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Paris Hilton given jail sentence

05/05/2007

Heiress Paris Hilton will spend 45 days in jail after a Los Angeles court found her guilty of driving with a suspended licence.

The 26-year-old socialite was stopped by a US policeman while driving without her headlights on in February.

Defending herself in court, the Simple Life star claimed she was not aware of the suspension despite the judge highlighting a document she had signed noting that she would not be able to drive.

"I would never drive just because I want to. I follow the law and I respect the law. From now on I want to pay complete attention to everything," she said.

"I just want to say I'm sorry."

However the judge could not be won over by her apology and sentenced the heiress to 45 days in jail, due to begin on June 5th. Yet if the reality television star, best known for her partying antics, fails to report to jail on the given day her sentence will double to 90 days.

"You're pathetic," Paris' mother, Kathy, shouted at the judge when the sentence was announced while her daughter began to cry.

Dressed in a sombre grey jacket, white shirt and her blonde hair tied back, Paris Hilton was late for the court hearing despite the calls throughout the media for a custodial sentence. It is thought that many in the US believe the heiress thought herself to be above the law.

Yet her lawyers believe she has been sentenced to a very different lifestyle due to her celebrity status.

"To sentence Paris Hilton to 45 days in jail to me was uncalled for, inappropriate and bordered on the ludicrous. I think she was singled out because she's who she is," Howard Weitzman, one of her solicitors, said.


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