Jacko still can't beat it, even at a desert retreat

It has been five months since Michael Jackson walked free from court after a child molestation trial crippled his career and his reputation. But if he thought fleeing abroad would allow him a less controversial life out of the public spotlight, he is being proved wrong.

Facing a new US$64 million writ, accused of loitering in ladies' lavatories, condemned for anti-Semitism and terrified by anonymous threats, the one-time King of Pop has landed a whole new catalogue of woes just when he thought the coast was clear.

Now holed up in Bahrain, his family claims that he does not intend ever residing in the US again because his homeland 'didn't treat him right'. A question mark hangs over the fate of his notorious 1,052-hectare Neverland estate in California, where he once lived with giraffes, orang-utans, elephants, tigers, a crocodile and a bear.

'He'll come back to visit, but not to stay, not to live,' Joseph Jackson said, adding that his son has received multiple threats in the wake of the trial, despite being acquitted. 'I know if I was him, I wouldn't come back.'

Though he has gone, he has not been forgotten. As Jackson continues his post-trial rest and recuperation as a guest of Bahrain's crown prince Sheikh Salman bin Hamad Khalifa, America's fascination with its absent son remains high.

Intrigue over his plans for the future are among the various inquiries his spokeswoman, Raymone Bain, has been left fielding as her master lolls in Bahrain. No, he is not selling Neverland, she says, nor has he purchased a US$1.5 million beach home on Bahrain's Amwaj Islands as reported, and contrary to media claims he is not busy recording a song with his three children.