On the eve of the first anniversary of his death, the sister of the late pop icon Michael Jackson has claimed that her brother was murdered for money.

A memorial sculpture for the pop legend Michael Jackson

LaToya Jackson made these shocking comments yesterday during the first of a two-part interview with GMTV. Speaking after Billboard magazine reported earlier this week that the Jackson estate had earned approximately $1 billion since the singer’s death, LaToya claimed on the GMTV sofa that Michael Jackson was “worth so much more dead than alive”.

LaToya made it clear that she believed her brother’s death was no accident, despite the fact that Michael’s personal physician Dr Conrad Murray has pleaded not guilty to an involuntary manslaughter charge over his role in the tragic event. Demanding that the ‘truth’ about what happened, LaToya said:

“Personally I think it is a slap in the face, not just to Michael but to the entire family. It’s totally unfair, it’s wrong and it was not an accident.”

Jermaine Jackson speaks out

Another member of the family, Jermaine Jackson, has also spoken ahead of the one year anniversary of his brother’s death – during which millions of tributes have been organised around the world. As well as claiming that converting to Islam might have prevented his brother’s untimely passing, Jermaine also spoke to the BBC World Service about the impact Michael’s death has had on the entire family.

He said: “We’ll never get over it.”

A final comment comes from the man who presided over Michael’s memorial service in 2009, the Reverend Al Sharpton, who said:

“I think we can celebrate his life, but we can’t be settled with his death until we know, who, what, when and why. And we still don’t know.”

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