Liam Payne - No funeral yet and other news

Liam Payne's death hit me hard when he fell off a balcony over two weeks ago. I saw his monochrome photo on a YouTube video still in the morning and found out Liam was now gone. Although never an 1D fan - I'm around the same age but older than all boys - 1D was inescapable a decade ago. I can't fathom life ending at 31 and never being able to see any of your loved ones ever again. In fact I recall thinking how awful it is how some celebrities are labelled 'tragic' because of early death, just the night before Liam's incident (I was/still am listening to The Carpenters a lot, and Karen had passed at 32 from anorexia). They have incredible (music) careers but are, of what happened consequentially, labelled 'tragic.' Unfortunately now, Liam will be one of those people. 

Since Liam's dad arrived in Argentina and the toxicology reports that found pink cocaine among other drugs in his system, we have been left in a limbo with no news of Liam's body being repatriated to the UK or a funeral. I thought I would give a little update on that..

Liam's body is set to return to the UK by Monday (4 Nov) at latest, and his funeral will be held a few days after. Without it sounding like an 'event' (but obviously, given the press and fans, it is likely to be one).. I guess there will be 1D but with four boys which probably has not been seen since Zayn left, and would Maya Henry, his ex fiancee, be in attendance?

Liam Payne’s body finally set to return home to UK within days ahead of funeral
2 Nov 2024

Metro

TMZ shared photos of Liam's tattooed arm and torso post-fall as evidence (and from what I saw on X/Twitter at the time, someone leaked photos of the FULL photo, and that spread amongst X users' timelines although it had seemed by then they were scrubbed off X) which understandably sparked backlash. According to Argentinian journalist Paula Varela, there was CCTV footage of the fall and the moment leading up to that in the official case files that shows Liam fainting and given where he was, he fell off. I am not sure what position that is - sitting on the balcony? - but I do see balconies mentioned several times in books ("Long enough to end up alone with Oliver on the balcony, which overlooks all of Monte Carlo. Above us, the moon is full and the stars clear." - Looking Forward by Maya Henry) and in podcasts (On Impaulsive, Liam mentioned waking up to thousands of fans as he walked onto a hotel balcony for some 1D footage).

Liam Payne’s Final Moments Captured In Security Footage, Journalist Reveals
30 Oct 2024

Yahoo!

Finally.. the header photo is Liam attending Anthony Joshua v Jermaine Franklin at The O2 London in 1 Apr 2023, for no other reason than me liking that photo of Liam. The full image is on Shutterstock