Doctor ‘did not inject painkiller’

The doctor who attended Michael Jackson just before he died, Conrad Murray, did not give the pop star an injection of Demerol shortly before his death, it is now claimed. Edward Chernoff, a lawyer representing Dr Murray, claims that Jackson was already unconscious when the doctor entered the bedroom of his rented house in Holmby Hills, Los Angeles, and that he "wasn't breathing".

"There was no Demerol. No OxyContin," said Chernoff, who was present while Dr Murray was interviewed by Los Angeles police for three hours on Saturday. "He checked for a pulse. There was a weak pulse in his femoral artery. He started administering CPR."

Chernoff is a partner in the Houston criminal defence law firm Stradley, Chernoff & Alford. He told the Los Angeles Times that Murray had not "furnished or prescribed" Jackson with Demerol and described Dr Murray as stunned by the 50-year-old's death.

"He was the one who suggested the autopsy to the family while they were still in the hospital. He didn't understand why Michael Jackson had died," he said.

Chernoff's comments deepen the mystery over Jackson's death: until now, the only sure thing appeared to be that the singer had been injected with the synthetic painkiller Deremol - otherwise known as pethedine - within an hour of his death.

Jackson's family and the word's media will have to wait for the results of the toxicology tests on Jackson's body - due to take between four and six weeks. The LA County Coroner has delayed his decision on cause of death until the drug test results are in.

In the meantime, Chernoff's partner, Matt Alford, who describes himself on his website as an "intimidating bad ass", went on TV to stress that Dr Murray is not a suspect, but just a witness. "Dr Murray feels like the weight of the whole world is barring down on him," Alford said. "He lost a patient and a dear friend."

There have been other developments following Michael Jackson's death:

♦ The postmortem: A second autopsy has taken taken place in LA at the request of the Jackson family. The singer's father, Joe Jackson, said he still had "a lot of concerns" about what exactly happened.

♦ The nanny: Grace Rwaramba, who helped bring up Jackson's three children, says she pumped his stomach many times when he took too many prescription drugs. "He always mixed so much of it," she said. "He always ate too little and mixed too much."

♦ The drugs: Whether or not Jackson took Demerol before his death, he was known to be a regular user of the painkiller. Los Angeles police have also confirmed reports that Jackson had become "heavily addicted" to another powerful painkiller, OxyContin.

♦ The children: The mother of Jackson's older two children, former nurse Debbie Rowe, will seek custody, according to her lawyer Iris Finsilver. For the moment, the three children will stay with their grandparents in Encino, California.

♦ The tributes: The Black Entertainment (BET) Awards show in LA on Sunday was hastily rearranged as a tribute, with host Jamie Foxx wearing Jackson's red leather jacket and performing a shortened version of Beat It. Beyonce, who won best female R&B artist, said: "I have to thank Michael for being my teacher, my hero." Other tributes were paid by Jay-Z, Lil Wayne, Alicia Keys and Wyclef Jean.

♦ The White House: President Barack Obama has written a letter of condolence to Jackson's family. According to White House adviser David Axelrod: "The president obviously believes that Michael Jackson was an important and magnificent performer and obviously he led a sad life in many ways as well, but his impact is undeniable."

♦ The charts: Jackson's compilation album greatest hits, The Number Ones, first released in 2003, returned to the top of the UK album charts yesterday. Thriller, still the world's biggest-selling album of all time, went to number seven. As for downloads, Jackson songs topped Apple's iTunes charts in every country except Japan yesterday.

♦ The London concerts: There are reports that Jackson was already packing and due to leave LA for London the next day, having completed an impressive rehearsal the previous night of a set that included Bad, Beat It, Man in the Mirror, Thriller and Billie Jean. It is reported that everyone who bought tickets for the O2 Arena concerts through the official channels will be reimbursed.