'Jacko didn't ply boy with drink'

Evidence from a prosecution witness in the Michael Jackson trial turned out to be a considerable help to the defence yesterday.

Air stewardess Cynthia Ann Bell had been called by prosecutor Tom Sneddon to bolster claims by Jackson's young accuser, Gavin Arvizo, that the star plied him with alcohol during a five-hour flight.

The allegation is that Jackson, 46, gave alcohol to Gavin as part of efforts to encourage the boy, then 13, to allow the singer to molest him.

Gavin has told the Californian court that Jackson gave him a soft drinks can filled with white wine, telling him to drink this 'Jesus Juice' because it would help him relax.

Miss Bell told the jury she had indeed served the superstar alcohol in a cola can because staff knew he was 'a very private drinker'. But she said putting the wine in the can had been her idea, and she never witnessed him encouraging the boy to drink it.

And she described Gavin as having been a 'really unpleasant' child.

Miss Bell said during the five-hour private flight from Miami to Los Angeles she served Jackson up to two bottles of wine in the soft drink cans.

She said he spent the whole flight sitting next to Gavin, whom she recalled as being 'unusually rude, discourteous' and 'really unpleasant'.

But despite being a prosecution witness, she defended Jackson throughout, insisting that she never saw him give alcohol to anyone underage.

Bell, who says Jackson was a ' nervous flier', admitted she 'knowingly served alcohol' to Gavin's sister Davellin - even though she knew she was under the legal drinking age.

But she insisted Jackson had nothing to do with that either. Earlier, asked if she served Jackson in an unusual way during the flight with Xtra-jet International, Miss Bell paused before giggling: 'Yes.'