Jackson 'a perverted child molester'

Jurors were given opposing images of Michael Jackson at the opening of the pop star’s trial – the prosecution portraying him as a perverted child molester and the defence saying he was the victim of a con artist who used her cancer-stricken son to prey on celebrities for money.

District Attorney Thomas Sneddon yesterday outlined a complicated and sometimes bizarre story alleging that Jackson showed the boy sexually explicit material and groped him as his associates threatened to kill the boy’s mother if he told anyone.