BRITNEY DENIED ACCESS TO SONS

Troubled pop star BRITNEY SPEARS has failed to regain visitation rights to her children after an emergency custody hearing in Los Angeles.

The singer had been due to make a desperate plea to a judge at L.A. County Courthouse to allow her to see her sons but arrived at the building and then left before entering the courtroom.

And her absence may have affected the outcome as it has been reported that the star's current visitation rights will remain the same, according to TMZ.com.

The star allegedly entered the building through the basement to avoid the waiting paparazzi but turned and fled soon afterwards, without going into the room where the hearing was taking place.

A member of Spears' legal team told a court official, "I don't know whether she'll be here or not. I don't want to delay the hearing."

The star's ex-husband Kevin Federline arrived on time and was sworn into the session before the media were cleared from the room.

Spears was stripped of all her custody and visitation rights to Sean Preston, two, and Jayden James, one, earlier this month (Jan08) following a string of bizarre incidents including an apparent breakdown which saw the star hospitalised under a mental health order.

The singer's lawyers reportedly scheduled Wednesday's (23Jan08) hearing to ask for Spears to be allowed "monitored visitation in a therapeutic setting".

It had been feared the Toxic hitmaker would not attend the session after she missed a previous hearing earlier this month (Jan08) .

Spears' actions on Wednesday (23Jan08) mirror those of 14 January (08) when she arrived at Los Angeles Superior Court for a crucial custody hearing, but left without entering the courthouse.