Liam Payne death: Toxicology test reveals star’s blood alcohol triple the legal limit in the US

Liam Payne, pictured in 2016. Photo / Getty Images

Liam Payne’s blood alcohol level was three times the US legal driving limit at the time of his death.

The former One Direction star died in October after plunging from a hotel balcony in Argentina.

A new statement issued by the National Criminal and Correctional Prosecutor’s Office No. 14 has revealed a toxicology test determined Payne’s blood had high levels of alcohol which would have left him severely impaired.

The statement read: “The autopsy revealed that the death was caused by multiple trauma and internal and external bleeding. It was also determined that the musician had alcohol concentrations of up to 2.7 grams per litre of blood at the time of death, plus cocaine metabolites, methylecgonine, benzoylecgomine, cocaethylene and the medication sertraline”.

It had previously been revealed that Payne’s blood showed traces of cocaine as well as a prescription antidepressant.

A blood alcohol level of .27% is more than than three times that set as the United States' legal driving limit, which is .08 per cent.

The statement was released as part of an ongoing criminal investigation into Payne’s death at the CasaSur Palermo Hotel in Buenos Aires on October 16, 2024.

Payne’s pal Rogelio ‘Roger’ Nores and four others had been facing charges relating to his death, but appeal court judges recently cleared three of them and reversed an earlier decision to charge them.

Nores’ lawyer Rafael Cuneo Libarona, declared he was “happy” with the decision to reverse the manslaughter charge, having argued against prosecutors' claims the businessman was the ‘Strip That Down’ singer’s representative and had failed in his duty of care.

He said in a statement: “We are happy to have reversed the decision by 360 degrees.

“We have always maintained that Rogelio Nores was not responsible for Liam Payne’s death. “He was only his friend and had no duty or legal obligation to ensure his safety.”

Appeal court judges found Nores didn’t play a role in his friend “obtaining and consuming alcohol”, nor could he have done anything in the hours leading up to Payne’s death to prevent it.

As well as Nores, Esteban Grassi, the chief receptionist at CasaSur Palermo Hotel in Buenos Aires who made a 911 call before Payne died, and the hotel’s head of security Gilda Martin were also cleared of manslaughter.

The judges felt there wasn’t enough proof they acted in “thoughtless, reckless, or merely negligent behaviour” in their actions leading up to his death.

Waiter Braian Nahuel Paiz, 24, and hotel worker Ezequiel David Pereyra,21, remain in prison after losing an appeal over a decision to charge them with supplying Payne with drugs. They face jail terms of four to 15 years behind bars if convicted.

The extensive ruling agreed that Payne died after falling unconscious from his balcony. However, it added: “It it is unknown whether it was due to a clumsy manoeuvre on [Payne’s] part near the railing or in the vicinity, or if it happened because they lost consciousness and fell into the void as dead weight.

“Only, thanks to medical reports, some assumptions have been made about their mental condition at the time of the fall, based on the absence of defensive or protective marks at the moment of the impact.”