Liam Payne’s missing £30,000 Rolex reportedly vanished after an escort he spent time with before his death went back up to his hotel room.
Respected Argentinian news website Infobae said the woman claimed to have forgotten her makeup and was allowed back into the third-floor room at the CasaSur Palermo Hotel in Buenos Aires to retrieve it. Citing sources close to the ongoing criminal investigation, the website said: “There Payne’s Rolex watch disappeared.”
It is claimed the woman – along with another female escort who came to the hotel – had been promised £5,000 by Liam, but they did not get all their money. According to Infobae, the two escorts later told prosecutors that ‘gentleman’ Liam had kneeled in front of them and said, “I love you, I love you.”
He is even said to ‘promised them’ his Rolex watch. But Liam reportedly failed to hand over more cash in the room, or later in the lobby. The One Direction singer’s friend and former manager Roger Nores is then said to have arrived and attempted to “resolve the situation”. Forty minutes later Liam tragically fell three floors to his death from the balcony of his hotel room.
Liam was often seen wearing his gold Rolex watch (
Getty Images)
He reunited with Niall Horan and sang at his Argentine concert days before his death (
Snapchat)
Though Liam was seen wearing the Rolex on the day of his death, the watch – estimated to be worth around £33,000 – was not on his wrist when he fell and has not been seen since.
A detective involved in the case said: “We know, from images that were analysed, that Payne was wearing a Rolex on the day of his death. He was wearing it on one of his hands and he had it for at least two to three hours before he (died).”
Police have since searched Liam’s hotel room and the homes of several people known to have associated with Liam that day – including premises linked to the two female escorts – and it’s still to be recovered.
Though the women, who haven’t been named by police, are said to be being treated as witnesses, rather than suspects in the case, they have now reportedly hired a lawyer.
In the hours before Liam’s death, Infobae reports the singer requested bottles of Moet & Chandon Champagne, Johnnie Walker Black Label Whisky and 300 dollars. Prosecutors are said to be working on the theory the cash was to pay a dealer for drugs.
It was reported that Liam was acting “erratically and smashed his laptop in the lobby” before being carried up to his room. Hotel staff reportedly made two calls to emergency services saying a guest who had taken “too many drugs and alcohol” and was “trashing the entire room”. Shortly afterwards Liam fell to his death.
Prosecutors have ruled out self harm or Liam taking his own life and think he was ‘unconscious or semi-conscious’ when he fell. They have concluded the singer, who had drugs and alcohol in his system when he died, did not know what he was doing or did not have any comprehension of his actions.
A post-mortem found he died from multiple injuries, as well as internal and external bleeding caused by the fall. Three people, including a hotel worker, have since been charged in connection with Liam’s death on October 16.One is facing charges of ‘abandonment of a person followed by death’ – which carries a maximum 15 year prison sentence – and two others are charged with supplying drugs. Liam was laid to rest at a private funeral in Buckinghamshire last week and there are calls for a permanent memorial in his hometown of Wolverhampton.
