Wailing Hilton ordered back to jail

By Steve Gorman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A sobbing Paris Hilton was sent back to jail on Friday as a judge overturned a sheriff department's decision to place the heiress under house arrest after just three days behind bars.

The slender 26-year-old celebrity trembled and cried quietly throughout the hearing and then broke into loud sobs when the judge ordered her back behind bars. "Mom, Mom. It's not right," she shrieked as she was led out of the courtroom. Her mother, Kathy Hilton, sobbed.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Sauer ordered Hilton to complete her 45-day sentence in jail rather than at home, marking a stunning turn of fortune for the multimillionaire socialite who has become a symbol of the excess of America's celebrity culture.

But it remained unclear how long the star of the television reality show "The Simple Life" would spend in jail since she will be given time off for good behaviour.

Sheriff Lee Baca, who runs the county detention facilities, let Hilton out of jail on Thursday for unspecified medical reasons and ordered her confined to her lavish house in Hollywood Hills with an electronic monitoring device attached to her ankle.

At that point she had served just three full days of what was expected to be a 23-day stint in jail. She had been on probation for reckless driving when she was caught driving her Bentley with a suspended license.

The hearing was delayed two hours because of confusion over whether Hilton would testify by video from her Hollywood Hills home, or in person.

Finally, she was handcuffed and placed weeping into a sheriff's car for the trip to court and later driven back to jail, trailed by news helicopters.