Published: 19:36 BST, 8 August 2026 | Updated: 21:09 BST, 9 August 2026<\/p>\n
He was a pop superstar adored by millions, a devoted son and father, a man who had amassed a fortune of \u00a322million and appeared to have the world at his feet.<\/p>\n
Yet in the final days of his life, former One Direction singer Liam Payne was in the grip of a devastating spiral of drug and alcohol abuse, paying sex workers to keep him company in a soulless hotel room while bingeing on crack cocaine and whisky.<\/p>\n
While much has been written about Liam\u2019s death, the full heartbreaking facts have not been revealed \u2013 until now.<\/p>\n
Today, The Mail on Sunday can disclose details of the singer\u2019s death from an extraordinary trove of 3,000 documents, photographs, sworn statements and official reports gathered by investigators after he died in Buenos Aires on October 16, 2024.<\/p>\n
One haunting CCTV image shows him hollow-eyed and gaunt, stumbling through the corridors of the CasaSur Hotel just one hour before he plunged from the balcony of Room 310.<\/p>\n
The report also lays bare his family\u2019s despair, with a sworn statement from Liam\u2019s grief-stricken father Geoff telling prosecutors his son \u2018went away\u2019 when he was in the grip of his demons saying: \u2018He was not in control with what he did. He was not Liam.\u2019<\/p>\n
While some information is too graphic and personal to be shared, the cache of evidence paints the clearest \u2013 and most profoundly painful \u2013 portrait yet of a man completely out of touch with reality in the hours before his death.<\/p>\n
Liam Payne is seen looking hollow-eyed and gaunt, stumbling through the corridors of the CasaSur Hotel just one hour before he plunged from the balcony of Room 310<\/p>\n
Prostitutes Aldana Serrano and Lucila Goitea in the hotel lobby.\u00a0The file is filled with images showing the escorts imploring hotel staff to help them, after they argued with Liam over pay<\/p>\n
To fully understand how quickly Liam turned from sober friend and father \u2013 he \u2018adored\u2019 his nine-year-old son Bear (with singer Cheryl Cole) \u2013 into a man one witness described as \u2018possessed\u2019, you have to start at the beginning of the case file.<\/p>\n
Liam was in Argentina to renew his US visa and to watch his former One Direction bandmate Niall Horan in concert.<\/p>\n
He spent two weeks on holiday with his girlfriend Kate Cassidy, but when she left him alone to return to their home in Wellington, Florida, Liam spiralled. He was asked to leave one hotel for \u2018acting belligerent\u2019 and checked into the CasaSur on the afternoon of October 14.<\/p>\n
His father Geoff later told prosecutors that Liam could keep his addictions under control as long as he always had someone with him to prevent him going off the rails.<\/p>\n
Geoff said his son became \u2018another person\u2019 on drugs. His family had last seen him on August 29 when the singer was filming a Netflix show in Manchester and he appeared \u2018well, stable, clean of any drugs or alcohol\u2019.<\/p>\n