Michael Jackson trial: bodyguard Alberto Alvarez says Dr Conrad Murray told him to bag up vials of drugs

MICHAEL Jackson’s panicking doctor ordered a bodyguard to bag up vials of drugs as the star fought for his life, a court was told yesterday.

In sensational testimony on the third day of the trial into the pop star’s death, Alberto Alvarez, 35, said Dr Conrad Murray made the urgent request even before telling him to call an ambulance.

Murray, 58, is accused of administering a fatal dose of anaesthetic Propofol to Jackson, who died aged 50.

Mr Alvarez, the first guard to reach Jacko’s bedroom on the day of his death, was close to tears as he described the moment he saw the star lying on the bed with his eyes and mouth open.

He also told the Los Angeles Supreme Court that the doctor instructed him to grab a clear saline bag with a bottle of Propofol inside. The bodyguard said he thought he was packing Jacko’s drugs together ready for him to be taken to hospital.

Mr Alvarez’ voice cracked with emotion as he told of seeing Jackson’s children Paris and Prince walking into the room during the effort to revive the King of Pop in 2009.

He said: “Paris screamed, ‘Daddy!’ and she started to cry. Dr Murray said, ‘Get them out. Don’t let them see him like this’.

“I asked Dr Conrad Murray what happened and he said, ‘He had a bad reaction’.” Mr Alvarez said the doctor had told him to call an ambulance shortly after entering the room but he was interrupted by the arrival of the children.

The bodyguard also recalled seeing a medical device on Jacko’s penis.

Prosecution lawyer David Walgren identified it as a condom catheter to aid people without proper bladder control.

Mr Alvarez, who also said there was oxygen tubing attached to Jackson’s nose and an IV stand on the far side of the bed, told the jury: “While I was standing at the foot of the bed he [Murray] reached over and grabbed a handful of vials and said, ‘Here, put these in a bag’.”

Mr Alvarez said he was not suspicious about the request, adding: “I believe Dr Murray had the best intentions for Mr Jackson.”

The guard’s call to paramedics was played in court. He was heard saying: “We have a gentleman here who needs help, he has stopped breathing. He is 50 years old.”

The court also heard from Jackson’s personal chef Kai Chase who said she was in the kitchen when Dr Murray came in looking “frantic” and “nervous”. Ms Chase said he then shouted, “Get help, get Prince, get security”.

She went to get Prince, telling him, “Hurry, Conrad Murray needs you. There may be something wrong with your father.” She said the doctor never asked her to call 911.

Murray denies involuntary manslaughter. If convicted he could face four years in jail.

Microsoft, Red Cross and UN sucked into global news fixing row

Microsoft has been sucked into the row surrounding a London-based media company currently under investigation by broadcasters for making editorial programmes without declaring it had a commercial relationship with some of those it featured.

Both the BBC and the US-owned broadcaster CNBC are investigating FBC Media following an investigation by The Independent which showed it had made numerous factual programmes about Malaysia after being allocated millions of pounds by the country's government to promote it.

This newspaper has evidence that Microsoft was "guaranteed" coverage on a flagship programme which FBC was commissioned to make for CNBC – which is screened in Britain – for a major launch that the global technology company was planning in Europe. CNBC recently suspended the show, World Business, pending the outcome of its investigation.

The Independent has seen a nine-page letter written to Microsoft's senior communications managers, in which FBC promised coverage of its opening of the European Microsoft Innovation Center in Aachen, Germany, and a second project in St Petersburg, Russia.

The document referred to World Business under the heading "FBC Guaranteed Distribution Placement". It told Microsoft: "Our flagship programme, World Business, is a weekly half-hour business news magazine, which covers the trends shaping business, particularly from a European perspective.

"We can foresee placing coverage of the Aachen opening within the programme the weekend of May 1&2, which means guaranteed placement on CNBC Europe, PBS-TV in the US, Star World Asia and 12 national broadcast markets in Western and Eastern Europe." PBS is America's public service broadcaster and Star World is part of Rupert Murdoch's global News Corp media empire.

In its letter to the Microsoft PR chiefs, FBC pointed out: "Due to our distribution agreements with each of the broadcasters, FBC maintains final editorial control over the reports featured within any of its broadcast programmes."

Last night CNBC said: "We have suspended all broadcasts of the World Business programme indefinitely. We cannot comment further for legal reasons."

FBC, which ran a hybrid business combining public relations work with factual programmes, featured the Microsoft founder Bill Gates in its publicity material. Alongside his picture, FBC said "clients include heads of state, governments and ministries, special economic zones and property projects, companies and international organisations".

