By Brian Coates, Evening Courier (Halifax)
A CALDERDALE businessman befriended by singer Michael Jackson said he sympathised with the star as he faces his trial on child molestation charges in the media glare.
Terry George, of Holywell Green, was 13 when met the singer through his hobby of collecting autographs.
He was living in Leeds and met Jackson, then aged 20, when he was touring with the Jackson Five in 1979 and Mr George was invited into his hotel to meet the singer and his brothers.
The friendship continued with phone conversations until 1983.
"He was friendly and down-to-earth and the first celebrity I had got to know well,'' said Mr George, an entrepreneur with several business interests including nightclubs, telecoms and property.
And, now like millions of people around the world Mr George is transfixed by the trial which is relayed in the media and by courtroom re-enactments on television. Mr George said: "One day you think he is guilty and then the next, not. I bet that is how the jury thinks.
"It's like a bat-and-ball game at the moment. I feel sorry for him.
"Without doubt you wonder how much more he can take and what his health will be like at the end of it.''
Mr George said he had been contacted by prosecutors about his conversations with the singer and was advised not to try and contact him.
He was also told it was a possibility he might be asked to stand as a witness.
But Mr George said he would prefer not to attend and believes as a UK citizen he could refuse to do so.
"They can call witnesses at any time and the trial could run for another four months,'' he said.
"I watch the news. I'm glued to it.''
But he said the courtroom enactments could be misleading.
"You do not get the same tone of what was said, pauses and body language. There could be a slant where it's biased.
"But, whatever the result, there will be a lot of damage to him.''
The strain seemed to be taking its toll on the singer yesterday.
A feeble-looking Jackson again arrived late for his trial, but the judge took no action.
Jackson, who is said to have back problems, trembled and wept at the defence table in Santa Maria, California, while lawyers and a doctor talked in chambers with Judge Rodney Melville.
The judge, who previously threatened to arrest Jackson and revoke his bail when he was late on March 10, gave no explanation of what was discussed and ordered the case to resume.
Jackson spokeswoman Raymone Bain said she spoke with the singer on Sunday and he told her he was having severe and sometimes excruciating back pain. "He said his back was killing him," she said in a telephone interview from Washington.
Jackson, 46, arrived just minutes late, unlike on March 10 when he turned up more than hour late in pyjama bottoms and slippers.
This time Jackson was fully dressed, wearing a black suit, brocade vest and a blue armband, but his hair was untidy and his steps were tentative.
He turned weakly to acknowledge fans on the street, then walked unsteadily into the courthouse with his brother Jackie and a security guard holding his arms.
As Jackson left court six hours later, a reporter asked him what had happened in the morning. Jackson looked back and moved his mouth but no words came out. He then said he was "very much hurt" and was on medication "by way of a doctor".
Jackson is accused of molesting a boy at his Neverland ranch in 2003, giving him alcohol and conspiring to hold the boy's family captive. He denies all the charges.
Yesterday the star sat through testimony from a psychologist who said few child sex abuse allegations turned out to be false.
Anthony Urquiza described "child sexual assault accommodation syndrome", in which youngsters become secretive, feel helpless and trapped, delay reporting acts of abuse, and finally learn to cope with the situation.
He said children often underwent changes in behaviour because of the abuse, including "acting out, becoming defiant, name-calling". Under questioning by the prosecution, the witness said that could include talking back to teachers and getting into fights - the kind of misbehaviour seen in Jackson's accuser.
During cross-examination, defence lawyer Thomas Mesereau asked the psychologist whether Jackson's accuser may be lying.
Urquiza replied that only 2-6 per cent of molestation allegations turned out to be false according to research he had seen.
Prosecutors, who claim Jackson served his accuser wine from a soft drink can during a trip on a private jet, also called Lauren Wallace, a flight attendant.
She said she served Jackson wine in soft drink cans on several flights and hid alcohol for him in the lavatory "out of children's reach".
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