Liam Payne’s father reads tributes and kisses pictures outside Argentinian hotel where One Direction star died
Liam Payne’s father has visited the hotel in Argentina where his son died, as he read tributes left for the One Direction star.
Geoff Payne was seen reading messages and looking at flowers placed outside the Casa Sur Hotel in the capital Buenos Aires.
He was watched on by a crowd of mourners.
Sky correspondent Martha Kelner in Buenos Aires said: “Geoff paused occasionally to put on his glasses to read the notes written in English and picked up the pictures to kiss them.
“He also thanked fans for being there.”
Follow latest: Cheryl posts about Liam Payne’s death
Geoff Payne greeted mourners outside the hotel where his son died. Pic: Reuters
The singer died aged 31 on Wednesday after falling from a balcony on the third floor of the hotel.
Payne’s father arrived in Argentina on Friday to arrange for the return of his son’s body to the UK.
Earlier, he was seen leaving a different hotel in the city, accompanied by British consular officials and security staff.
Argentinian officials said Mr Payne visited the city’s morgue to identify his son before meeting with the local prosecutor’s office to organise the repatriation of his body.
Local media reported he was expected to pick up some of his son’s belongings during the visit.
On Thursday, Payne’s relatives said in a joint statement they were “heartbroken” by his death.
They added: “Liam will forever live in our hearts, and we’ll remember him for his kind, funny and brave soul.
“We are supporting each other the best we can as a family and ask for privacy and space at this awful time.”
Read more:
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Liam Payne: A life in pictures
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What we know about Liam Payne’s death
Payne expressed gratitude to his parents during several interviews with the media in recent years.
His father, a mechanic, and his mother, a nurse, both made cameos in One Direction: This Is Us, a 2013 concert documentary about the band.
“When I see him on stage I absolutely burst with pride, but we do miss him so much,” Payne’s mother, Karen, said at one point in the film.
Geoff Payne was earlier seen at a different hotel in the city. Pic: Reuters
Tributes have poured in for Payne following his death, including from his One Direction bandmates who issued a joint statement and their own personal messages.
Simon Cowell – who mentored the band on the X Factor and later signed them to his label – paid tribute to Payne on Friday evening, saying he was “truly devastated” and felt “empty”.
Girls Aloud singer Cheryl, who was in a relationship with Payne between 2016 and 2018, and had a son with him in 2017, also spoke of her heartbreak on Friday and hit out at “abhorrent” reports surrounding his death.
Specialist search teams, police dogs and divers have been dispatched to find two sisters who vanished in Aberdeen three days ago.
Eliza and Henrietta Huszti, both 32, were last seen on CCTV in the city’s Market Street at Victoria Bridge at about 2.12am on Tuesday.
The siblings were captured crossing the bridge and turning right onto a footpath next to the River Dee in the direction of Aberdeen Boat Club.
Henrietta Huszti. Pic: Police Scotland
Eliza Huszti. Pic: Police Scotland
Police Scotland has launched a major search and said it is carrying out “extensive inquires” in an effort to find the women.
Chief Inspector Darren Bruce said: “Local officers, led by specialist search advisors, are being assisted by resources including police dogs and our marine unit.”
Aberdeenshire Drone Services told Sky News it has offered to help in the search and is waiting to hear back from Police Scotland.
CCTV of the sisters. Pic: Police Scotland
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The sisters, from Aberdeen city centre, are described as slim with long brown hair.
Police said the Torry side of Victoria Bridge where the sisters were last seen contains many commercial and industrial units, with searches taking place in the vicinity.
The force urged businesses in and around the South Esplanade and Menzies Road area to review CCTV footage recorded in the early hours of Tuesday in case it captured anything of significance.
Drivers with relevant dashcam footage are also urged to come forward.
CI Bruce added: “We are continuing to speak to people who know Eliza and Henrietta and we urge anyone who has seen them or who has any information regarding their whereabouts to please contact 101.”
Glasgow has been a city crying out for solutions to a devastating drugs epidemic that is ravaging people hooked on deadly narcotics.
We have spent time with vulnerable addicts in recent months and witnessed first-hand the dirty, dangerous street corners and back alleys where they would inject their £10 heroin hit, not knowing – or, in many cases, not caring – whether that would be the moment they die.
“Dying would be better than this life,” one man told me.
It was a grim insight into the daily reality of life in the capital of Europe’s drug death crisis.
Scotland has a stubborn addiction to substances spanning generations. Politicians of all persuasions have failed to properly get a grip of the emergency.
But there is a new concept in town.
From Monday, a taxpayer-funded unit is allowing addicts to bring their own heroin and cocaine and inject it while NHS medical teams supervise.
A dirty needle thrown less than 100 metres from the new injection centre
It may be a UK-first but it is a regular feature in some other major European cities that have claimed high success rates in saving lives.
Glasgow has looked on with envy at these other models.
One supermarket car park less than a hundred metres from this new facility is a perfect illustration of the problem. An area littered with dirty needles and paraphernalia. A minefield where one wrong step risks contracting a nasty disease.
Drugs paraphernalia in a supermarket car park in Glasgow, near the new facility
It is estimated hundreds of users inject heroin in public places in Glasgow every week. HIV has been rife.
The new building, which will be open from 9am until 9pm 365 days a year, includes bays where clean needles are provided as part of a persuasive tactic to lure addicts indoors in a controlled environment.
There is a welcome area where people will check in before being invited into one of eight bays. The room is clinical, covered in mirrors, with a row of small medical bins.
Clean needles are provided to lure addicts to inject in a controlled environment
There are eight bays users can inject in
We were shown the aftercare area where users will relax after their hit in the company of housing and social workers.
The idea is controversial and not cheap – £2.3m has been ring-fenced every year.
The aftercare area
Read more: ‘Dying would be better than my £1,000 a month heroin addiction’
Authorities in the city first floated a ‘safer drug consumption room’ in 2016. It failed to get off the ground as the UK Home Office under the Conservatives said they would not allow people to break the law to feed habits.
The usual wrangle between Edinburgh and London continued for years with Downing Street suggesting Scotland could, if it wanted, use its discretion to allow these injecting rooms to go ahead.
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The stalemate ended when Scotland’s most senior prosecutor issued a landmark decision that it would not be in the public interest to arrest those using such a facility.
One expert has told me this new concept is unlikely to lead to an overall reduction in deaths across Scotland. Another described it as an expensive vanity project. Supporters clearly disagree.
The question is what does success look like?
The big test will be if there is a spike in crime around the building and how it will work alongside law enforcement given drug dealers know exactly where to find their clients now.
It is not disputed this is a radical approach – and other cities across Britain will be watching closely.
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