Britney Spears arrived in court in Los Angeles in a bid to regain her rights to visit her two young children. But Superior Court spokesman Alan Parachini said that less than half an hour after Spears went into the building, she left it. The troubled pop star is fighting an order by LA Superior Court commissioner Scott Gordon to suspend her rights to visit her two sons - one-year-old Jayden James and two-year-old Sean Preston - and keep them in the custody of her ex-husband Kevin Federline.

Spears, 26, evaded the waiting paparazzi on Wednesday by entering the court through a basement parking garage. The star, wearing bright lipstick, sunglasses and a very short black cocktail dress with a ruffled hem, arrived about 30 minutes later than her ex-husband Mr Federline.

As her case was called, Spears' lawyer Anne Kiley was allowed to try to find her client. Around 20 minutes later, Ms Kiley said Spears was not present and that she did not know whether she would turn up.

Later, Mr Parachini said the commissioner took notice of Spears' absence and went ahead with the hearing, but decided to make no changes in the order suspending her rights to see her children.

Earlier this month, the court commissioner decided to keep the order in effect after Spears made a flying visit to the courthouse, but left without entering the court.

During an incident at her home on the night of January 3, Spears locked herself in a room with one of the boys and was later taken to a hospital in an ambulance chased by photographers.