Liam Payne's dad says he missed major milestone before singer son's devastating hotel death

ok.co.uk:

Liam Payne's heartbroken father, Geoff Payne, made the difficult journey to Argentina to bring his son home after the former One Direction star tragically fell from a third-floor balcony in Buenos Aires on October 16.The devastating incident occurred while Liam was on holiday with his girlfriend, Kate Cassidy, and it's reported that Geoff had expressed concerns about his son's wellbeing prior to the tragedy.

Geoff travelled to the same hotel where his son lost his life to arrange for Liam's body to be returned home as police investigations into the circumstances of his death continued.The doting dad refused to leave the hotel with an eye-witness telling how Geoff was 'determined' to cling onto the memory of his son At Liam's funeral last Wednesday at St Mary's Church in Amersham, Geoff kept his promise to his family to stay by their side as Liam's coffin was carried into the church.

Geoff always found it hard to accept losing his pop star son when he shot to fame with One Direction and began touring the world, reports the Daily Record.

A family friend told Mail Online: "Geoff is a lovely, lovely man. He struggled with Liam becoming famous. It was Simon who gave Liam so much, but also the one who took him away as such a young man, so it must have been difficult for Geoff." As Liam soared to stardom at just 16 after his stint on The X Factor and signing with Simon Cowell's SyCo label, his family life was irrevocably changed.