Lethal levels of powerful anaesthetic propofol were found in MICHAEL JACKSON’s body at the time of his death, according to an unsealed search warrant affidavit.

The news is the first to come from recent findings by officials at the Los Angeles County Coroners office, which have been sealed until now while police continue their investigations into the King of Pop’s death.

According to the Los Angeles Times newspaper the affidavit was unsealed on Monday (24Aug09) in Houston, Texas, where a storage facility belonging to the pop star’s doctor Conrad Murray was raided by police last month (Jul09).

In the search warrant documents, Murray tells LAPD detectives he had been treating Jackson for insomnia for six weeks before the singer’s death, and he had been giving Jackson 50 milligrams of propofol every night using an intravenous line.

The doctor also claims he was trying to wean his famous patient off the drug and had lowered the dosage to 25 milligrams and mixed it with other sedatives.

He states that on 23 June (09) - two days before Jackson’s death - he administered two replacement medications and withheld the propofol.

In the newly-unsealed affidavit, Dr. Murray reveals he gave Jackson valium at 1.30am on the morning of his death and when that failed to relax the pop star, he injected lorazepam intravenously at 2am and administered midazolam an hour later. He gave him 25 milligrams of propofol at 10.40am.

Jackson reportedly died later that morning after suffering a cardiac arrest.

In the affidavit, obtained by the Times, Dr. Murray confirms reports he left Michael Jackson alone under the influence of the medication to make telephone calls. Upon his return to Jackson’s bedroom he found the pop star unconscious.

As WENN went to press, reports suggest the Los Angeles Coroner is set to rule Jackson’s death a homicide.