Jacko: It WAS homicide !

From DAVID WILLETTS

MICHAEL Jackson's drug death is officially being treated as homicide, it was confirmed last night.

The Los Angeles Coroner's ruling means the 50-year-old King of Pop's personal doctor Conrad Murray is now the prime suspect.

Murray has admitted giving Jackson more than FOUR kinds of painkillers on the night he died.

After Jacko first complained he could not sleep at 1.30am, the doctor gave him valium, according to search warrant details.

Just half an hour later the singer was still complaining of insomnia, so Murray injected him with another sedative called lorazepam.

When that failed, he administered ANOTHER sedative - called midazolam - at about 3am on June 25.

Cop quiz ... Dr Conrad Murray

Over the next few hours Murray - who had treated Jackson's insomnia for six weeks - gave various other medications to help him drop off.

But at 10.40am, he caved in to the Thriller star's pestering and issued the knockout dose of propofol, usually used as surgical anaesthetic.

Jacko was later found not breathing in his bedroom at a rented Los Angeles home. He had suffered a fatal cardiac arrest.

As the tragic timetable emerged the doctor, 53, claimed the allegations were based on "police theory".

He also denied claims that he had left Jackson after administering the drug.

The doctor's lawyer, Ed Chernoff, said: "Much of what was in the search warrant affidavit is factual.

"However, unfortunately, much is police theory. The timeline reported by law enforcement was not obtained through interviews with Dr Murray, as was implied by the affidavit."

Cocktail ... the four painkillers Jacko took in hours before death

The probe into Jacko's death is still ongoing. Under US law homicide is not necessarily murder and can include manslaughter. Murray has been twice interviewed in connection with the death.

Last week he defended himself on YouTube, saying: "I told the truth and I have faith that truth will prevail."

Warrant papers filed in Houston, Texas, show Murray admitted giving the singer 50 milligrams of propofol nightly via a drip into his veins.

The doc told officers he feared the dad of three was getting hooked and said he tried to wean him off it.

Although Murray admits giving propofol, officials found no evidence he bought it with his medical licence.

But cops who raided Jackson's mansion did find EIGHT bottles of propofol plus other vials and pills prescribed to the star by Murray, skin specialist Arnie Klein, and another doctor, Allan Metzger.

Other drugs confiscated in the raid included valium, tamsulosin, lorazepam, temazepam, clonazepam, trazodone and tizanidine. Tamsulosin is used to treat an enlarged prostate. Propofol was also found in Murray's medical bag. He told detectives he was not the first to give Jacko the drug.

At least two unidentified doctors gave him propofol in Germany between March and April 2009.

Murray is already the target of a manslaughter probe by LAPD cops. Authorities have also asked for records from other medics including Klein, Metzger and David Slavitt, who conducted the medical examination for Jacko's O2 gig promoter AEG.

The Sun told last week how cops were closing in on Murray. US sources claimed he would be charged with manslaughter within two weeks.

And the warrant information last night backed up The Sun's exclusive reports on Jacko's leaked autopsy.

We revealed the King of Pop's stomach was empty when he died apart from partially-dissolved pills he took before the final jab.

The Jackson family last night said it had "full confidence in the legal process".

http://www.thesun.co.uk