The as yet unnamed series, being offered at auction to US television networks, will follow the California-born Wafah Dufour as she follows her "dream to make it in the music business", according to Regan Media, which is producing it.

Ms Dufour, a 27-year-old graduate of Columbia University law school, was born Wafah bin Ladin, the daughter of Carmen bin Ladin, former wife of the al-Qaida leader's half-brother Yeslam. "I understand that when people hear my last name, they have preconceived notions," Ms Dufour said in a statement. "But I was born in America and I love my country."

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She has never met her uncle, she said, but Regan Media made no effort to deny that she owes her fame to the connection. "Her history and her quest for stardom will make a compelling television series: she is a musician, a young woman, and, most important, a human being," said the company's founder, Judith Regan."She is a young woman who falls in love, has her heart broken, worries about her looks, doesn't always listen to her mother, and hasn't spoken to her father in years."

A spokeswoman for the September 11th Families Association called the show "an absolute disgrace ... we urge every TV network and channel planning to run this series to think again. The very idea that the family of a man with so much blood on his hands should profit from some sort of instant celebrity is an outrage."

In fact, the series will not be Ms Dufour's first brush with celebrity. Last year, she posed for a photoshoot reclining in a bubble bath, wearing only a necklace.

IF you have any skeletons hidden in your closet or some dark secret to protect, you might want to stay away from Co Down clairvoyant Patrick King. But if you'd like to know whether your partner is having an affair or if you can really trust a friend, then maybe it might be worth a visit to his home in Holywood ...

After all, the clinical psychologist-turned-fortune teller has been reading his clients' minds, as well as predicting their futures, for over 40 years.

Even an ex-girlfriend of Michael Stone, the notorious Milltown Cemetery murderer, once popped in - Paddy, knew, he says, "because I smelt a terrorist off her".

Then there are those who may be searching for information about a lost loved one and, of course, a few who are looking for love ...

"People of all ages come to see me, from 15 to my oldest client, who's 97," the 58-year-old Manchester University psychology graduate reveals. "And I have a lot of regulars. Everyone wants to know something different. A few come purely to ask if they will be happy, but most of them have secrets."

Indeed, once Paddy, who has one daughter, Debbie (33), consults the tarot cards, his crystal ball, or reads your palm, he claims it can be quite a revelation.

And sometimes, apparently, it only takes one look - when his fourth wife-to-be Esther (52) walked in, for instance, he says: "I told her I was going to be her husband."

Over the years, he claims to have seen some unbelievable things.

"One girl who came for a reading had killed a three-year-old child, and a man had murdered his family and escaped justice.

"These type of people want to know if I know what they've done and if they'll ever be found out."

Of course, among the questions every sceptic asks are: how can one believe him? And how can he possibly know what he claims is true?

"People test me all the time," he protests. "Once a woman swallowed her wedding ring when she tried to hide it! But if you're going to come and try to bluff me, what's the point?"

Where, then, do these so-called revelatory powers come from?

"I don't think clairvoyance is a gift," he replies, "it's something I work on and practise every day. My mum read tea leaves and, as a child, she taught me the basics; it's been a learning curve since then and I've learned from my mistakes."

One such 'mistake', if you could call it that, was his inability to foresee a disaster for a relative who was raped in east Belfast by four men some years ago.

"I didn't know it was going to happen," he admits, "even though I had just left my psychology job to concentrate on fortune telling full time."

At £25 per half hour session, his counsel isn't cheap, but there are some who clearly think it's worth it.

"There are 26 millionaires who come to see me - they usually want to know if the Inland Revenue is going to catch up with them," he says.

"Then there are murderers who want to know if their victim's body will be found.

"Other people have been stealing from their employers ... and I've also done readings for policemen, as well as members of the IRA and UDA."

If - as he claims - his access to sensitive paramilitary information at one point led Special Branch to bug his office, he must be shouldering the weight of withholding the truth?

"Who am I to judge?" he counters. "I don't pass on information, although in the past I have helped the police with murder investigations."

His isn't, obviously, a job for the faint-hearted either.

"You have to be careful what you tell people. I get threats all the time. For example, if I've told a woman her husband is having an affair and she confronts him ..." he trails off.

"I also remember a man coming in with his wife and her sister. I did the women's readings first and when it came to his turn I told him they were both pregnant - by him."

Apart from treading the murky waters of human nature, there is frequently an upside to his profession.

"Sometimes you're helping folk without them realising," he explains. "During one reading I told a woman to insure her husband, because she would have nothing left when he died.

"She replied that he was fighting fit, but did it anyway. A few days later, he had a heart attack and passed away."

Reports in different publications in the past have suggested that there could be some truth in Patrick's predictions.

"A few weeks before a triple killing in Portavogie, a woman visited me. I saw the tragedy written in her cards and I told her," he explains.

Despite that, Elizabeth Downes died, along with her 17-year-old daughter, Joanne, on May 3, 1992. They were both shot dead at the family home by her husband, Stuart, who then turned the gun on himself.

So what's the point of seeing the future, if you can't change what's in store? Especially if you diagnose yourself with throat cancer - as he did recently ("I'm hoping to receive a date for an operation fairly soon").

Is turning to the occult simply a question of faith - or loneliness?

"I don't believe in God. I believe in what I can see and hear; some of which has been terrible," he says.

"Religion has been geared to keep the masses in check; if people didn't believe in Jesus Christ, mayhem would ensue."

He adds: "I'm not close to my family (he has four brothers and five sisters) and I don't have any friends either. Who would want to be friends with someone who can read their mind?"

Patrick started down his chosen path after a supernatural childhood experience.

"One night, when I was about five, I was taken away by a UFO," he says.

"I shared a room with my brother and mummy put us to bed around 8pm. The next thing I knew it was morning ... but I remembered being in a very bright room with several people. They were between 4ft 5ins and 5ft tall, with big faces and big eyes. All I can say is, I came back a clairvoyant."

Before I leave, Paddy is keen to give me an insight into what my destiny holds.

He asks me to pick nine tarot cards, which he reads, along with my palm.

As a qualified psychologist, Patrick can no doubt pick up more than most from appearance and body language - but I still found the experience disconcerting.

What he told me about the future is, well, possible, that I'll meet a gorgeous man (indeed, a pleasant change) and move to England (God help us all).

But the revelations about a past relationship were rather shocking - if what he says is true.

After I leave I'm in limbo for a while.

Still, without wishing to cast aspersions on Paddy's powers, or disparage those who consult him, I can't help remembering an Albanian proverb: there are no scarecrows in the desert.