Police scrutinise Jackson documentary
THE district attorney of Santa Barbara County, in California, is to scrutinise the documentary in which Michael Jackson admitted inviting young children to sleep in his bed, in case Martin Bashir’s programme can be used to open the door to a new prosecution. Thomas W Sneddon has remained the singer’s No 1 nemesis after investigating the allegations of child sexual abuse raised by Jordy Chandler in 1993. The case involving Chandler was settled after Jackson, who denied the charges, paid the family £18 million to avoid what he described to Bashir on Monday night as "a drawn-out thing on TV like OJ [Simpson]". Since then, Mr Sneddon, who has been re-elected as DA without opposition five times, insisted Jackson lied in a previous television interview with Diane Sawyer, a US journalist, when he claimed he had been cleared.
"Jackson has not been cleared," Mr Sneddon said at the time. "The investigation is in suspension until someone else comes forward." A spokesman for the DA, whose authority covers the Neverland ranch, said: "We will be watching the programme with interest."
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Living With Michael Jackson attracted a UK audience of 15 million, who saw the singer holding hands with Gavin, 12, a cancer sufferer, who said he had slept in Mr Jackson’s bed while the singer slept on the floor.
The star also said: "I have slept in a bed with many children ... Why can’t you share your bed? The most loving thing to do, is to share your bed with someone.
"When you say ‘bed’, you’re thinking sexual. They make that sexual. It’s not sexual; we’re going to sleep. I tuck them in." Santa Barbara Child Welfare Services considered launching an investigation into Jackson’s treatment of his three children after he held his baby son over a balcony last November. In the wake of the programme’s broadcast in the UK, a number of children’s charities yesterday said they would have launched an inquiry if similar circumstances were reported.
Pam Hilbert, a principal policy officer at Barnardos, described Jackson’s behaviour as "totally inappropriate", while a spokesman for the NSPCC said his behaviour could be used by people who want to harm or abuse children as "an excuse for their own behaviour".depressing details continued.