E-mails show concern for Jackson’s ill-health

A stage manager who worked on Michael Jackson’s ill-fated This Is It concert warned the promoter days before the star’s death that he was in a physical and mental decline and needed help, according to an e-mail shown to jurors.

The message from John Hougdahl was written five days before Jackson died in June 2009. The stage manager told AEG executive Randy Phillips that he had seen Jackson deteriorate.

Jackson’s mother, Katherine, is suing the entertainment giant’s parent company, AEG Live LLC, for negligence in the hiring of Jackson’s doctor, who was later convicted of killing the pop superstar with an overdose of the anaesthetic propofol.

The trial was recessed until Tuesday, when AEG executive Paul Gongaware is scheduled to testify.