Jackson accuser admits he denied abuse report at school

The teenager accusing Michael Jackson of child molestation acknowledged yesterday that an administrator at his school pressed him to discuss any sexual abuse that may have taken place during his stays at Neverland but that he replied - twice - that the singer "didn't do anything to me".

Gavin Arviso, who is now 15, acknowledged under cross-examination that he had had conversations about Mr Jackson with the dean at John Burroughs Middle School in Los Angeles, where he regularly found himself in trouble.

Mr Jackson's lawyer, Tom Mesereau, raised the issue at the start of his second day of cross-examination of the prosecution's star witness. "He [the dean] asked you, 'Are these allegations that Michael Jackson sexually abused you true', and you said they were not true, right?" Mr Mesereau asked. "Yeah," the boy said. "I told him Michael Jackson never did anything to me... I told him twice."

Arviso told the court last week that on two occasions Mr Jackson put his hand down his underpants and masturbated him.

Mr Mesereau also raised Arviso's disciplinary record at school, telling the court that nine different teachers had lodged official complaints about his behaviour.

Arviso told the jury the reports of bad behaviour were true - one more possible dent in his credibility as a witness.