TAPES: Michael Jackson pleads for financial help

They show the star sometimes rambling and at other times virtually incoherent.

Desperate to seek refuge from his Neverland ranch and besieged by money worries, the star left a series of messages on a friend's telephone answerphone.

The Sun has not paid for the tapes. They were handed to US journalist Daphne Barak after she wrote a book on celebrity addiction.

Ms Barak told The Sun yesterday they had been passed to her by friends, who wished to remain anonymous, to illustrate how the star appeared to be suffering the effects of an addiction to prescription drugs more than SIX YEARS before his death last June.

Daphne said: "Some of Michael's closest confidents talked to me exclusively about his addictions - and provided audio tapes of Michael never heard before.

"These demonstrate different states of mind he was experiencing under the influence of pharmaceuticals."

The messages come from 2003. In February that year Jacko was reeling from a public backlash after the Martin Bashir TV documentary exposed him for sharing his bed with children.

Throughout the recordings Jackson, who died aged 50, appears anxious and paranoid his life is under threat.

In the first message he is determined to move away:

"It is Michael calling. It is very important, I want that 150 in that account for me, because... I am very concerned about my life. I am hearing a lot of stories that (name withheld) is still trying to sabotage (inaudible) me and I want to be in a different environment and, um, I've found a place that I like and now (inaudible) I want to be away for a while where they can't find me. So please help me, help (inaudible) help me, and, um, more important than (inaudible). We are brothers."

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