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John Travolta and his wife Kelly Preston had rarely been seen in public between the time of their autistic son’s death in January 2009, and the trial of former senator Pleasant Bridgewater and medic Tarino Lightbourne on extortion charges.   It was alleged at the trial that they demanded $25 million (£15 million) from Travolta in return for remaining silent about a document relating to the treatment of 16-year-old Jett.   Both defendants denied the charge.

At the trial, Travolta described the events leading to his son’s death.   He said he was awoken by one of Jett’s nannies pounding on the bedroom door of their resort in Grand Bahama.   Running downstairs, Travolta had found his son, who suffered regular seizures, lying on the bathroom floor with another nanny trying to resuscitate him.   Travolta and another visitor to the resort then took over resuscitation attempts.

Earlier at the trial, police inspector Andrew Wells had informed the court that Travolta had wanted his son to be treated at a Florida hospital rather than the nearest Bahamian hospital, and that Mr. Lightbourne had asked the actor to sign a statement confirming that he waived medical treatment for Jett.   Travolta said he was so intent on saving the life of his son that he had signed the statement without reading it.   It was this document that was believed to be the subject of the alleged extortion.

Travolta’s Bahamian lawyer, Allyson Maynard-Gibson, earlier testified that Lightbourne had held talks with several media companies in an attempt to sell his story.

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