Either way, police yesterday raided Jackson's Neverland ranch reportedly to
investigate a new set of child abuse claims. Neither the police nor Jackson gave too much away about the raid, except to confirm investigations were taking place and Jackson himself was not in residence at the ranch.

Although subsequently admitting the investigations related to new child abuse claims, Jackson's spokesman Stuart Backerman told reporters last night: "We cannot comment on law enforcement's investigation because we do not yet know what it is about. We can comment on the malignant horde of media hounds claiming to speak for Michael on this and many other issues. A
rogue's gallery of hucksters and self-styled "inside sources" have dominated the airwaves since reports of a search of Neverland broke, speculating, guessing and fabricating information about an investigation they couldn't possibly know about".

Whether or not Uri Geller is one of the "self-styled inside sources" Backerman referred to we're not sure - but needless to say he was one of the first pundits to be called by the British media as the story broke. Admitting he was very concerned for Michael he said: "He is very gullible and he is naive, he is very childlike and I believe he is innocent. I as a father would not associate myself with anyone who I would even remotely suspect would have done something wrong to a child."

US media seem confident that the investigations relate to a new set of child
abuse allegations similar to those brought by the family of 13-year old
Jordan Chandler back in 1993. Court TV reporter Diane Dimond has said: "I'm
told the allegations in this case are similar to the ones in the Jordan Chandler case. But in this case the family have no interest in coming to a settlement". In 1993 Jackson gave the Chandler family a reported £12 million pay-off to end their legal action, though he strongly rejected all allegations.