Bashir: 'Jackson was not a criminal'

Martin Bashir, the journalist who spent eight months shadowing Michael Jackson in 2003, has insisted that the late singer was not a criminal.

During the course of Living With Michael Jackson, a one-off documentary that aired on ITV and ABC in February 2003, Jackson told Bashir that he sometimes allowed disadvantaged children to share his bed with him.

The documentary also contained footage of Jackson holding hands with Gavin Arvizo, a 13-year-old boy who would later accuse him of child molestation.

In December 2003, Jackson was charged with seven counts of child molestation and two counts of administering an intoxicating agent in order to commit that felony - all against Arvizo - but a jury later found him not guilty on all charges.

Responding to news of Jackson's death on Nightline, Bashir said: "Certainly when I made the documentary there was a small part of that which contained a controversy concerning his relationship with other young people, but the truth is that he was never convicted of any crime.

"I never saw any wrongdoing myself and whilst his lifestyle may have been a bit unorthodox, I don't believe he was a criminal."

Bashir, now a co-anchor on US news programme Nightline, also paid tribute to Jackson's skills as a performer.

"I think the world has now lost the greatest entertainer it's probably ever known," he added.