Bashir facing crippling lawsuit

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Martin Bashir, the man who started it all, remained silent today as he faced the possibility of a multi-million lawsuit from Michael Jackson.

The British journalist whose documentary led to Jackson being charged with sex abuse could be the target of legal action by the star.

Aides of the singer began moves against Bashir and Granada, which made the controversial documentary, within days of its British screening in 2003, claiming breach of confidence.

They claimed Bashir, who interviewed Jackson at his Neverland ranch in California, broke a promise to allow the star to vet the programme before it was broadcast.

Jackson also said Bashir reneged on an agreement not to film his children without the masks they wear in public. A High Court action was due to start in late 2003, but was halted after the star was arrested and charged with child abuse.

If he won a breach of confidence action he could expect to win millions in damages.

Bashir left ITV1 in July 2004 to work in the US, as a correspondent on ABC's 20/20 television news show, in a deal worth a reported $1million (£540,000).

When contacted by the Evening Standard, the show's publicist Lisa Apple, said Bashir will make no immediate comment on the outcome of the California trial.

"He may make a statement in the next few days but at the moment he won't be saying anything," she said.

When Bashir's documentary Living With Michael Jackson was screened the effect on the public view of him was dramatic.

Viewers who had regarded Jackson as a harmless eccentric felt distinctly uncomfortable at the sight of him cuddling up to 13-year-old Gavin Arvizo, and admitting for the first time that he liked to share his bed with young boys.

More importantly, it gave local prosecutors who had long regarded the singer as a menace to children the evidence they had long been looking for - or

so they thought. When the film went out some of them punched the air with delight, confident they would at last be able to bring him to trial.

Whether Arvizo would have come forward with his allegations without the film is open to question. But there is no doubt it was at least partly as a result of the documentary that the Santa Barbara sheriff's department was able to arrest Jackson in November 2003 and send a team to raid his Neverland ranch in search of evidence. It was, therefore, inevitable that when the trial started Bashir would be regarded as a key prosecution witness.

He was the first to give evidence, and Jackson looked tense and agitated from the moment he appeared in the witness box.

Judge Rodney Melville instructed that the whole of the 90-minute documentary be played to the court. As the screening started to the soundtrack of Jackson's hit Smooth Criminal, the star rocked back and forth and was seen tapping his fingers on the table.

When it came to the footage of 13-year-old Gavin Arvizo putting his head on his shoulder, Jackson wept openly. Later he stared hard at Bashir while clutching a tissue near his face. But Bashir ignored him.

Bashir turned out to be a reluctant witness. He had to be subpoenaed to appear, and was warned he could face contempt of court charges and be thrown in jail after refusing to answer questions in cross-examination.

With the trial over, attention could focus once more on Bashir's documentary. When Jackson first complained about the film, Bashir - who was later seen in out-takes telling Jackson that his relationship with his own children was "spectacular... it almost makes me weep" - said he denied any allegations of "distortion and misrepresentation levelled at him and the programme".

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