Michael Jackson

First came shock, then intrigue. But as the investigation into Michael Jackson’s death moves into its fourth day, with attention focused on his complex private medical arrangements, the singer’s family and fans have started to betray the first, signs of a third emotion: anger.

The King of Pop suffered a cardiac arrest shortly after noon (local time) on Thursday, less than 45 minutes after his personal physician Dr Conrad Murray is reported to have administered an injection of Demerol, a synthetic painkiller similar to morphine, which the singer apparently called his “health tonic”.

Jackson was 50 years old and weighed just nine stone, but is believed to have been blithely taking as many as eight prescription drugs a day. They included two other painkillers, Dilaudid and Vicodin, which are dangerous in large quantities and should never be mixed with other pharmaceuticals.

Dr Murray, who was presiding over this regime, described himself as a “cardiovascular specialist”. He came from Las Vegas, was licensed in California, Nevada and Texas, and is reportedly hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt amid a string of legal disputes.

Police have stressed that the physician is not the subject of a criminal investigation. But they nonetheless want to interview him to establish exactly what happened in the frantic final minutes after Jackson collapsed. It emerged yesterday that Dr Murray had hired a Houston-based lawyer, Edward Chernoff, to sit in on the discussions.

He will be asked to talk through a transcript of the 911 call, which revealed that he was alone with Jackson at the time of his collapse and had attempted to administer CPR as the singer lay on a bed. Common first aid practice would normally see patients moved to a floor or hard surface before resuscitation is attempted.

“The doctor’s been the only one here,” an unidentified caller told the emergency operator. “He’s pumping his chest but he’s not responding to anything, sir.”

Paramedics reportedly wanted to declare Jackson dead at the scene, but Dr Murray persuaded them to transport him to UCLA Medical Center. He did not sign a death certificate, and disappeared briefly on Friday when police first attempted to speak to him.

When the doctor is interviewed, he’ll be expected to provide details of the full range of drugs that Jackson was taking each day, which reportedly included Xanax, a sedative, Prilosec, a heartburn pill, Soma, a muscle relaxant, and Paxil, which treats anxiety.

A BMW Dr Murray had used was seized by investigators from the driveway of the rented house in Holmby Hills where Jackson fell ill. A police spokesman told reporters: “It may contain medications or other evidence that may assist the coroner in determining cause of death.”

Records have emerged that reveal Dr Murray, 51, suffered years of financial troubles. His Nevada medical practice, Global Cardiovascular Associates, was recently slapped with more than $400,000 (£240,000) in court judgments, and he faces two other pending lawsuits and several unpaid tax bills.

The medic has never been subjected to disciplinary action, according to available records. He did not return messages left at his offices, and reporters got no reply on the doorstep of his home.

Murray’s patients had received a letter this month saying: “Because of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, I have had to make a most difficult decision to cease practice of medicine immediately.” That “opportunity” was his appointment as Jackson’s personal doctor for the duration of his stint at the O2 in London.

Friends claim that Jackson had been surrounded by “enablers” who let him fuel his long-standing addiction to prescription painkillers. Tarak Ben Ammar, one of the singer’s former managers, described him as a hypochondriac who for years had been taken advantage of by “charlatan doctors”.

Dr Murray will now be expected to convince the police and public that he was not one of those “charlatans”.

Jackson’s family gathered at their home in Encino last night to make funeral arrangements and comfort his three children. They arranged for moving vans to start emptying belongings from the Holmby Hills property.

The family have requested a second independent post-mortem examination, a coroner’s officer said. The Reverend Jesse Jackson, a family friend who saw them on Friday, encouraged the move. He told ABC that there were many unanswered questions remaining about the death: “When did the doctor come? What did he do? Did he inject him? And if so, with what?”

A source close to the family told the Associated Press that relatives are “confused, upset and angry” by the failure of some individuals who were with the singer during his final days to volunteer information about his movements and activities.

The family also want to know exactly what role AEG Live, the concert promoter responsible for the O2 events, had been playing in his life. They are trying to establish whether the collection of advisers and representatives surrounding Jackson had been put in place by the company.

Randy Phillips, AEG Live’s chief executive, has admitted that Dr Murray was being paid by his firm, but insists that he was hired at the request of Michael Jackson. “We would have preferred not having a physician on staff full-time because it would have been cheaper, but Michael was insistent,” Mr Phillips said.

“Michael said he had a rapport with him. He just said, ‘Look, this whole business revolves around me. I’m a machine and we have to keep the machine well oiled,’ “

Mr Phillips, whose firm faces substantial losses from the cancelled “This is it!” concerts, said Dr Murray was “very professional” and “seemed to care about Michael very much”. When the singer died on Thursday, “he [Dr Murray] was distraught. He could barely talk.”

The Associated Press added that the Jackson family was “distrustful” of the singer’s former business associates and is “determined to find out more”. Its source claimed: “There are decisions going down without the family being in the loop. It’s becoming an issue.”

Jackson’s siblings, including his sister Janet, who flew into Los Angeles on Friday, had not spoken to him in the weeks leading up to his death. However, contrary to some reports, they were not estranged.

The star had also recently seen his father, Joe, and spoke regularly to his mother, Katherine, who maintained a close relationship with the star’s children, Prince Michael, 12, Paris, 11, and Prince Michael II, seven, who is also known as Blanket. The two eldest are the offspring of Debbie Rowe, Jackson’s second wife and former nurse. The youngest was born to a surrogate mother, who was picked from a catalogue.

A judge will be called on eventually to decide who gets custody of the children. It could prove a billion-dollar decision: the individual in question will also be in line for maintenance payments from Jackson’s estate. There has been a surge in album sales since his death, with his greatest hits collection, Number One, set to top the UK charts.

Experts are divided as to whether Ms Rowe or Katherine Jackson would have the most compelling claim. Most agree that Prince Michael II’s surrogate mother, who is believed to live in Europe, does not have a case. Ms Rowe surrendered custody as part of her divorce settlement in 1999, and has for the past three years been allowed just one parental visit every 46 days.

It was reported yesterday that she is ready to “fight tooth and nail” for the right to bring up her son and daughter. Her attorney, Iris Finsilver, released a statement describing her client as “inconsolable” and speaking of her former husband as “a beautiful and loving soul”.

The coroner’s officials released Jackson’s body early on Saturday morning and it was taken to a Los Angeles funeral home. The family is debating whether to have a private funeral ceremony or a celebration open to the public. Autopsy results will not be fully revealed until toxicology tests are concluded, which could take between four and six weeks.

A source at the coroner’s office told Fox News yesterday that Jackson had bruises on his chest consistent with someone trying to revive him, but there were no obvious signs of heart disease. This supports the theory that some sort of drug or combination of drugs could have caused the cardiac arrest.

The source was surprised by how healthy Jackson appeared to be. Investigators noted, however, that there was significant scarring on his face, this being the first time they had seen Jackson without make-up.