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MICHAEL JACKSON - POLICE SCRUTINISE DOCUMENTARY
Police scrutinise Jackson documentary STEPHEN MCGINTY Smcginty@scotsman.com 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 Bashirs programme can be used to open the door to a new prosecution. Thomas W Sneddon has remained the singers 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." Millions of US viewers are expected to watch the documentary when it is broadcast tomorrow night on the ABC network, which paid £3.5 million for the rights. 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 Jacksons bed while the singer slept on the floor. The star also said: "I have slept in a bed with many children ... Why cant you share your bed? The most loving thing to do, is to share your bed with someone. "When you say bed, youre thinking sexual. They make that sexual. Its not sexual; were going to sleep. I tuck them in." Santa Barbara Child Welfare Services considered launching an investigation into Jacksons treatment of his three children after he held his baby son over a balcony last November. In the wake of the programmes broadcast in the UK, a number of childrens charities yesterday said they would have launched an inquiry if similar circumstances were reported. Pam Hilbert, a principal policy officer at Barnardos, described Jacksons 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". The programme contained scenes of his children being harassed and frightened by the press as they visited Berlin Zoo. The singer has a son, Prince Michael, aged five, and a daughter Paris, aged four, both born during his brief marriage to Debbie Rowe, whom he divorced in 1999. The children, who do not go out in public without wearing masks, no longer see their mother and the eldest told Bashir he didnt have a mother. The programme also raised questions over the parentage of Mr Jacksons youngest child, Prince Michael II, also known as "Blanket". At one point, the singer insisted he had a relationship with the mother, but later claimed the child was conceived by a surrogate mother. "I used a surrogate mother and my own sperm cells. She doesnt know me, I dont know her," Jackson said. Despite the fact the baby was clearly white, he insisted the birth mother was black. The discrepancies have raised the issue that the child may not have been fathered by Jackson, as his own mother, Katherine, has already suggested. Last November, Mrs Jackson was quoted as saying: "That boys not a Jackson. I know a Jackson when I see one and that aint no Jackson." While the media portrayed the programme as the "longest suicide note in history" and insisted his claims would further torpedo his sinking career, there was evidence that a large number of viewers sympathised to an extent with his background in which he was abused by his father. A straw poll of GMTV viewers who called in to express their views saw them run 5-1 in favour of Jackson. Kylie Minogue, the Australian pop singer, described the programme as "fascinating", and said: "I really feel for the guy. I really do." Uri Geller, who was thanked in the programmes credits for setting up Bashirs interviews, said his faith in Jackson was undamaged. He said: "He is a pure, innocent human being. Michael was brutally honest, he was direct, he never flinched from the difficult questions." Behaviour beyond the acceptable MICHAEL Jacksons habit of sharing his bedroom with children is indefensible. At best his behaviour is bizarre. At worst, it is abusive, even if there is no sexual activity, writes Jack Boyle. In my opinion, this is a man who is using children to meet his own needs. It seems he finds it impossible to relate to normal, emotionally mature human beings so he has turned to children and animals to meet his own emotional requirements. His difficulty in relating to people his own age probably stems from the emotional and physical abuse he suffered as a child, and the fact he grew up in the spotlight of fame. I see a damaged man who has not had the chance to develop to his full potential in an emotional sense. Jacksons relationships with the mothers of his children - two by ex-wife Debbie Rowe and one conceived using a surrogate mother - further illustrate this. Rather than create a family environment, he is taking these children away from their mothers almost from the moment they are born. That is a terrible thing to do to a child, which has a basic right to know its biological parents, unless one of them poses a threat. What kind of father does this? Not a healthy individual. Jacksons wealth and fame have shielded him from official investigation which such behaviour would attract if exhibited by less influential individuals. The problems with Americans is that they are obsessed with fame. If a jobless man on a housing scheme in Edinburgh did this, police and social services would be in there instantly - and rightly so. A 12-year-old child should never be put in this position because it is regarded as intolerable by the vast majority of people. The parents of these children should be questioning their motives. 
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