Phil Spector's frightened chauffer

Phil Spector's Brazilian chauffeur wrongly accused the music producer of shooting somebody because he was frightened and his English was poor, a court has been told.Adriano De Souza previously testified Spector had emerged from his Los Angeles mansion - where actress Lana Clarkson was found dead from a shot to the mouth - clutching a revolver on February 3, 2003, and confessed "I think I killed somebody".However, during cross-examination yesterday (21.05.07), Spector's defence attorney Bradley Brunon put it to the immigrant driver that he had misheard his boss.He asked: "Do you think you might have heard, 'I think somebody was killed?' "De Souza - whose native language is Portuguese - replied: "No."The former chauffeur conceded that he was tired, hungry and frightened after seeing Clarkson's body slumped in a chair and her face covered in blood in the early hours of the morning.Brunon asked: "It's hard to see and hear exactly when something is so frightening, isn't it?"

De Souza replied: "Yes, a little bit."

Brunon also explained to the court that De Souza originally told police officers Spector said "I think I shot somebody" - a slight but important variation on what he said in his testimony earlier this month.

He also showed him a transcript of a police interview given less that 24 hours after the shooting, in which he was asked if he could recall Spector's exact words.

In the statement, De Souza said: "I think so. I think, I'm not sure. It's my English."

Spector, 67, denies murder and his lawyers claim Clarkson accidentally shot herself.