Police ‘probe two more hotel workers over Liam Payne death’: Receptionist ‘filmed carrying star to his room minutes before balcony fall among those being investigated’

Police in Argentina are reportedly investigating a hotel worker who was filmed on CCTV carrying Liam Payne to his room just minutes before his death.

The suspect is named locally as head receptionist Esteban Grassi, who called 999 to request urgent medical attention for Liam before plunging to his death from his third-floor balcony in Buenos Aires.

He was also among a trio of men who carried him to his room shortly before the tragedy at the CasaSur Palermo Hotel in October.

The photo, first revealed by the Daily Mail, raised concerns about the behavior of hotel staff and their decision not to leave the singer in the lobby while they waited for help.

According to respected Argentinian news website Infobae, another hotel employee, named Gilda Martin, head of security, is now also under investigation.

Investigating judge Laura Bruniard, who is leading the investigation, had ordered the two men to appoint a lawyer so that she could formally question them under oath.

The date for their first hearing, which is expected to take place via Zoom, is said to be scheduled next week between December 17 and 19.

The prosecutor’s office has not yet made any official comment, but is expected to do so in the coming days.

Infobae did not say what criminal charges the hotel employees could ultimately face if the judge concludes there is sufficient evidence to formally charge them with misconduct at a later date in her investigation.

Local reports said last week that prosecutors were considering filing manslaughter charges against the hotel workers who were filmed carrying Liam out of the lobby shortly before he collapsed to the balcony on drink and drugs.

Nothing has been said publicly so far about the third man seen lifting the singer, who was wearing sneakers, shorts and a T-shirt and was identified by the Daily Mail last month as a masseur at the spa at the hotel.

Today’s reports of the naming of new suspects came as the three people already under formal investigation were called in for questioning.

They have been identified locally as Liam’s close friend Rogelio ‘Roger’ Nores, former hotel worker Ezequiel David Pereyra and Braian Nahuel Paiz.

Waiter Paiz, accused of being Liam’s “drug dealer”, told journalist Guillermo Panizza on Telefe Noticias last month that he had consumed marijuana and that Liam had used cocaine during their second hotel date, shortly before the singer’s death.

But he insisted: ‘I never brought him drugs or took money.

‘I have messages of him offering me money, because apparently he was used to offering money for everything, but I never accepted anything.’

Mr Nores, who is described as the singer’s manager, had previously protested his innocence after being named locally as one of the trio under investigation.

Responding to reports identifying him as one of the suspects linked to the drug charges and accusations that he abandoned Liam before his death, the businessman said in a statement: ‘I never abandoned Liam, i went to his hotel three times that day and left 40 minutes before this happened.

“There were more than 15 people in the hotel lobby talking and joking with him when I left.

‘I could never have imagined something like this would happen.

“I gave my statement to the prosecutor as a witness on October 17 and I have not spoken to any police officer or prosecutor since then.

‘I wasn’t Liam’s manager. He was just my dear friend.”

Ezequiel David Pereyra has not yet made any public comment.

In a lengthy statement released on November 7, prosecutors said the three men they did not identify by name are now being formally investigated on suspicion of abandoning a person who subsequently died and supplying and facilitating drugs.

The statement described someone as the person who “routinely accompanied Liam during his stay in Buenos Aires.”

Tests revealed that the singer was bingeing on alcohol and cocaine before his death and also had traces of an antidepressant in his system.

Prosecutors also made it clear that the idea that Liam had committed suicide had been ruled out, saying he was in a state of “semi- or total unconsciousness” when he fell to his death from his hotel balcony while “not knowing what he was doing.” do laundry’. .’

About the hotel worker and the alleged ‘drug dealer’ they said: ‘The second suspect is a hotel worker assigned to respond to two proven deliveries of cocaine to Liam Payne during the time he was at the hotel.

‘The third is also a drug dealer who is under investigation on suspicion of a further two clearly proven deliveries of cocaine at two different times on October 14.’

Liam’s father Geoff flew to Argentina two days after his son died and returned to Britain with his body on November 7 to help finalize funeral arrangements after a second visit to the makeshift shrine created by fans outside the hotel. singer was set up.

His former bandmates Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan and Zayn Malik were among the mourners at his funeral on November 20 in Amersham, Bucks.

Simon Cowell, James Corden, his girlfriend Kate Cassidy and Liam’s former partner Cheryl, mother of their seven-year-old son Bear, also joined his family and other friends at the private ceremony.

The standstill in Liam’s hotel death was lifted last week after prosecutors won their battle to overturn a judge’s decision to exclude himself from the investigation.

The victory of chief prosecutor Andres Madrea was expected to pave the way for an acceleration of the investigation.

Judge Laura Bruniard had argued that the case should be investigated by a conventional court in Buenos Aires under Argentine law because one of the allegations was that Liam, 31, had been abandoned before his death on October 16 at the Casasur Palermo Hotel.

Madrea’s claim that its decision was “premature” was accepted by a higher court late on Tuesday.

His appeal victory was the second in two days after he successfully challenged an earlier decision not to jail Braian Nahuel Paiz.

A final decision on whether the 24-year-old will be sent to prison pending the ongoing investigation is expected to be made after he is questioned.

Two female escorts who Liam spent time with before he died are currently being treated as witnesses but are said to have hired a lawyer to represent them despite not having to do so.

The singer reportedly offered the women $5,000 after contacting them hours before his fatal hotel dive, but they ultimately only received a fraction of the promised money after Roger Nores stepped in to help.

Argentinian media have reported that the two prostitutes told prosecutors during interrogation that “gentleman” Liam had knelt in front of them during their time together, telling them, “I love you, I love you” and even ” had promised them’ his missing £30,000 Rolex. .

But they alleged he failed to hand over cash as promised in the room or later in the lobby before Mr. Nores arrived to “resolve the situation.”

They are said to have voluntarily surrendered their mobile phones, although the data stored on them has not yet been extracted and analyzed.

Raids last month at a series of properties, including a flat believed to have been used by one of the two sex workers to meet clients, failed to produce any trace of the missing Rolex.

The designer watch is said to have gone missing around the time one of the two women said she left make-up in Liam’s room after a disagreement in the hotel lobby and the singer accompanied her back to the room to retrieve it.