You realise that if someone gets murdered there will be a body, or at least there will be a sudden absence of a previously living person. Its called 'evidence'.
When someone says someone did something and all they have to back it up are their own words, this is not evidence. If the accuser can offer unique information about the accused that can be verified (and shown to not be information passed on or found on the internet - like he had a big nob and a tattoo of Peter Pan on his arse), this can help coroborate a story. Then it comes down to burdon of proof. It is not straightforward. Him being 'obviously a wrong 'un' is not evidence.
People's lives have been damaged because of authorities and the court of public opinion acting on false accusation. The former Southampton manager, Dave Jones, is a case in point. There are countless others.
When someone is dead it makes it much easier for people to accuse them of whatever. In the case of Savile the amount of evidence is overwhelming. That said, the physical evidence may well be lacking even in his case (I don't really know - to be honest I don't greatly relish reading 'he said, she said' arguments). In the case of Jackson it seems the trickle of accusations is meagre, despite him being dead. Especially given how weird he was. I would have expected a tsunami of accusations, with large numbers of credible but reluctant witnesses clearly and obviously not simply angling for a bit of fame or money (witnesses like we had with Savile).
I have seen enough acting and indeed even honest delusion in my life to know that no matter how vehement an accuser, no matter how long they have been getting psychiatric help, no matter how ****ed up their life may be, they still may be giving a false account.
I don't particularly want to be manipulated by the way the interviews etc have been presented. What I think about MJ is neither here nor there. Given the way the information is emerging, I doubt we shall ever know the truth for certain. So it is all getting a bit 'News of the World'. For these reasons, I'm out.
Very well put.