Liam Payne’s sister learnt of One Direction star’s death through news alert

One Direction star’s older sister said she and her family were his ‘biggest fans’ as she said he ‘lived for making people smile and happy’

Liam Payne’s sister has revealed that she learnt of her brother’s death through a news alert on her phone.

Nicola Payne, the late One Direction star’s older sister, shared a tribute on Instagram in which she praised the singer, who died last week aged 31, as someone who “lived for making people smile and happy”.

“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 began.

“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 had 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.”

Nicola explained that she didn’t own many photos of her with her younger brother as “we never wanted you to feel like you were in a room of fans, but we were your biggest fans always and forever.

“Your talent alone puts you miles ahead, but also you being you. I have been looking back at the messages from the night I had [my daughter] Ffion, how excited you were to meet her, the jokes we all shared and the laughter that you knew we all needed.”

Nicola said that Payne lived his life with the motto: “Why bother doing something unless you are brilliant at it, and Liam you were certainly brilliant at everything you did!

“Unfortunately this cruel world is always too quick to judge someone from a few five-second clips,” she said. “They then think it entitles them to be able to speak like they know you. We knew you and we loved you.”

She concluded: “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. We will make sure Bear knows about his daddy and how much you loved him, we promise this.”

In a separate tribute over the weekend, Payne’s other older sister, Ruth Gibbins, said she didn’t feel the world “was good or kind enough” to her brother.

Their father, Geoff Payne, arrived in Buenos Aires on Saturday to arrange the repatriation of the “Teardrops” singer’s body, stopping outside the hotel where he died to read tributes, letters and cards from fans.