Liam Payne's "very dear friend" has insisted he didn't abandon the late star in the hours leading up to his death

Roger told MailOnline: "I never abandoned Liam, I went to his hotel three times that day and left 40 minutes before this happened.

"There were over 15 people at the hotel lobby chatting and joking with him when I left.

"I could have never imagined something like this would happen.

"I've given my statement to the prosecutor on October 17 as a witness and I haven't spoken to any police officer or prosecutor ever since.

"I wasn't Liam's manager he was just my very dear friend and please refer to the email I sent to Liam and his team on August 23.

"I'm really heart-broken with this tragedy, and I've been missing my friend every day."

Roger's statement came after police placed three people, a "friend" of the 'Strip That Down' hitmaker and two hotel employees, under official suspicion over Liam's death.

They have been arrested in relation to "abandonment of a person followed by death, supply and facilitation of narcotics", a statement from the office of prosecutor Andres Esteban Madrea confirmed.

It 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 statement also said one of the accused "accompanied the artist on a daily basis" while he was staying in Argentina.

A hotel employee is also accused of supplying Liam with cocaine twice while he stayed at the hotel, the statement said.

And third person is accused of supplying drugs to the singer twice during his stay on October 14.

The prosecutor's office added it had heard a string of testimonies and analysed hundreds of hours of CCTV footage in connection with the investigation.

And they said a "forensic extraction" had been carried out on Liam's mobile phone, which involved trawls of his calls, messages and social media accounts.