payne’s well-being or not, and whether leaving him at the hotel 40 minutes before his sudden deterioration and death constitutes “negligence.”

But what we shouldn’t forget is that Liam Payne’s death in October was, for a time, the biggest news story in the world. And Argentina’s authorities were under enormous global scrutiny.

As an insider in the criminal justice system recently told me, “If Liam wasn’t famous, no one would be charged with anything. But because of who he was, we have to take action.”

The precise outcome of this action will be announced in the coming weeks and months. But if anyone thought the tragic story of the boy band heartthrob who rose to fame at age 16 was over, they better think again.