Michael Jackson's close friend has released chilling letters he received from the star before his death

"They're trying to murder me": Michael Jackson sent chilling letters predicting that he would soon be killed to a friend just weeks before his death

Their existence has been revealed for the first time by German businessman Michael Jacobshagen, 34 - who maintained a two-decade-long friendship with the star - in an interview with broadcaster Daphne Barak for Australian TV show Sunday Night.

Jacobshagen tells Barak how a tearful Jackson called him from a Las Vegas hideaway. The star was preparing for a tour at London's O2 but begged his friend to fly from Germany to the US to be with him, reports Daily Mail.

"He was in emotional meltdown saying, 'They are going to murder me,'" Jacobshagen recalled.

After he flew out and spent three days with the troubled star, Jackson handed Jacobshagen the notes.

Jacobshagen said that the notes kept telling him 'they' were trying to murder Jackson.

The singer never clarified who 'they' were but some notes refer to concert promoters AEG, which was organising concerts in London that he was shortly due to perform.

One said: "AEG. Make so much pressure to me... I'm scared about my life."

The Thriller singer was found dead just weeks later.

The official cause of death was an overdose of the sedative propofol.

His personal doctor Conrad Murray served two years of a four-year jail sentence after being found guilty of involuntary manslaughter for administering a lethal dose of the drug.