Jackson to be charged over abuse claims

Michael Jackson will face formal charges of child molesting within the next 48 hours.

Prosecutors in California announced last night that they would be pushing ahead with the case almost three weeks after the singer was first arrested and freed on £2 million bail.

Santa Barbara district attorney Thomas Sneddon said that he would be filing the charges at a court near Jackson's sprawling Neverland Ranch, where the sex offences are said to have taken place.

The charges will allege that the singer and entertainer molested a 13-yearold boy suffering from cancer several times in a period lasting a month. Jackson is not due to appear before a judge until early next month.

He has been in hiding with his three children since his dramatic arrest last month when he flew to waiting police from Las Vegas in a private jet. The singer is now said to be ready to resurface and will return to Neverland with daughter Paris and sons Prince Michael and Prince Michael Jr.

Jackson is also reported to be considering making his own film about his life in Neverland that will give his side of the story.

It was an ITV film by Martin Bashir earlier this year that alerted authorities to the boy in the case. Jackson admits in the documentary to sleeping in the same room as children, but not sharing a bed.

Jackson may also use his film to address allegations of police brutality during his arrest. The Jackson family has claimed it has photographs of marks on the singer's wrists caused by handcuffs that were "intentionally tightened," according to a spokesman.

There had been speculation that the lengthy delay in charging the singer was because prosecutors had not obtained sufficient evidence to bring the case before a jury.

It was revealed last week in a leaked memo that the allegations of sexual abuse against the boy had already been investigated by social services and police in Los Angeles and rejected as "unfounded."

But Santa Barbara prosecutors said the delay had been caused in part by the massive media interest in the case, forcing them to set up a website and hire a public relations company to deal with the flood of questions.

Jackson has strongly denied the allegations, calling them "a big lie", while his lawyers have accused the victim's family of using the multi-millionaire star as a "lottery ticket" to cash in on his fortune.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in