MICHAEL JACKSON was still a virgin at the age of 32, but lusted after his female fans, according to tape recordings released yesterday.

The recordings are of phone calls between Mr Jackson and a nine-year-old boy from Utah, whom the singer befriended in 1985. According to David Hans Schmidt, the publicist who obtained the tapes, they show that the singer, on trial for molesting a 13-year-old boy, is a heterosexual.

So far, prosecutors in Mr Jackson’s trial have failed to show that the defen- dant’s personal collection of pornography, which he allegedly showed to his victims, contained anything other than heterosexual material.

In tape recordings released yesterday, Mr Jackson, 46, also says that he hates his hair — he calls it “nigger hair” — and talks about his battle with anorexia. The tapes were made by the family of the nine-year-old. They say that Mr Jackson used to call the unnamed boy — now 29 — late at night to talk about his love-life.

Mr Hans Schmidt, who said that he would circulate them outside the courtroom in Santa Maria, said: “There is some dynamite stuff on these tapes. I believe they will demonstrate that Jackson is, or at least was, heterosexual.”

In the tapes, Mr Jackson discusses being a virgin at the age of 32 and how he is desperate to have sex with a woman. He talks about someone called “Kathy”, whom he has lusted after for months. The singer also talks about “cute girls” he saw at a concert in Germany. And he mentions how he shared a piece of cake with a “cute blond-haired boy”.

Prosecutors in Mr Jackson’s child-abuse trial have struggled to make credible witnesses out of Gavin Arvizo, Mr Jackson’s now 15-year-old accuser, and his two siblings. The Arvizos have made sex abuse and kidnapping claims twice before in two separate cases. The most recent case won them $150,000 (£80,000) in damages.

Mr Jackson’s defence team suffered a catastrophic setback on Monday, however, when Judge Rodney Melville allowed the jury to hear allegations of previous sexual abuse claims, involving five boys, one of whom is the former Home Alone star Macauley Culkin. Mr Culkin is now 24.

Some of the boys — including Jordy Chandler, also now 24, who settled abuse claims against Mr Jackson for a reported $25 million in 1993 — are expected to avoid testifying by leaving the country. It is also not clear whether the likes of Mr Culkin, who has always maintained that Mr Jackson never abused him, will accuse the singer on the stand.

Tom Sneddon, the Santa Barbara District Attorney, told the judge that the five witnesses would demonstrate Mr Jackson’s “grooming” of victims by buying gifts for their mothers and preoccupying them so he could molest their children. The alleged abuse includes kissing, hugging and putting his hand into the underwear of young boys.

Mr Sneddon said that he planned to begin presenting evidence of the past allegations in about two weeks.

Thomas Mesereau Jr, for the defence, told the judge that he would put on a “mini-trial” on each allegation that the jury was allowed to hear.

“You can’t stop the defence from putting on a full-blown defence, and I mean just that,” he said.

Mr Jackson is pleading not guilty to the ten counts of molestation, kidnapping and extortion that he is currently facing. He has also denied any other claims of molestation, even in cases he has settled.

The trial continues.

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