'Home alone' star slept in Jackson's bedroom says maid

SANTA MARIA, California - 'Home Alone' actor Macaulay Culkin slept in Michael Jackson's bedroom during his boyhood friendship with the singer, Jackson's former maid testified.

The maid, who said it was her job to clean Jackson's bedroom, also said she saw another boy in the shower with Jackson and that she had found the clothes of both boys on the floor next to Jackson's bed.

The maid is the mother of the now 24-year-old man who testified that he had been molested three times by Jackson between the ages of 7 and 10.

The maid's son was the first of nine witnesses that prosecutors in Jackson's trial on child molestation charges will call to try to convince jurors that the singer has a history of inappropriate behaviour toward adolescent boys, including Culkin.

Culkin, who has repeatedly denied ever being molested by Jackson, is not expected to testify.

The woman said she worked for Jackson at his Neverland Valley ranch in central California and at his other Los Angeles area homes between 1986 and 1991.

She said she recalled seeing Culkin at Neverland on and off over a period of about six months when the child star was 8 or 9 years old. Most of the time Culkin visited with his family, but he came by himself at least a couple of times, she added.

She said she had found both Culkin's and Jackson's clothes in the singer's room and that the only bed in the room - Jackson's - had been slept in.

The maid said that the second boy she saw with Jackson had stayed at Neverland for several weeks around 1989 when he was 8 or 9 years old. He also slept in Jackson's bedroom.

"IN THE SHOWER"

On one occasion, she recalled going in to clean Jackson's bedroom and heard laughing and playing. "I came in and at first I thought they were playing in the bathtub or Jacuzzi and I didn't see them ... and I walked in and they were in the shower."

She said she could see two figures -- Jackson's and the smaller figure of the boy -- in the steamed up shower and saw two pairs of underwear on the floor. "Mr Jackson's, I knew, was white, and the boy's, I knew, was green like a neon colour, was right by the shower."

The maid said she was embarrassed and left without saying anything.

She said she had become concerned about her own son's relationship with Jackson after finding her child sitting in Jackson's lap and later seeing them lying together in a sleeping bag on the floor.

Jackson's lawyers grilled the maid's son about conflicting statements he had made to police and why he had initially denied being molested by the singer.

The man, who testified on Monday that Jackson groped his genitals after a game of tickling and then gave him US$100, said he was embarrassed to talk about what happened to him.

"In the fifth grade I told my friends I knew Michael Jackson and it was cool. They didn't believe me, but it was cool. In junior high (school) it was no longer cool to know somebody who had issues with kids," the man said on Tuesday.

The maid and her son accepted a US$2 million legal settlement from Jackson in the mid-1990s over the allegations.

In the current case, Jackson is charged with molesting a 13-year-old boy at his ranch, plying him with alcohol in order to abuse him and conspiring to commit false imprisonment, child abduction and extortion.

Jackson, who has pleaded not guilty, faces more than 20 years in prison if convicted.

- REUTERS