Dad Geoff Payne greets fans as Cheryl pays tribute

Liam Payne’s father has considered tributes exterior the lodge the place his son died, as the star’s former companion Cheryl says her son Bear has to “face the reality of never seeing his father again”.

Payne, 31, died on Wednesday when he fell from the balcony of the third-floor lodge room the place he had been staying in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

In Argentina, Geoff Payne was adopted by a scrum of photographers as he visited the lodge, prompting fans to shout on the press and try to dam the constructing’s entrance to cease them getting into.

Mr Payne travelled to Buenos Aires after his son’s demise and the journey from his lodge to the Casa Sur lodge was broadcast on Argentine tv, regardless of household requests for privateness.

Girls Aloud singer Cheryl, who was in a relationship with Payne from 2016 to 2018, additionally criticised “abhorrent” media protection following his demise.

Posting on Instagram, Cheryl stated: “As I try to navigate this earth shattering event, and work through my own grief at this indescribably painful time, I’d like to kindly remind everyone that we have lost a human being.”

Along together with her assertion Cheryl shared a black and white picture of Payne with their son Bear and a damaged coronary heart emoji.

Payne’s sister, Ruth Gibbins, described him as her “best friend” in an emotional Instagram submit on Saturday, by which she vowed the household will “take care of Bear”.

“My brain is struggling to catch up with what’s happening and I don’t understand where you’ve gone,” she added.

Cheryl additionally stated she was troubled her seven-year-old son might entry “abhorrent reports and media exploitation” and she or he can not defend him from it sooner or later.

“What is troubling my spirit the most is that one day Bear will have access to the abhorrent reports and media exploitation we have seen in the past two days,” she added.

“I am begging you to consider what use some of these reports are serving, other than to cause further harm to everyone left behind picking up the pieces.

“Before you leave comments or make videos, ask yourself if you would like your own child or family to read them.”

Ending her statement, the 41-year-old urged people to give Payne “the little dignity he has left in the wake of his death to rest in some peace at last”.

The tribute came as Geoff Payne paused to read tributes to his son outside the Casa Sur hotel and say thank you to the gathered fans.

When he arrived, fans at the site created a barrier between him and the cameras, with some telling the BBC afterwards that they wanted to make sure he had space.

Bianca Gallorini, who helped organise the makeshift barrier, said fans wanted to give Mr Payne “a second” to “specific his emotions and see how a lot we love Liam”.

Mr Payne had earlier visited the morgue in Buenos Aires to officially identify his son, so that arrangements can be made for his body to be flown back to the UK.

A federal prosecutor told the BBC that Payne’s body has been “launched”, meaning no further tests were being carried out and that identification could take place. An investigation into his death continues.

It is not yet known when Payne’s body will be repatriated to the UK.

Fans gathered in Liverpool on Saturday afternoon to hold a vigil to mourn the One Direction singer.

Elsewhere, folks gathered within the singer’s residence metropolis of Wolverhampton for a vigil on Friday night.

Simon Cowell, who put the group together on The X Factor in 2010, earlier paid his own tribute to Payne, saying he is “heartbroken” and feels “empty” following the singer’s death.

Cowell remembered Payne as “sort, humorous, candy, considerate [and] proficient”.

In a post on Instagram, Cowell added: “And I need you to know the way a lot love and respect I’ve for you. Every tear I’ve shed is a reminiscence of you.”

Payne’s girlfriend Kate Cassidy has also paid tribute to the star who she called “my angel”, adding she was “at a whole loss”.

“You are every thing,” she said in a statement.

“I need you to know I liked you unconditionally and fully. I’ll proceed to like you for the remainder of my life.”

In Cowell’s statement, he also recalled Payne’s first X Factor audition in 2008, at the age of 14, when Cowell told the budding singer he was not ready and to come back in two years.

“Lots of people would have given up. You did not. You got here again and inside months the entire world would know Liam.

“And you never forgot the fans. I watched you spending so much time with people who had wanted to meet you. You really cared.”

Cowell ultimately signed One Direction to his label and masterminded their world success earlier than they cut up in 2016.

The music mogul additionally revealed that Payne had visited him final yr “just to sit and talk”, including that they “reminisced about all of the fun times we had together”.

Also on Friday, Payne’s bandmate Niall Horan posted a tribute, saying he was “absolutely devastated” by the “passing of his amazing friend”.

Singer Katie Waissel, a contestant alongside One Direction in 2010’s X Factor sequence, known as the music trade “very manipulative, coercive and deconstructive”, saying “it sucks the soul out of people”.

Speaking to Stephen Nolan on BBC Radio 5 Live, Waissal, who has lengthy campaigned for higher assist for individuals who seem on TV, criticised the quantity given to those that seem on reveals such as X Factor.

Similarly, US singer Bruce Springsteen advised the Daily Telegraph that the trade “puts enormous pressures on young people”, including that they don’t have “the inner self yet to be able to protect themselves from a lot of the things that come with success and fame”.

Springsteen stated he understands this “very well” from his personal expertise, having achieved his “own wrestling with different things”.