Michael Jackson's son to give evidence in court

Prince Michael, 13, is likely to be called by defence lawyers for Dr Conrad Murray, the singer’s personal physician, at a pre-trial hearing due to start in Los Angeles on Tuesday.

Dr Murray, 52, could be jailed for up to four years for involuntary manslaughter. He has pleaded not guilty.

The heart specialist’s legal team will claim he gave Jackson only 25 milligrams of the anaesthetic propofol on the day he died in June, 2009, not the massive overdose that killed him. They will say Jackson added more of the drug to his ­intravenous drip while his doctor was in the bathroom and will try to prove the singer had a history of “self-medicating”.

A source close to the case said yesterday: “What Jackson’s children may have seen in the past could be crucial to the defence. If they ever, even once, saw their father administer his own drugs, it will give veracity to Dr Murray’s claim.”

This means Prince Michael, and possibly his sister Paris, 12, and brother Prince Michael II, aka “Blanket”, eight, could have to go into the witness stand to relive their father’s last moments. The source added: “No one wants to put any youngster through the mill like that but what those kids may have seen could be key to whether there were precedents of Jackson self-medicating.

“The likelihood is that the eldest boy alone will be questioned under oath, with his siblings spared the ordeal of having to relive the most painful memories of their lives.”

Up to 30 witnesses may be called during the two-week hearing which will decide if there is enough ­evidence to send Dr Murray to trial.

Deputy ­district attorney David Walgren, who is prosecuting, says he will not call any of the Jackson ­children unless “circumstances make that absolutely necessary”.

A family friend said last night: “Michael’s mother Katherine is absolutely horrified by the prospect of Prince Michael or any of the children being forced to give ­evidence.”