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More toxicology tests before Payne’s body is released

Liam Payne's parents have put together a "perfect service" to farewell the late One Direction singer.

Liam Payne's parents have put together a "perfect service" to farewell the late One Direction singer. Photo: AAP

The body of Liam Payne cannot be released until further toxicology reports have been completed, an Argentinian prosecutor says.

Payne’s father has travelled to Buenos Aires to arrange the repatriation of his body after the 31-year-old died falling from the third-floor balcony of the Casa Sur Hotel last week.

A representative of the local Public Prosecutor’s Office has told Geoff Payne that the results of the toxicology and histopathological report, complementary to the autopsy, were required before his son’s body could be released.

The final toxicology results are not expected to be made public for some weeks. An initial report suggested evidence of exposure to cocaine, an official told the Associated Press, who stressed those early results did do not offer an accurate reading of how much was circulating in the singer’s blood when he died.

For the investigation, experts are also examining mobile phones, computers and security cameras, which the Prosecutor’s Office said, “require a longer analysis time”.

A press release from the National Criminal and Correctional Prosecutor’s Office also said that reconstruction of the events, which has involved taking numerous statements from hotel workers and medical professionals, is “still ongoing”.

An autopsy found Payne died of multiple traumas and “internal and external haemorrhage”.

Police officers and the emergency services found the music star dead at the scene on October 16. His body was transferred to the judicial morgue.

The prosecutor’s office indicated the musician was alone when the fall occurred and said he appeared to be “going through some kind of outbreak due to substance abuse”.

There are reports that hotel staff made two calls to emergency services, with audio revealing one worker asked for assistance for a guest who was “intoxicated by drugs and alcohol”.

Police in the Argentine capital previously said the music star’s hotel room was “in complete disarray” with “various items broken”.

They added that a whisky bottle, lighter and mobile phone had been retrieved from the internal hotel courtyard where Payne’s body was found.

Tributes have flooded in for Payne since the news of his death, including from his former partner Cheryl, his One Direction bandmates, his girlfriend Kate Cassidy, and music mogul Simon Cowell.

Payne’s fellow bandmates – Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson, Zayn Malik and Harry Styles – paid tribute to him as well and a joint statement from the band said they were “completely devastated” and will miss the singer “terribly”, adding the “memories we shared with him will be treasured forever”.

Thousands of fans of the singer gathered to remember him at memorial events in Britain and elsewhere last weekend.

Payne found fame alongside his One Direction bandmembers when The X Factor creator Cowell put them together to form the boy band on the ITV talent show in 2010.

Payne first auditioned for The X Factor in 2008 when he was 14, singing Frank Sinatra’s Fly Me To The Moon. Cowell asked him to return to the talent show two years later.

The singer’s family said they were “heartbroken” following his death, adding: “Liam will forever live in our hearts and we’ll remember him for his kind, funny and brave soul.”

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