MICHAEL JACKSON - NEVERLAND AUCTION THREAT FOR JACKSON

MICHAEL JACKSON's fabled Neverland Ranch home in California is to be auctioned off to the highest bidder next month (Mar08) - unless the pop star pays his bills. The Thriller singer vowed never to return to the Santa Barbara-area estate, where he once housed a zoo and themepark, after detectives ransacked the property for evidence to use against Jackson in his 2004 child molestation trial. In a recent televised flyover, U.S. TV news show Access Hollywood revealed Neverland is now sad, deserted and delapidated, although many of Jackson's themepark attractions and his empty zoo still stand. And now he has received word from the trustees of the estate, Financial Title Company, that the home and all fixtures, fittings and themepark rides will go under the hammer unless he pays off more than $24.5 million (GBP12.25 million) by 19 March, according to U.S. columnist Roger Friedman. The notice of sale, which has appeared in the Santa Barbara County Recorder newspaper, states all personal property will be sold at the auction, including "all merry go round type devices."