Overview
- Hotel employee Ezequiel Pereyra and waiter Braian Paiz remain in custody on accusations of supplying cocaine to Payne, which they deny, as prosecutors work through roughly 800 hours of CCTV and data with no trial date set.
- Newly published images show Payne outside the hotel at 3:48 p.m. and reclining in the lobby at 4:28 p.m. on the day he died, and Pereyra, speaking from jail, claims the hotel failed to call an ambulance when it should have.
- Paiz has said he used drugs with Payne but denies selling them or taking money; both defendants face potential sentences of up to 15 years if convicted under Argentine law.
- Official findings stand: a UK inquest recorded polytrauma as the medical cause of death, and toxicology detected cocaine, alcohol and prescription antidepressants; prosecutors have alleged CCTV captured Payne asking for “seven grams more” on his final day.
- Family, friends and fans marked the anniversary with tributes as the Paynes’ fundraising in his memory reached about £250,000 for Great Ormond Street Hospital.