MICHAEL JACKSON - MICHAEL JACKSON MUST PAY $25M TO SAVE NEVERLAND RANCH

Michael Jackson faces the loss of his Neverland ranch unless he pays a loan of almost $25 million (£12.5 million), reports claim.

The Thriller legend has been formally notified that the Neverland Valley Ranch is in danger of foreclosure and being sold off at an auction next month if he fails to settle the monies he owes on the property, according to Fox News.

A notice of trustee's sale has been filed with the Santa Barbara County superior court, the news station reports, with official documents saying Jackson is "in default of a deed of trust" and warning that "unless you take action to protect your property it may be sold at a public sale."

The 49-year-old bought the property in 1987, naming the 2,800-acre ranch after the island paradise in JM Barrie's Peter Pan.

At one point boasting a fairground and a zoo, the ranch had been intended to serve as a fantasy-land for children, but Jackson has not lived there since being acquitted on child molestation charges in June 2005.

The auction is to include the house and everything on the estate including "all ferris wheels, carousels, merry-go-round type devices... and all amusement ride equipment and facilities of every kind or nature", unless Jackson settles the loan by March 19th.