Speaking after being cleared, Roger Nores said: “The lawsuit in the US is going to stay until the apology.” (
Image: FILE)

Liam Payne’s friend Roger Nores, who was recently cleared of any wrongdoing around the ex One Direction star’s death, has refused to drop his lawsuit against Liam’s dad Geoff Payne

Liam Payne’s pal, who was charged over the pop singer’s death before being cleared, has refused to stop his $10 milion lawsuit against the One Direction star’s father until he receives an apology.

Earlier this week, Rogelio “Roger” Nores was cleared of any wrongdoing over the 31-year-old’s fatal balcony fall from a hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina. But despite the charges being dropped, the businessman is refusing to end his lawsuit against Geoff Payne for defamation unless he says sorry.

Speaking after being cleared, Nores said he had tried to contact Liam’s dad but had failed to get a response. He then said: “The lawsuit in the US is going to stay until the apology. I’m not after money at all, and any dollar would be donated to Bear, Liam’s son. But I do want him to apologise because he’s even though I understand that those are really human-like reactions, which I completely understand, I would never ever judge them but it gets to a point where it’s like, ‘Guys, like you may have gone too far’.

Geoff Payne, Liam’s grieving father, was named in a US defamation lawsuit by the singer’s friend Roger Nores – a decision that has outraged many of Liam’s fans on social media. ( 
Image:
Anadolu via Getty Images)
“So maybe it’s better to just settle everything, wrap up and you know what (say) ‘Like, maybe I should have said something and I’m sorry'”. As he spoke, Nores laid bare Liam’s “addiction”, saying as a friend, helping the singer was a “24/7 job”.

When he filed the lawsuit last month, Argentian Nores said: “All the proceeds will be donated to my friend’s son. Geoff needs to backtrack on his [sworn] statement as he very well knows I wasn’t Liam’s nurse or caretaker. Liam, who I miss every day, was my dear friend and an independent, brilliant, respectful free man who did whatever he wanted whenever he wanted.”

In the 263-page document, the contested statements include allegations that Liam was in the care of Nores and the singer’s girlfriend Kate Cassidy “due to his addictions”.

Following the charges being dropped, Nores was asked what the judges had ruled. He replied: “Basically (they) went it’s very clear that Roger was a good friend and he was doing his best to the best of his abilities.

“Like drug addiction is a really tough problem. And like for those who have tried to help people that were struggling with drug addiction, it’s something that you never know when it’s going to end. And it takes a lot of you and it’s a 24/7 job as a friend and its really hard.”

Forensic experts later discovered traces of cocaine in Liam’s body but tests on a white powder pictured in leaked photos showing the inside of his hotel suite after his death had proved “inconclusive.” Unconfirmed locals reports had claimed a cocktail of drugs including designer narcotic pink cocaine containing MDMA, ketamine, methamphetamine had been found in his system during a partial autopsy along with crack cocaine and benzodiazepine.

Nores then accused Mr Payne of blaming him for a part in the star’s death when he – Liam’s dad – “felt responsible”. He added: “It was really hard for Liam too. He was obviously trying to get better. And the judges reflected all this in the ruling, and they went like, ‘Look, this is really hard. It’s no one’s responsibility’.

Liam Payne, a former member of the best-selling boy band One Direction, plunged to his death from the balcony of a Buenos Aires hotel ( 
Image:
AFP via Getty Images)
“People can try their best, which I would say a lot of people have around Liam for the past few years or especially a few months. But the reality is like you can only do so much right as a friend. And then when something like this happens, which is all a tragedy, you feel responsible. So that’s why I can totally understand why Geoff, Liam’s father, the minute this happened he came down to Argentina.

He continued: “You can imagine he was so hurt. He had lost his son. So obviously he was hurt and when you hurt like you, there’s a part of you that feel responsible and when you feel responsible, you want to blame somebody. So that’s a really human reaction that he had. And to be honest, we all feel responsible. When you’ve been trying to help somebody that you love and you care for, you can’t help going ‘What if'”.

Nores said he had yet been unable to grieve properly for the singer as he stays at an apartment not far from the Casa Sur Palermo hotel in, which Liam fell from in October. Speaking to TMZ, Nores added: “Obviously, not being able to say goodbye to Liam, I have not even processed that he’s gone.

“I’m a few blocks away from the hotel, where I’m staying in this apartment, so I would just go to that tree where his fans put all the pictures in, and I would just like to say hi to him every night. And that would be my way of coping with the whole thing.”