The FBC letter to Microsoft, dated 2 March 2004, is jointly authored by John Defterios, until recently FBC's former Group Vice President for Content and host of CNBC's World Business between 2000 and 2007.

He is now a presenter on the global news network CNN. The document is set out as a "proposal outlining the broadcast/production strategy" for Microsoft's European initiatives, which included a good news story of Microsoft working with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and Red Cross to provide technology for refugees.

Microsoft in Russia

"The project event April 15th in St Petersburg tells a wonderful story of how technology can enhance the everyday lives of those who need it the most, immigrants and refugees trying to establish a foothold in society after economic and social displacement or upheaval," said the FBC document. "The UNHCR-Red Cross initiative is a perfect example of public-private partnership, which often goes unnoticed within the daily news flow of any given day."

FBC promised "to provide a 'daily news hook' to what in essence is a rich feature story linked to one of the most pressing issues today: how to help those in need make a fresh start. We believe this story, enhanced by similar project partnerships by Microsoft in the region, can be of particular interest."

It offered Microsoft "guaranteed" coverage of the St Petersburg event on Tech Watch, a monthly technology programme it produced for airlines to show as part of their in-flight entertainment.

It is unclear whether UNHCR or Red Cross knew of the Microsoft/FBC PR campaign associated with this initiative. In a statement, Microsoft said it had had a commercial relationship with FBC Media from 2003 until March this year. "Where FBC guaranteed that news items would appear in their World Business programme, we understood this was based on the content meeting FBC editorial selection criteria in line with their agreements with CNBC and other broadcasters and subject to final editing before transmission," it said.

FBC promised to make every effort to obtain coverage for the St Petersburg project on the BBC, including on the respected technology format Click, which is shown on the BBC News Channel and BBC World News. "FBC would deliver 'same day' coverage of the event...and couple that effort with feature story placement on the major Pan-European and national broadcasters who have specialised programming highlighting technology and economic development," it said.

FBC denies any impropriety in its programme making. Its lawyers have told The Independent that the company ran production and commercial divisions, which "are and always have been quite separate and distinct". The programmes it has made "have always been fair, balanced and impartial".

Malaysia

The BBC, which declined to comment on the Microsoft letter, continues to investigate FBC after screening a series of programmes on BBC World News made by the company and covering controversial Malaysian issues, especially its contentious palm oil industry.

The BBC said FBC had not told it of its commercial relationship with the Malaysia government. The Independent has established that entries in the Malaysian government's Supplementary Budget 2010 show that FBC Media (UK) was allocated 28.35m Malaysian Ringgit (MYR) – nearly ￡6m – for work on a "Global Strategic Communications Campaign" ordered by the Malaysian government in 2009. In a previous statement, the BBC said: "FBC has now admitted that it has worked for the Malaysian government. That information was not disclosed as we believe it should have been when the BBC contracted programming from FBC."

The BBC has decided to stop showing any FBC programmes while it reviews their relationship.

Indonesia

FBC is also being investigated by US news magazine The Atlantic, for which the FBC founder Alan Friedman produced a blog from the World Economic Forum in Davos this year. Friedman wrote a favourable review of the "statesmanlike debut" performance of the Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, while the FBC powerpoint presentation lists Indonesian Tourism and Tourism Malaysia as past clients.

The US website Politico noted how other commentators at Davos focused on the Arab Spring and largely ignored Mr Yudhoyono's speech, which Friedman, a former Financial Times journalist, hailed "the most impressive, crisp and even visionary speech given by any world leader here in a long time"

Kayaker is dragged a mile after hooking 6ft shark on fishing line off coast of Devon

A CANOEIST told yesterday how he caught a 6ft shark with his fishing rod in an epic battle.

Rupert Kirkwood, 51, was angling off north Devon when he hooked the monster and was towed a mile out to sea in his little kayak.

He reeled the exhausted tope shark in after a 15-minute struggle, before measuring it, taking a photo and letting it go again.
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Rupert said: “It was just like a scene from Jaws.

“I normally only catch small fish but was using an entire mackerel as bait and hoped to catch something big.

“I felt a massive pull and the line screamed off the reel for 10 seconds as it ran away from me. It was going so fast I could not reel it in.

“It headed out to sea and I was more than a mile off land by the time I reeled it in. It was so heavy I could only just get it in on board and from the measurements I took I worked out it must be at least 65lb.”

Farm vet Rupert took the hook from the side of its mouth, avoiding razor-sharp teeth as it thrashed around. He said: “Luckily it didn’t try to bite. It could have taken my fingers off and it came very close to the most sensitive parts of my body.”

The father-of-four, from Holsworthy, Devon, was fishing off Ilfracombe and he added: “I always planned to release it. I would not want to harm a magnificent fish like that.”