Liam Payne’s funeral is to be held next week but one particular celeb won’t be welcome.
The former One Direction singer sadly died aged 31 over a month ago after falling from the balcony of his third-floor hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
His father, Geoff, brought his son’s body back to the UK two weeks ago after authorities in Argentina had examined him.
Payne had travelled with his close friend Rogelio ‘Roger’ Nores (who some called his manager) to watch his former band mate, Niall Horan, perform.
It has now been reported that his funeral will take place this week in Wolverhampton but Roger is ‘not welcome’ to attend.
A close source to the family has revealed that they want the funeral to run smoothly and they believe things would be ‘strained’ if he was there.
The source also added that he had ‘never been popular’ with the singer’s ‘wider circle’.
Police have not named the ‘friend’ that they are accusing of ‘abandoning a person followed by death’.
They have also accused the person of being complicit in the supply of narcotics – which is punishable by a prison sentence of up to 15 years.
The person has not been identified but the description points to Roger who was with Payne in the few days before he passed.
A source shared: ‘There is a difference in the narrative, Roger would say he stepped back from working with Liam – others would say he was pushed.
‘Many people didn’t even know Liam and Roger had reconnected until his fateful trip to Argentina last month.
‘Due to the ongoing investigation in Argentina, he’s not welcome at this week’s service.’
Roger himself did not comment but a close friend said: ‘Roger would not want to do anything to compound to the pain that Liam’s family are going through right now.’
Roger has denied leaving Payne in the few hours before his death. He said: ‘I never abandoned Liam, I went to his hotel 3 times that day and left 40 minutes before this happened.
‘There were over 15 people at the hotel lobby chatting and joking with him when I left.
‘I could have never imagined something like this would happen.
‘I’ve given my statement to the prosecutor on October 17 as a witness and I haven’t spoken to any police officer or prosecutor ever since.
‘I wasn’t Liam’s manager he was just my very dear friend.
‘I’m really heart-broken with this tragedy, and I’ve been missing my friend every day.’
RIP Liam.
