Jackson death: doctor faces manslaughter inquiry

Four weeks after Michael Jackson's death at his rented home in Los Angeles, it has emerged that his personal doctor, Conrad Murray, who was with him when he died on June 25, is facing a manslaughter investigation.

Dr Murray's clinic in Houston, Texas was raided by federal drug agents and LA police on Wednesday. Yesterday it emerged that the search warrant approved by a Houston judge had sanctioned the authorities to seek "property or items constituting evidence of the offence of manslaughter that tend to show that Dr Conrad Murray committed the said criminal offence".

Among documents filed in court yesterday was a receipt showing what had been seized in the raid. Items included 27 tablets of the weight-loss drug phentermine and a tablet of the muscle relaxant clonazepam.

It also emerged yesterday that a second search warrant had been issued to allow investigators to open a storage unit rented by Murray about five miles from his clinic. The manager of the storage depot told the media she had never seen Murray visit, but others from his clinic had done so six times since the the storage unit was rented on April 1 this year - the last time being on the morning of Jackson's death.

Murray, a 50-year-old cardiologist, was hired as Jackson's personal physician shortly before his death. He was with the pop star when he was found unconscious on June 25 and tried unsuccessfully to revive him.

An explanation for Jackson's death could come next week when the Los Angeles County coroner is expected to receive the long-awaited results of toxicology tests.