'He had the biggest heart': Rita Ora breaks down in tears as she pays tribute to Liam Payne
11 November 2024, 05:42 | Updated: 11 November 2024, 05:44
Stars from across the globe paid tribute to Liam Payne at the MTV Music Awards last night.
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Host Rita Ora held back tears as she hailed the late One Direction star, saying he had the "biggest heart".
Performers from across the globe gathered in Manchester in Sunday as the music industry paid tribute to Payne, who died aged 31 last month.
The 31-year-old fell to his death from a third-floor hotel balcony in Buenos Aires on October 16.
Speaking on stage, Ora said: "I just want to take a moment to remember someone very, very dear to us.
Read more: Tragic star Liam Payne's Rolex missing as Argentinian police continue to probe singer's death
"We lost him recently and he was a big part of the MTV world and my world."
Liam Payne "had the biggest heart and was always the first person to offer help in any way that he could", she continued.
"He brought so much joy to every room he walked into and he left such a mark on the world."
It comes after three people have been charged in connection with the star’s death.
The three people who have been charged are someone who was close to Payne, a hotel employee and a suspected drug dealer.
Argentinian prosecutors say they've been charged with "abandonment of a person followed by death" and the "supply and facilitation of narcotics".
Emergency services had been called on the day Payne fell at the Casa Sur Hotel to a "guest who was under the influence of drugs and alcohol and who had destroyed some objects in the room".
A statement from prosecutors read: "Based on the evidence gathered and after analysing the various bodies of proceedings and numerous documentary annexes and the background of the case, prosecutor Andres Esteban Madrea formally charged three people, requesting their questioning and arrest in a 180-page ruling presented last Friday to Judge Bruniard.
The statement added: "Liam Payne was not fully conscious or was experiencing a state of noticeable decrease or loss of consciousness at the time of the fall".
The Public Prosecutor's Office in Argentina had been investigating the circumstances around Payne's death.
It is being treated as "an inconclusive death", and an initial post-mortem examination found he died instantly because of multiple traumas and "internal and external haemorrhage".
