Bashir facing crippling lawsuit

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".