Liam Payne’s sister Nicola has said he was an “angel who just lived for making people smile and happy” in an emotional tribute following his death.
Their father has travelled to Argentina to arrange the repatriation of his body after the 31-year-old died falling from the third-floor balcony of a hotel in Buenos Aires on Wednesday.
In a statement posted on Instagram, his sister said she hoped the One Direction star had “finally found peace” and criticised those who are “quick to judge someone from a few five second clips”.
“I have posted about Liam and his achievements over the years with a proud sister alert and that has stood then, now and always!!!” she wrote alongside photos of them together and with their fellow sister Ruth and family.
“When I saw the news pop up on my phone that you had left us I went cold, I wanted so much for this to be untrue.
“I have spent days hoping that it was a mistake and somebody has got it wrong. You were truly too good for this earth, you are an angel who just lived for making people smile and happy.
“You have always shown kindness to everyone you met and it shows with just how many people have confirmed what we always knew!”
She said the family did not have many photos as they did not want him to feel he was in a room of fans, but she told him they were his “biggest fans always and forever”.
“You led your life with a motto of why bother doing something unless you are brilliant at it, and Liam you were certainly brilliant at everything you did!!” she added.
His sister joined previous family and friends who have condemned how he was treated, saying: “Unfortunately this cruel world is always to quick to judge someone from a few five second clips, they then think it entitles them to be able to speak like they know you. We knew you and we loved you.
“I hope you have finally found peace up there and that you’ll continue to look after us all as you have done in life.”
She ended the tribute adding that they will make sure his seven-year-old son Bear, who he shared with Girls Aloud singer Cheryl, will know about him and “how much you loved him”.
Tributes have flooded in for Payne since the news of his death, including from his former partner Cheryl, his One Direction bandmates, his girlfriend Kate Cassidy, and music mogul Simon Cowell.
His other sister Ruth Gibbins previously said she does not feel “this world was good enough or kind enough” to him in a heartfelt tribute.
She added that her brother’s ability to make her laugh is what she “loved most” about him and that she was “in awe” of his talent.
Payne’s fellow bandmates – Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson, Zayn Malik and Harry Styles – paid emotional tributes to him and a joint statement from the band said they were “completely devastated” and will miss the singer “terribly”, adding the “memories we shared with him will be treasured forever”.
Thousands of fans of the singer gathered to remember the late One Direction singer at memorial events in the UK and many other parts of the world over the weekend.
Directioners, the name given to supporters of The X Factor-formed band, sang and left tributes in London, Glasgow, Paris, Sydney and New York – as well as in the Philippines and Colombia – to celebrate the life of Payne.
Payne died of multiple traumas and “internal and external haemorrhage”, a post-mortem examination report said.
Argentina’s National Criminal and Correctional Prosecutor’s Office No 16 said it was investigating the incident as an “inconclusive death”.
It said five witnesses were questioned in order to reconstruct what happened at the hotel.
